Seattle, 8 August 2018
My sleep made it to 5.30am this morning – the jet lag is definitely going strong. So I thought I might as well get up, sit on my friend Steve’s porch with a glorious Seattle morning view and write my first-day blog before the sun gets too strong. Steve is kindly putting me up here this time around. He lives on Capitol Hill right between Dick’s Drive-in and the Jimi Hendrix statue. To say there wasn’t a better Seattle location to camp out as a tourist would be an understatement. I’m right in the hustle and bustle of my favourite city and you bet your sweet bum I’m loving it!
And I might as well take advantage of this cool morning before the fires from hell are on their way again. Seattle is burning (actually, California is burning literally – fuck global warming!)! As the Americans say, ‘it’s in the 90s’ which basically means is around 35 fucking degrees. I’m slathering myself in SPF 50 to keep my Germanic/Skandinavian/ British/Eastern European/Albino genes cool. At least there is a little sea breeze coming in and the nights are fairly cool, so it’s borderline bearable.
Anyway, back to yesterday. I had a pretty uneventful flight and breezed through immigration within 30 minutes. Questions from the immigration officer included, ‘What’s your favourite Pearl Jam album?’ and ‘You must love Seattle a lot?’ before he informed me that his favourite Metallica album is ‘Ride the Lightning. That’s how this city rolls, peeps!
Steve picked me up from SeaTac and, after snooping around the airport to look at the Pearl Jam tour poster gallery and taking photos of all the Pearl Jam homeshows billboards and stickers, we caught the Lightrail to Capitol Hill. I’m so chuffed they finally added that stop. Makes getting around Seattle just that little bit easier.
But, going back to the upcoming PJ gigs: Seattle has gone Pearl Jam crazy! I mean you can’t swing a dick(‘s burger?) without spotting one of the thousands of posters, billboards, stickers, panels, adverts, structures… that are SHOUTING about the shows in screaming red EVERYWHERE! I love that band as much as the next Grunger but I must say it’s gone a bit too corporate-commercial for my left-wing liking. How much fucking money did they spend on all these banners?! Believe me, NO ONE is unaware of these gigs, even if they wanted to be – even if they’d never heard of Pearl Jam before (slim chance in this place). But then, it’s for a great cause: ‘Banding together to fight homelessness’ – and believe me, this city (like all cities) needs it!
But back to first things first: my very first deed on Capitol Hill was stopping of at Dick’s Drive-in for a burger and chocolate milkshake. It had to be done. Dick’s is a Seattle institution with their no-bullshit, straight-up beef burger and fries menu. And it’s so delicious! Just what you need after a 13-hour flight.
I was still buzzing from arriving, so we went straight down to Safeco Field to check out the Pearl Jam merchandise ‘stand’ (open since Monday; last day Saturday) – or shall I call it the merchandise supermarket?! It’s a maaahooooossive tent and the queue’s length is indeed proportional (apparently 1,000 people are queuing up there as we speak). It actually has proper opening times from 9 to 5 and is organised in military style. Alas, we were too late to spend money, so we walked around the enormous venue, which usually functions as a baseball stadium, and were just about to leave when the soundcheck started. It was fucking excellent! We found a gate just behind the stage and listened for the next TWO HOURS (plus meeting many great peeps who joined us there)! A security guy informed us later that this was a ‘hard soundcheck’, meaning no one in the venue was allowed to go about their work while the band were on stage to avoid people recording it. Well, we recorded it anyway. Sod that!
Finally I hit the bed around midnight but not after having a nice chicken shawarma just around the corner from Steve’s. We were actually contemplating getting another Dick’s burger but decided on being sensible. Shouldn’t have. Turned out Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready was spotted there just after they finished their soundcheck. Ha! 😀
Anyway, plans today are to have strong coffee, suck in Seattle air, take some naps and maybe go up the Space Needle (although I’ve been informed that tickets now cost around 30 bucks and I might as well not bother and go back to Kerry Park for some equally glorious Seattle views. Costs nothing and is probably not as packed as the Space Needle will be today.
Or I might just go to the beach. Now there’s a thought.
seattlemarie 
Like you, I’m here and had a fab Tuesday as well. My jet lag is only 3 hours but I’ve been up and worked out already. Waiting for my roommates to wake so we can explore the city! See you at the concert! 🙂
Good article, I always enjoy travel, food and great bands combined together. Now I really wished the Home Shows were in my plans. Enjoy, you took my mind there for a minute. Thanks