Pearl Jam - C or D?

There is a quite telling clip in the PJ20 film where Mike (iirc) voices the notion that, at the time, the others were thinking 'wtf, are you embarrassed to be this band?' and I guess around the time of monkey-wrench radio, travelling in a little van and all that, EV *would* much rather have been in Fugazi. They really did have an awkward adolescence.

EV in particular was v angry & stressed out & the intensity of huge shows & huge responsibilities made them alk miserable as a flow on effect

Their shows are definitely a lot more fun these days; even though i attended quite a few i never realized how *grim* their 90’s shows were in contrast compared to now & how they are onstage

sounds like he had an "uneven flow"

*highly* recommend seeing them when they start touring again if you havent seen them in the last 20 years or so

neanderthal so help me god

I'm actually listening to the Soldier Field '95 show right now and it is interesting to hear bits of the future, lighter Eddie pop up in the banter, between the grimness. It was a pretty rough time for them though - they'd just lost of the Ticketmaster battle, Eddie had just had to ditch that show in San Francisco with food poisoning, they'd been struggling like hell to set up a tour without Ticketmaster. Eddie's voice is in rough shape early on, but musically they are absolutely fired up.

:)

co-sign to that though. I saw them twice in the same week a few years back and got completely different 3 hour setlists on both nights. and both were amazing choices across the board.

i still love Eddie accepting his Grammy with "this doesn't mean anything kthxfuckyoubye"

I'm not a fan but every time I've seen them they've been a tight, ebullient band -- and they've aged physically better than expected.

i saw them in Jax several years ago and he said "in ten years, we'll come back here for our Farewell tour" and everybody roared and he said "why are you happy? I mean a Farewell to Florida tour, cos you will all be underwater by then"

LMAO

also got "Rockin in the Free World" that night so \m/

we still have our Oakland tix held over from Covid cancellation- for whenever they re-announce the tour. those shows are bound to be awesome

I saw them super early on, Nov 1991 opening for SP & RHCP and I had the album already & was way into them but no one really knew who they were and it was fun show, it was intense but it felt like there weren't really any expectations. Flash forward to March 92 and I saw them headlining in a club and by now it was like a really big deal, sold out show, everyone knew all the songs, etc. but the vibe was way different and if they weren't carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders it was close. And then finally I saw them Aug in 92 at Lollapalooza and it was insane they were like one of the biggest bands in the world, even at that show, while I was getting burnt by the sun, kicked in the head by passing combat boots, covered in dust & dirt, I was like "I'm probably not even going to get this close them ever again" and partially cuz I was already kinda moving on to other music, but mostly cuz it was like, holy cow they are huge!

That's a crazy journey in like 9 months from being no-one to being fully anointed generational spokesmen and (along with Nirvana) proxy mainstream breakthrough for every underground American rock band since the Ramones

I clowned on them & Vedder esp at the time for how they handled it but at the same time jesus christ it was probably awful

I saw them for the first time at Lollapalooza's Miami date. Vedder came up to the mike, saw the size of the crowd, and cracked, "Wow. Guess there's a real hurricane in Miami after all." The crowd roared, not having a clue.

Two days later Hurricane Andrew happened.

Never underestimate Vedder's knowledge of Florida meterology.

I guess Eddie Vedder has a new solo album? Single is fine, but I was intrigued by the band he got together for a live show recently.

The Earthlings are formed by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer (now a Pearl Jam touring band member) and producer Andrew Watt on guitars, Pino Palladino from the Who on bass, Glen Hansard on guitars and backing vocals and RHCP’s Chad Smith on drums .

Pino! And I did a double take at the news that Klinghoffer is yet another new touring member of Pearl Jam:

Josh made his live debut with Pearl Jam during the band’s concert at the Sea.Hear.Now. Festival, where he played keyboards, guitars, percussion, tambourine and also contributed backing vocals, especially on the new songs from Gigaton.

At last someone is finally handling all that extra tambourine that Vedder has struggled with.

he doesnt struggle w tambourines as much as he routinely beats the living shit out of them (especially if he gets his hands on two at once)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIOPlerkok

So is that Boom guy who you could never actually hear apart from the one cover song still in the touring band?

I think he's still there, too! Maybe they can all play tambourines together.

lol and that's totally otm, btw. the last time I saw Pearl Jam, two nights, I literally forgot he was there until his showcase.

He and the guy from Foo Fighters should team up and make minimal, isolationist ambient records.

Time to repost this channel of heroic YT PJ fan-nerdery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BetterThanN

Oh dear.. let's try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

*sigh* jfc, okay it's a channel called BetterThanNothing that syncs up the PJ live bootleg series to concert fan footage w/ very high standards.

I often imagine when long-term v successful bands like PJ start adding extra touring members it's more about the mood and vibes they bring on the road/backstage than anything musical

I can believe that. Just to shake things up a bit, allow for some fresh faces.

saw them live for the first time last night. Matt Cameron has COVID so they had drum duties split between josh klinghoffer and some local drum teacher. And this high school kid who’s in some viral band came out and drummed for a song too.

It was fucking amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan or anything before but I’m kind of in love with Eddie Vedder right now.

Also mike mccready looked exactly like Gary numan looks like now.. hair and wardrobe

they closed with a cover of “baba o Riley” in honor of The Who playing Cincinnati for the first time since 79

haaha, I was there too. I'd only seen Pearl Jam once before, opening for the Stones (in Oakland, which Eddie mentioned last night too) and this blew that out of the water. So fun with the different drummers.

I couldn't believe how old Mccready and Gossard look (Gossard looks like a project manager for Microsoft now). Granted I haven't really paid attention to what these guys look like in a hundred years but Mccready is only six years older than me and looks like John Slattery.

Pearl Jam was in Oakland last night and their drummer tested positive for COVID but the show went on and they invited a local kid to sit in with them and it looks like he did an amazing job pic.twitter.com/0ifIek4Iwj

— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) May 14, 2022

this was also the largest collecton of drunk meatheads I've been around in many years. Heading to BART a woman had pissed herself and was holding up her husband who was so drunk I honestly thought at first he had a disability or something.

we were at the 1st oakland show the night before, which was more of a greatest hits playlist - incredible how they just threw everything at the wall to try & do the show anyway - and the crowd was so happy to have them back that it went over like gangbusters. definitely once in a lifetime show.

that 2nd night setlist gave me serious FOMO though lol

the local drum teacher = richard stuverud who has played in all of Ament’s sideprojects, played drums on the ‘nothingman’ demo for Vitalogy; i think he was in the Fastbacks for a couple of years (?). seems like a cool guy + total mensch <3

also watching Eddie doing more “host” duties to fill the lulls between all the constant changeovers was kinda funny to see, lots of stories & interaction with the crowd, they must have all been so stressed out <3

A pal of mine is friends w/klinghoffer and went to a recent show to support him; he didn’t really know what to expect from the band (he only knows the first few PJ albums) but said they were really great.

you never really know what you're going to get.

one week I went to two different cities to see them over a span of three days. one night I got a cover of "Sonic Reducer" and a bunch of mid-to-late era stuff, the other night it was basically Ten-Vitalogy material for the most part.

I feel like I got two great distinct shows.

yeah there’s pretty much nothing they can’t do as a band, especially with Cameron on the kit. fans are kinda spoiled with the richness in their setlists

every show i see makes me want to see 5 more

but $150 face value (!) for the Sacto show means i will not be seeing them in my hometown which sucks

I really wish they didn't look so middle management. I've assumed for a while their "aging rock star" aesthetic is influenced by The Who in the 80s/90s but imo it does not look cool at all. But yea I love them dearly.

a total noob observation here but I LOVE Eddie’s move where he smoothly flips the mike stand back up with his foot after knocking it down

what’s wrong w their look? they look like old skater dads. i like it.

the mike kick trick gets funnier as he gets drunker - at our show he was a wine bottle deep, tried the kick flip twice & eventually had to bend down & stand it up lol

haha that's good

never listen to pj at home but have seen them live 3 or 4 times, they rock

so cool for that drummer kid sitting in!

oof Ament tested positive now too, so cancelling some shows.

I saw them back in 2000, the tour when they were releasing CDs of every show. They were good, not great, but tbf I had shitty seats.

I was working in Tower Records when Ten came out. Total classic. They've shown flashes of brilliance since then, but imho the only album that comes close as an entire album to their debut is Yield. So, on balance, one classic album, the rest good to great. Near classic?

so bummed about Jeff

we rolled the dice on keeping our Oakland tix vs swapping for Sacramento, which we decided not to do in the end. kinda lucky we got to see them

xpost also OMG jimbeaux i disagree on so many levels! Avocado, No Code, Gigaton, all qualify as legit great albums. in this TED talk I will…

LOL No Code is pretty solid.

Ten isn't even in my top three lol

As a debut, it was smashing. In 1991-92, I played it more than I played Nevermind.

well sure, in the absence of other pj albums i played it all the time too lol

vitalogy >>>>>>

vitalogy is great, i love all the full length songs so much but man those interlude songs still annoy the fuck out of me. HAYFOXYMOPHANDLEMAMA is still very triggering

It has its moments--"Better Man" and "Corduroy" are stone classics--but a lot of it is just self-indulgent wankery (literally, if you read the liner notes).