Podcast Episodes

Is this gonna be a good episode? You’re darned tootin! With many Cohn Brothers movie quotes aside, this is our final episode of our OTOTO states month emanating from Fargo, North Dakota in 2003. This is the first instance in 188 official episodes and 224 shows in total that we’ve covered that we get to talk about Arc. Arc is one of their more fascinating songs due to the weight that it holds being the tribute written for the Roskilde victims. The band would go on to play this nine times, the same number of victims from the tragedy, and none of the official bootlegs include any performance of this. We’ll get into the unique presentation that it had live and how impactful it was, even as a show opener, in it’s short stay that year.

Another big point of conversation from this one is a version of In My Tree being played for the first time in 69 shows. This song having not been played for that long mixed in with an illness from Ed meant it was never going to be as crisp of a version that we would’ve heard in 1996. This became a little bit of an improv where the lyrics and music weren’t exactly linear. Ed has some things on his mind and comes up with some beautiful improved lyrics for the end. We’ll talk about how this set the tone for other versions of In My Tree that year, especially the version that everyone remembers from Madison Square Garden.

All this and good discussion on 1/2 Full, I Am Mine, Better Man, Thumbing My Way, Rearviewmirror, I Am A Patriot and Crazy Mary.

This episode is about promises. Promises broken, promises kept, and promises broken yet again. The band has had a bit of a rocky relationship with Idaho’s state capital, and while this episode will focus on all of the above, it will mainly be dedicated to the positive memories. If you go back to the beginning of their relationship, it began with disappointment as Pearl Jam had to cancel a date on the 1995 Vitalogy tour. They would finally set foot there in 2000 experiencing an unforgettable show that we’ll go into in full detail here. As Ed states multiple times during this show, it was an amazing crowd and one that he promised to return to. Alas, as sequel was initially planned for the Riot Act tour in 2003, but due to circumstances that we aren’t quite sure of, they had to cancel this show as well. The band has never been back to Idaho, and that’s why it’s a part of our OTOTO States Series!

This show was given the high honor of being an “apeman” bootleg, which meant it was one of 18 shows in 2000 that the band thought very highly of. It’s easy to tell why. The energy is palpable at this show, the band played extremely tight on a consistent high-tempo pace and the crowd ate it up the whole way. We’ll talk about great renditions of Go, Grievance, Small Town, Better Man with the Romanza intro, Daughter, Rearviewmirror and Parting Ways. How high will this one be rated? You may want to tune in to find out!

Our fourth OTOTO state this month has us heading to South Dakota early on the first leg of the Yield run. It was only the sixth appearance that Matt Cameron was making for the band at the time as a replacement drummer. Of course, no lack of confidence with playing this hefty catalog. Cameron throws in all of his patented flourishes and unmatched speed to create performances that at the time was a major change with some of these songs that have become major staples of the Pearl Jam set. We’ll run through it all and focus on some of the moments that Matt made special.

Speaking of special, this show features the debut of a grouping of songs that have become a rare instance that people chase from show to show. This night in South Dakota was the first time that they ever performed the “man trilogy” songs back-to-back-to-back. We’ll dig into how special this trio has become and how the grouping elevated Nothing Man to become one of the best singalongs in their catalog.

We’ll also preview the upcoming European tour, and find a way to get off topic a bit with in reference to wedding songs.

Let’s dive into another episode in our OTOTO States Month Series! In 1996, Pearl Jam was still dealing with their Ticketmaster strike, so they found that options for venues on the east coast were limited. Big cities such as Philadelphia and Boston couldn’t provide a proper place for the band to play without the usage of Ticketmaster, so they had to get creative in finding locations to play. One spot happened to be Augusta, Maine – a state they hadn’t played before nor after. While it may seem as though this is just another bump on the road, something special happened in Maine’s capital that the fans who were there still talk about today.

Leaving his cozy vacation spot on the Mediterranean, Dennis Rodman took a flight out to the America’s north most state to witness a band and a front man that meant the world to him. Rodman and Vedder had become friendly around that time. Ed was seen joining Dennis in the locker room during the Chicago Bulls 1996 Championship win, and there’s a story passed around that they sporadically took a flight from Seattle to Vegas in order to go see Jane’s Addiction. Rodman got to celebrate with the band on stage for the first of many times throughout the years. We’ll talk about Ed’s relationship with Rodman as well as the visual of Ed taking a ride on the 6’7″ basketball player’s shoulder.

Also in this episode, we’ll talk about two moments that take place during this show that weren’t definitive of the 1996 era, but have been cornerstones of Pearl Jam’s live set in the past decade.

For the entire month of June, we are digging in to a collection of shows that may have gotten lost throughout the shuffle over the years. Why? Because it is the only time that Pearl Jam had ever played in the states we’re covering. First up is Casper, Wyoming. Not at all a hot bed for music fans. But Pearl Jam on their quest to reject Ticketmaster venues had a limited amount of options to turn to. With the original show being set up in Boise, Idaho, another OTOTO state, Wyoming ended up being the home to the kick off of an incredibly memorable 1995 tour.

We’ll have some fun with this one. On the YouTube video for this show, there is a section where a guy named James Lane is seen in a van and explains that after the show they’re going to be broadcasting a show on pirate radio. This of course is Monkeywrench Radio, something that Ed broadcasted for the entirety of the 1995 tour on the road. We’ll talk about that era and why this caused a divide within the band. We’ll also get into some of the performances including the live debut of Long Road, and great versions of Corduroy, Why Go, Not For You, Immortality and Blood.

Surprise! It’s a bonus episode to kick off a new series for June, we’re covering shows in states that Pearl Jam has only played one time, one time only. Randy gets a break for this one, as John is joined by Hallucinogenic Recipe host Brian Horwitz to discuss the band’s only show in Vermont, Burlington 11/2/91. Brian talks about going to college in Vermont in the mid-90’s and some shows he attended in this historical venue. The show itself is only 7 songs, but there’s plenty to talk about, including a Wash opener and all of the side A Ten rockers. Stick around to find out what gift Eddie brought for the crowd!

To finish our Vault series, we turn to the final Vault on our list – the Missoula 2005 show. This comes at an unfortunately opportune time a week after Jeff tested positive for Covid-19 forcing Pearl Jam to cancel the rest of their tour, but also we take the time to honor him and send our best wishes while covering a show in his home state. This was the first of a few Montana shows that doubled up as a campaign for US Senator John Tester, who in 2005 was looking to win the seat. This was the first show of the 2005 tour featuring legs in Canada and South America, so it could be seen as kind of a tune up in a way. But this was also a good indicator for some things that would happen during that tour year. There were some rarities broken out on this night that hadn’t been played since the mid-90’s. Bee Girl made an appearance for the first time since 1994 thanks to Jeff’s song writing prowess on it, and Black, Red, Yellow is played for the first time since 1996 thanks to Phil Jackson being in the crowd. This show also gets highly political with the climax happening in Daughter getting some aggression out against Fox News.

Let’s kill two birds with one stone here as May’s Vault series continues and we start to get prepping for the upcoming Vegas show! We’re going back to 1993 on the Vs. tour to talk about one of the most recognizable shows that year from the Aladdin Theater on 11/30. This show is know for being the reunion for Stone and Jeff’s former pioneering Seattle grunge band, Green River. Along with former Green River members Mark Arm and Steve Turner from Mudhoney, the reunion is much more than getting a band back together and more so a group of friends being reunited after six years. We’ll also get a crooning Eddie with a very special Vegas-related guest. We’ll hear some stories from two different parties in this show. First, Patrick and Brian from Hallucinogenic Recipe stop by to go over the history of why this was such a highly circulated boot before becoming a Vault show. Then we’ll play a byte from Given To Live’s Tom Pugh who sat with young Reece Jones to chat about his experience at the Oakland show, a story you do not want to miss! That and plenty of Vs. tracks including a phenomenal version of Go, and most importantly, the live debut of Tremor Christ.

**Warning** This episode touches up on the topic of depression and suicide. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, don’t be afraid to call for help. For immediate assistance, dial 1800-273-8255, or dial 988 to reach the suicide prevention hotline. Please, take care of yourselves.

It’s been five years since we’ve lost Chris Cornell, a death that has shook up this community and a life that is dearly missed to this day. To celebrate his memory, we’ll be talking about one of the most memorable moments where he and Pearl Jam linked up at a show, the Lollapalooza tour closer in 1992. It came at a time where Temple of the Dog was discovered a year after the release of the album due to the collaboration between Pearl Jam and Soundgarden members. Performances of Hunger Strike at that time almost never happened, so looking back on it now and what we know, the moment is that much more special.

We talk a lot about Cornell’s life, his talent and the impact he made. This episode pays tribute to everything he provided for music, art, and the fans who cherish it.

We’re opening up the Vault again for the second of four times in this series! This episode focuses on Vault release #4 that took place in the intimate Mt. Baker Theatre up in Bellingham, Washington. Coming two days before the record came out, this show that amassed no more than 1,500 fans was meant as a preview for the Binaural record with seven songs being played live for the first time. We’ll gets to talk about all of the song debuts – Of The Girl, Breakerfall, Light Years, God’s Dice, Evacuation, Insignificance and even a few from the record that had already been played in some capacity on television or a Bridge School show. How did these songs sound on first listen? Did we get a sense for what they’d become right away, or did they need time to figure out the right comfort zone for playing these songs? All that, and a story about how Binaural may have been considered a dirty word to some fans back in the early 2000s, specifically someone who may host a Pearl Jam podcast you’re currently listening to!

Lots of things happening in this episode! Not only is it the beginning of tour week, our entire month of May we’ll be tackling a new series focusing on Pearl Jam’s Vault show releases. This happened to fall into our laps perfectly as one of the Vaults happens to be the Great Western Forum show from 1998, which is exactly where Pearl Jam will be playing shortly after this episode airs. We’ll get everybody prepped and hyped for tour time and go over some of the great features that will be available to follow along with on liveon4legs.com and Patreon. This show was a fantastic choice for the Vault collection. It can be considered one of the best shows of the first US leg in 1998 and there are many reasons to back that up. For one, The Forum is a massive, historic venue in Los Angeles where hundreds of legendary music acts have performed as well as many Lakers championships won. Ed and the guys are juiced to be playing there and right off the bat it shows. The bulk of these performances could be considered some of the very best renditions. The Yield songs especially. Brain Of J, In Hiding and Live On 2 Legs compilation addition Do The Evolution are major highlights along with excellent versions of Given To Fly, Present Tense, Rearviewmirror and Corduroy.

We’re another week closer to the start of the tour, which means that we’re continuing to build up the hype to highlight some of the cities they’ll be dropping in. This week features the Sacramento show from 1995, a show sandwiched between a fan favorite (Red Rocks) and an infamous (Polo Fields) show, inadvertently making this one overlooked. As far as 1995 shows go, this one is right in that wheelhouse where the Vitalogy era shows thrived in. Ed’s voice is at its peak, Jack is a madman at the kit, and the crowd as rowdy as you can imagine. We have not one, but two guests joining us for this episode. We welcome in our Patron Dylan Sumpter to tell his story about being at his first show, and we get to hear from Branden Palomo of the Better Band Podcast who talks about his experience at the show. There’s three historically notable moments that happen at this show – we get the second performance of the alternate version of Jeremy dubbed “No Jeremy” which was debuted two nights earlier in Red Rocks, we get a performance of Lukin over a year from the release of No Code as well as Habit being played for only the second time. You get to see the evolution of the band throughout the duration of this show. Considering what would happen two days later, this show could be seen as the end of an era. Things wouldn’t quite be the same afterward.

Continuing our preparation for the upcoming May tour dates, we’re looking back at a show from Phoenix during the Binaural era. The show is placed during a very strong stretch for the band as the following night would become an all-time classic – their 10th anniversary in Las Vegas. But Phoenix has been a rather quiet stop for Pearl Jam over the years. A lot of people remember the Open Road improv that they did back in 1995, but there were shows that happened there during every album tour from 1998 til 2003, although they’d wait 10 years before they showed up again during Lightning Bolt. Is Phoenix an undervalued Pearl Jam city? Should the shows from there be discussed more often. We do our best to answer those questions with the hope that this year’s show can change the impression of the city. A lot of great performances here including a few that were extremely rare during the Binaural era. Timeless Melody shows up in the middle of the main set, a song by the La’s that was covered thanks to Matt Cameron’s suggestion. We will also get the rarely heard Romanza intro heading into Better Man. Get ready for great versions of Grievance, State Of Love And Trust, Given To Fly, Insignificance, Do The Evolution and I Got Shit scattered throughout the episode!

The theme of this show is the importance of family. This being a hometown show for both Ed and Matt, there are a lot of band member relatives taking in the performance – Ed’s mother and three brothers are in attendance, Matt’s mother, siblings and son Ray are all there, and Mike’s dad Roy is in attendance as well. As much as this is a family show for the band, it was a bonding moment for those who witnessed this on the rail. We invite our long-time friends Debra McMurtrey and Dukes Wooters onto the show to talk about how their friendship developed on this night and to discuss the special bonds that we share with each other through our connection to the band that makes it all so special. This is our first show in the next handful of weeks that’s going to zero in on some of the locations that Pearl Jam will stop at on the upcoming tour in May. This night was the last time they were in San Diego and the purpose of the show was to create a hometown party type atmosphere. They played a 34-song, 3 hour and 20 minute set on this night that’s memorable for a lot of reasons. Not just because we get to see Ed’s mother Karen take down a bottle of wine in the same way her son is known to do, but this set was filled with so many audibles and surprises that would make for special moments in any Pearl Jam show. Some of those surprises include Tremor Christ, Army Reserve, Speed Of Sound, In My Tree and the live debut of Sleeping By Myself. We’ll get into all that and more good stuff from Deb and Dukes, including a breakdown of Ray Cameron’s lackluster Rockin’ In The Free World performance.

Thanks to our wonderful listeners and followers on social media, after a grueling two months worth of polls to select this week’s episode, the people have spoken and selected the legendary Katowice II 2000 show as the winner! The people chose well. This show is considered the cream of the crop of the official bootlegs from the Binaural tour and was sealed with the elusive Apeman logo as a show that the band thought of fondly. This show is unique for its era, both in story and in setlist. After playing the same arena, Spodek, the night prior in front of a sold out crowd of 8,000, the original tour route was going to bring them to Budapest, Hungary. That show was canceled for unknown reasons, leading the band to play a second night in Spodek to a crowd less than half the size as the previous night. They came onto the stage with a setlist mapped out, but after taking one look into the crowd and seeing a completely different atmosphere, they decided to make up the setlist on the fly instead. This led to a 4-song slow burn opening, some rare songs for the time spread all throughout the set, and many Binaural songs in their prime. We’ll run down the entire set and gush over some of the extremely rare placement of some of their most common songs. We’ll also get into a discussion about the recent premium ticket sales for the upcoming 2022 North American leg, and how the average Pearl Jam fan is having an extremely difficult time being able to afford them at the prices offered.

A night full of broken barricades and pepper spray, one of the glanced over shows from the No Code tour happened in Hartford, Connecticut only days following the massive Randall’s Island shows. As wild as some of the mid-90’s shows such as Miami 1994 got, this one had a moment that ended in the arrest of 13 fans. During Blood, a massive surge from the lawn crowd broke down the barricade, forcing riot police to invoke pepper spray, which in return caused fans in the seats to leave their section and rush towards the stage. The situation was handled better by Ed than by the police, but after a show that kicked off it’s main set with a ton of momentum, the band couldn’t let the situation potentially end the night sooner than anticipated. In this episode, we’ll touch up on that entire ordeal as well as a great moment during Not For You where Ed gives a speech similar to the infamous Porch speech at Randall’s Island. Also in this episode, we’ll touch up on ticket updates after the Ten Club lottery dropped, and we celebrate the life of Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

After a long trip back into 1992 to get a taste of the band’s rise to fame, this episode brings you back to the 1998 Yield tour right after Matt Cameron joined the band. It’s the second show of the second leg emanating from East Lansing, Michigan, home of the Michigan State Spartans. Thanks to our Horizon Leg Patron Nick Smith for requesting this show and joining us briefly to chat about it! The second half of the Yield tour is well renowned for so many reasons. Although this show may not be recognized as much as others such as Mansfield or Madison Square Garden, this can be seen as a show that had the seedlings to building into what you’d get to see later in the tour. Reason for that comes from a fan holding up a sign requesting that the band play Breath. This is seemingly the beginning of what would all culminate at that memorable MSG show. The story from this one is Matt Cameron. After some tougher shows on the first leg where he was still attempting to get the catalog under his belt, he came back in August on an absolute tear. We’ll get to talk about some of the Cameron stand outs from this night such as Spin The Black Circle, Brain of J, Rearviewmirror, Hail, Hail, I Got Shit and Black. This version of RVM is one that you won’t want to miss.

It’s one of the most important Pearl Jam shows in their history with iconic moments that are likely engrained in your memory from as far back as 1992. In this episode, we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of the MTV Unplugged performance. We’ll touch up on everything that led up to this very moment happening. How they were called to do the show when they were in Europe and had less than three days to prepare before performing. It kind of came off the heels of that legendary Zurich show where they played on such a small stage that they were basically forced to switch over to acoustic, and like to PJ20 movies tells it, that moment led directly to this event happening. We’re going to tell some stories from this show that maybe you’re a bit unfamiliar with, including an incident where the band was forced to rent equipment due to their own not arriving from Europe in time. You’ll get to hear some quotes from Jeff, Mike and Stone discussing about how this and other facets of the event happened. At the time they returned, the band saw their popularity in the states rise as Ten was sneaking onto Billboard’s Top 20. The songs! Of course the songs are important. Some of the most impactful performances of all-time. From a stand out State Of Love And Trust proving that most of their catalog was going to transition well, to Black being one of the greatest Eddie vocal performances of all-time including the absolutely iconic We Belong Together tag, and then of course, Porch. We’ll go through and break down the entire moment where Eddie wrote PRO CHOICE!!! on his arm. Again, just legendary moments. And we’ll share maybe a story you haven’t heard, do you know what Vs. song was being played in a commercial break during this? We’ll have your answer in the episode! Also joining us for this one is our friends at Hallucinogenic Recipe, Patrick and Brian, who will talk about the aspects of finding this on bootleg and some of the strange titles that were given to State Of Love And Trust.

“Another wild, fabulous Holland show… in other words, it has to be seen to be believed” If you’ve frequented the Five Horizons site over the past few decades, you would know that most of their show descriptions have a detailed re-telling of the performances, elaborating on the songs and speeches to give you the sense of what happened. If you’ve read the description for this Rotterdam show before, you’d know that the quote above would be the only indication of what this show was about. At the time, they hosted video on their site, but now you can find this entire show on YouTube, so for many of you that may have read this over the past handful of years, you may have no idea what you’re in for. Let’s just say Mike McCready gives us his all. Along with all that… this was the final show of Pearl Jam’s five-night run in Holland during March of 1992. The band his always spoken highly of this run of shows and how much they loved the area and the local fans. We discussed Den Haag and Utrecht already, but this one is a good end-cap of their European run in 1992. In the last two episodes, we talked a lot about stage divers presence and how it interfered with what was happening on stage. This time, Ed takes a new approach putting a stop to it before it even began. The crowd obliges, for the most part, and the band’s energy is truly able to resonate on stage. The band is having fun playing the music they are proud of writing, and when they’d head back to the states in a week’s time, they’ll find out that everything has changed.

You may have seen the shirt, now it’s time to hear the show! This episode is about the show emanating from the Tivoli club in Utrecht. It’s continuing our 4-show mini-series highlighting the best of their March run from 1992. To help us out once again to discuss the bootleg aspect of the show is Patrick and Brian from Hallucinogenic Recipe (@elusiverecipe on Twitter). This show has a lot of very similar talking points as the Den Haag show did – it’s a very similar, near identical setlist structure, the band sounds great and there are countless amounts of stage divers and crowd surfers getting involved with the show again. It happens more often in here than in Den Haag, and the approach Ed takes is a little more relaxed this time. Even after Jeff has an issue with his pedals getting messed with. The crowd comes into play towards the end with an absolutely bizarre scene happening on stage. We’ll also discuss what we know of the origin of the famous Tivoli shirt, the bike girl who Eddie befriended at this show and would be reunited with 3 years ago, Ed’s off day tattoo and how Mike was able to get away with saying “suck my ass” and “jerkoff” in a Dutch interview.