Podcast Episodes

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.

This episode kicks off our run of 1992 shows celebrating the 30th anniversary of four classics. We go to The Netherlands and focus on one of the best and most notable shows from the first European run in February and March out of Den Haag. This was one of the first of the great soundboard recordings that circulated, and for that, we are bringing in our brother podcast Hallucinogenic Recipe to talk about the trading and collecting aspect that made this a popular show within the community. This show has everything you want from 1992, good Ed speeches, a dangerous Porch, one of the best I’ve Got A Feeling jams ever and the seldom played original improv built around Fugazi’s Suggestion in Saying No. We’ll talk about this rendition and why it doesn’t go down as one of their original songs in the same way an improv like Outta My Mind does. Though getting it here and almost no where else (that we at least have a recording of) gives this show a little extra weight and makes it timeless. “That’s my little brother!” Ed shouts when Jeff cedes his bass to his brother Jason during I’ve Got A Feeling. While it may take some time for Jason to catch up with the band, we also get a wild array of tags within this 15 minute (you heard me correctly) slobberknocker. One of the best versions that again can be directly traced to this show as a defining moment recognized by fans of all ages.

One of our favorite Pearl Jam years to discuss on this podcast is the 2003 Riot Act tour. So many memorable moments from tons of shows spread across the map. In this episode we head to Alpine Valley where the band last played back in 2000 to freezing cold temperatures appropriately dubbed The Ice Bowl. They return to East Troy, Wisconsin during Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. In beautiful weather and a great mood, the band plays an inspired show in front of a top notch audience. Deep cuts were heavily infused from the beginning of the main set with songs such as Sometimes, God’s Dice, Faithfull, Immortality and Insignificance taking place within the new Riot Act songs while heavy hitters such as Better Man, Jeremy, Even Flow, Daughter and Rearviewmirror all hit in that order to end the set. On top of that, take the last two of that group, both songs from Vs., and add the first four played in the encore – Go, Animal, Elderly Woman and Glorified G and you have an extremely rare instance where six songs are being played off the record right in a row. We also have fun moments from this night, some that get a bit political, some that involve a random fan running out onto the stage during Crazy Mary. But as Ed says in the show, tune in to see ‘what American is gonna get a blowjob tonight.’ We’ll also discuss a little bit of the Earthling record as well as a special dedication that happened at the Chicago show

After a 12 year absence, Pearl Jam returned to Sweden in 2012 for the first time since the Binaural tour. Today’s episode will focus on that show and how a fanbase that had been deprived of their band came through and surprised a lot of people, basically forcing their hand to return in two years. This is a Patreon request from Michael Jonsson who was ecstatic to see them in his home country for the first time, and we’ll share his story here. This set defines a pretty typical Pearl Jam move whenever they play a play they haven’t visited in a while and that’s to hit the crowd with the Ten record. Eight songs off of Ten were played, but possibly considered the rarity of the bunch, Garden is a highlight in a set that was looking for a standout moment. We also get the second and last performance of Kinks cover Better Things that was released as a Ten Club single in 2011, but we’ll debate over whether or not their rendition is the best take on the song. In addition to the show, Randy and John once again discuss the Earthlings performances from the past week elaborating a little bit on the previous reaction episode. This time we’ll talk about why maybe we were a little bit too harsh on Andrew Watt who is set to produce the next Pearl Jam record, whenever that may be.

This episode takes us to Cleveland for a show on the massive 2006 tour supporting their self-titled record. The big story at the time was coming off of a huge show in Grand Rapids where a slight shake up led to an inspired performance filled with rarities and a different set-up. This show has a few things shaken up itself with the two most notable being Better Man in as the opener and no appearance of Even Flow. The latter of which at the time was turning into a song that long-time Ten Club members rebelled against because of it’s frequency. How do they fill in that gap? Well, immediately you lose a big McCready moment, so we have Immortality to help with that, but you also lose a big crowd participation song, which in this case Daughter steps in for. We also get to see a few requests taken in encore 2 that led to some songs you almost never see, including one in which a certain Gossard sings. Along with Cleveland we’ll also talk about what’s going on with the presumed 2022 tour and get you a little prepared for the upcoming Ed and The Earthlings shows.

Berlin is an important city in Pearl Jam’s history. There’s no questioning that. From the 1996 radio broadcast show to the Roskilde tribute on the 10th anniversary of the incident at the show in 2010, there are no lack of major moments that have happened in Deutschland’s capital. The show we cover in this episode certainly fits into that category. At the famous Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide venue, the band pulls out their bag of tricks and creates a plethora of memorable moments for one of the best shows in 2009. The show may seem dominated by rare tracks with four songs from Binaural being played and four off of Lost Dogs, but some of the regulars will make for the biggest moments of the night. Even Flow was a show stealing moment, Daughter had incredible energy and crowd interaction, Small Town, flanked by a short tease of Stones song Angie, has a big anthemic vibe. The band simply came to play on this night, but it was the crowd that helped elevate this show to elite level status. And don’t sleep on this version of Insignificance either, possibly the highlight of the night. As mentioned, yes, there are tons of rarities! God’s Dice, Nothing As It Seems and Light Years rounded out the Binaural representation, but we also hear the Untitled/MFC combo, Glorified G, Unemployable, Bee Girl, an amazing rendition of Hard To Imagine, and the ultra rare early era song, Brother.

We go back in time to the beginning of the second leg of 1998 in this episode covering the first show out of Noblesville, Indiana. The first leg of the North American run had it’s ups and downs and learning curves seeing as it was the first tour that Matt Cameron took over at the kit. Which meant that Matt had to learn over 60 songs in an extremely short amount of time in order to make this work. Having a month to rest and refocus in between legs, there is a renewed energy at the start of this leg. We’ll talk about how Matt was able to find his organic style and how it was interpreted into Pearl Jam songs different from Jack Irons. We’ll also talk about good versions of Immortality, Brain of J, Wishlist, Alive, and a mention of the Bill Clinton scandal that was all over the news in 1998.

Not Boston, but Woostah! This episode hits up an early show from the Lightning Bolt tour in which the band was playing their first of two nights in the Massachusetts town. Most Boston shows are going to give you something memorable like a special crowd or a deep dive into the back catalog. This show has all of those things. It’s a great crowd, and Fatal is played for the first time in years. But with the hosts not having attended this one in person, it is a bit of a struggle to grab onto an overall narrative for this 32-song set. Is it the brand new album songs that the band continues to adjust to on the live stage? Is it the 20-song main set that lasts about a dollar short of 2 hours? Is it Ed being so drunk that he forgets how to spell L-O-I-T-E-R-I-N-G in Crazy Mary? Those are all nice talking points, but when you put everything together, what kind of show are you looking at in hindsight? Don’t let that detract you from what this episode has to offer, because although we struggle with pieces of it, we ultimately enjoy this one. So listen in for discussion on great versions of Crazy Mary, Yellow Moon, Lightning Bolt, Unthought Known, Corduroy and Sonic Reducer.

The 2022 season kicks off with a Patreon request straight from the 2005 Canadian tour leg. We go to Canada’s biggest city in Toronto to cover a show with a clear narrative from top to bottom that had the ultimate payoff at the end. Pearl Jam arrived into town as U2 completed a four-night stay to kick off the third leg of their Vertigo Tour, which meant an opportunity that allowed for Ed to appear on stage with them opened the door for Bono to make a guest appearance during this show. Make no bones about it, we let it be known our thoughts and feelings of U2 and Bono as a whole. You may share them or you may not, but ultimately a night packed with deep cut tributes to the pioneering arena rock titans is going to be memorable for many. But after about 83 or so U2 references weaved in and out of songs and speeches, it had to end with Bono blathering in some sort of self-inspired religious tongues during Rockin’ In The Free World. Would you expect it any other way? When U2 isn’t the forefront of conversation, we’ll get to talk about a strong show of mainly hits that features a special performance of Harvest Moon in the encore. And for all of you Jeff Ament fans, we kick off our year with a lovefest to the greatest bass player around.

We end our 2021 Hometown Series run with the 2002 Showbox show that was released as a DVD. This took place at the beginning of the Riot Act era so we get three debuts from the album as well as a near OTOTO that’s festive for this time of year. Don’t Believe In Christmas, originally written by The Sonics, was featured as a Christmas single that year and closes out the show. We saved it for this time of year so it could be a special holiday treat for you all! Along with showcasing many of the new tracks, a major theme from this show was the incoming Iraq war and how that was impacting the band, mainly Ed. We get to see it in the tag for Daughter where he took a rendition of War: What Is It Good For and shook it to it’s core. The intensity behind his emotional outbreak is one of the angriest displays we’ve ever seen from Ed at a show, and we’ll discuss that in full detail. The political statements would continue throughout the night with the debut of Ed donning a George W. Bush mask during Bu$hleaguer, Insignificance getting a big moment and Yellow Ledbetter getting a few relevant lyrical changes.

What happens when a venue dedicated to corporate sponsorship doles out tickets to non-Ten Club fans in the first ten rows of the building? The band gets to play an extra night allowing cheap lawn seats to fan club members, that’s what. In an act of defiance in Clarkston (or Detroit, depending on who you are) Pearl Jam took the stage on the second of two nights and decided to experiment instead of busting out some of the standard favorites. This experiment lead to a whopping seven songs off of Vitalogy that were played and four from No Code, with the No Code tracks in particular standing out the most. This was in a time where In My Tree was barely played, so when it was brought back in rare instances, the band would perform an alternate version stretching out the song’s soaring elements. This is a version we don’t get to chat about often, so get ready for us to take a few minutes on it. Rarities would be strategically placed throughout this main set as the pace and energy maintained consistent. Songs like Sleight of Hand, Down and Leatherman that don’t usually get the call were played, with the latter of those beginning the Man Trilogy. A great show, a great bootleg. Thanks to our Patron Clay Davis for requesting this one.

We’re nearing the end of our Hometown Series and a show that absolutely needed to be apart of that conversation gets the spotlight in this episode. This one covers the first night of the 2018 Home Shows – a two night stay at the ballpark formerly known as Safeco Field that fundraised $11 million dollars to combat homelessness in Seattle. This show is a true band homecoming and appreciation for their roots as throughout the night, Ed would tell some of the most poignant stories he’s ever told, giving each band member a moment in the spotlight and sharing the long road that it took for them to be where they are today. Ed’s most prominent and pertinent story of the night takes place before Even Flow. He shares the origins of the song which has a direct connection to the true meaning of why they’re raising money to fight homelessness. You get to see a vulnerable side of this band that doesn’t normally come out on stage at most shows and it takes you on a journey through their personal experiences and how they’ve interwoven them into what defines Pearl Jam as a band. There are incredible performances and big surprises from this show, and the Colin Powell rule comes into effect as we get to talk about a topic that might otherwise not be relevant – The Beatles and the Get Back movie. We go into great detail about what makes the film so good, and connecting it to Pearl Jam, we fantasize about a world where we are introduced to a documentary about the Vs. and Vitalogy sessions. It’s worth the listen!

The 2006 tour is seen as Pearl Jam’s last massive rigorous year in their touring history. Supporting the Self Titled, or better known as Avocado record, they were finding their groove with new songs while also emptying the tank of all their songs with long droughts of not being played. The Albany show that we cover in this episode takes place just over a week after the album’s release, and while nine of those thirteen songs were showcased, the band went through and did some digging deep into the back catalog to bring back a few that hadn’t seen the live stage in a number of years – Red Mosquito, that had been played on the previous tour year but held off for 40 straight shows, Satan’s Bed, which was haphazardly brought back at State College in 2003 but played for the first legitimate time since 1996, and Rats which had only been played twice in the Matt Cameron era. Rats is the big one from this set that most fans will remember since it had gone 224 shows on the shelf. Later that month, the band would end up adhering to another popular drought request, Leash, and then eventually the elusive Dirty Frank. This show is defined by its rarities just as much as its defined by the brand new songs energizing them. Wasted Reprise/Life Wasted combo opening the show was something they didn’t break out very often, and after this era songs like Marker In The Sand, Army Reserve and Gone were pushed aside. We’ll get to talk extensively about some of these tracks and how fresh they felt being played for only a single digit amount of times till that point. Thanks to Horizon Leg Patron Zach Fields for requesting this show!

1997 was somewhat of a quiet year for Pearl Jam, at least on the touring side of things. Busy recording their fifth studio album, Yield, they kept a low  profile and took a break from having to deal with their continued Ticketmaster boycott. It wasn’t until November that Pearl Jam would play a 4-night stint of shows in the Bay Area as the opening act for The Rolling Stones. In this episode we’ll discuss the first night of the four show run and take a glimpse into the transitional time period for them. This show is interesting mainly because Pearl Jam is not quite the focal point. While a big stage is built for the Stones’ elaborate set-up, Pearl Jam was confined to a smaller section of the stage which crammed up their space and didn’t allow them to build a connection with the large stadium crowd. If you watch the YouTube video, you would never be able to tell that the band was playing in a football stadium. But the Stones invited them along for these shows in order to entice a younger crowd and sell tickets. This was originally set for a two night stay, but since these shows were in such high demand they continued to tack on dates. Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow only play for two nights a piece on this tour, and Pearl Jam’s set lasted 20 minutes longer. That’s being in high demand right there! After debuting some of the Yield songs at a fan club show in Santa Cruz two nights prior (billed as The Honking Seals), the first night of this run featured three key album tracks being played for the second time. Given To Fly displayed it’s ability to soar in an outdoor venue and benefited from the Jack beat that is routinely identified with the song, Wishlist showed a bit of trepidation as Ed busts out the e-bow for the first time in front of a large crowd, and Do The Evolution was an early indication that the fans were in for something fresh and raw on the new album. But as their stage time was held to only an hour due to being the opener, most of this set has your standard, mid-90’s Pearl Jam fare.