PJ 2011

On November 16th, 2011. Pearl Jam came to Santiago, Chile (Estadio Monumental).

I had purchased a ticket to "cancha", to be as close as possible. 

The day before, I arrived at the stadium near 4 in the afternoon with Ariel. We took a blanket and food for the night.

When we reached the stadium, there were few people, but while the time passed by, people were joining until we were 20 or 30.

At night a group of us, was playing the guitar and we (me and Ariel) were listening. Also, occasionally we could heard the openning act's rehearsal. 

Near 12 am, the containment fence was installed.

I don't know how much time I slept, but I wasn't sleepy. 

People began to arrive at 10 am (more or less).

Within which we slept outside the stadium there was a group of three that were taking turns. All was good, but as the day progressed, we realized that they were leaking a lot of people that were making the row outside the gates of containment. Then we knew that they were ten club chile's members and their plan was to leak the rest of the members (at least 20 person).It was a situation that led to a little discussion.

It was increasingly people, Lucas (a friend's brother) had joined to us. We remained sat, glued to the front gate of the stadium, right in the door that would open.

Later, when the doors were about to be opened, the guards were all in their places, also the people who cut tickets. The excitement and anxiety felt in the air. I was in front of the gates, standing, I was the first.

Doors were opened (at last), Ariel did back pressure so that people would not fall on me and I ran like I've never ever done before. They cut my ticket and then I kept running, a couple of people left me behind, but there were few. I continued running and I got to the gate in front of the stage, was just in front of the microphone that Eddie Vedder would use later. Out of breath, I leaned and they gave me water.

I enjoyed the whole concert in the front row.
It was an amazing experience.