Pearl Jam has a rich history of playing shows in Italy. Many of their Italian shows have been among some of their best such as Verona 2006 and the entire Immagine In Cornice run. They’ve also had some not so memorable moments opening up for U2 on the 1993 Zooropa tour where they were not well received. Out of the 21 shows they’ve played there, there might not be one that beats the last time they’ve played there to date at the famous Stadio Olimpico in Rome. In front of 70,000 fans, the band returned to the ancient city for the first time since the 1996 tour. That Rome show is relevant because it was on that tour that Ed wrote the lyrics to what would become Yield song MFC and would play it at his first ever solo show in Rome after the tour ended. Ed tells the story of how MFC was written during this show as the song is clearly an obvious choice to play due to the environment.Speaking of obvious songs, since this is a massive crowd, the band comes out firing with all of their hits. Some of the best moments from this show are the songs that you might be able to hear at any Pearl Jam show, but remember this isn’t in front of a mere 15,000 people in a hockey arena. This is in front of one of the largest stadiums in the world. After Ed had to deal with throat issues that postponed a London show a week prior to this night, they bounced back with a 35-song performance and an instant classic. Release, Elderly Woman, Corduroy, Daughter, Black, Rearviewmirror, Alive, and Rockin’ In The Free World are all major highlights from this show. Thanks to our Patron Craig Peterson for requesting this episode!
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One of the best things about being able to share a Pearl Jam podcast with the world is to specifically hit home on some of the most notable moments in the band’s history. This night at Red Rocks in 1995 checks that box and then some. After a raucous first show where the band were clearly feeling the effects of the Colorado altitude, they walked on the stage doing something they had never done in this fashion – they sat down and played six straight songs seated. This set a precedent for important shows that would come much later on (Mansfield Experiment, The Gorge, Telluride, etc) and prove to their fans that literally anything can happen at a Pearl Jam show. The opening six songs have become the stuff of legends. Almost every song had some semblance of unfamiliarity. Long Road was in its infant stages having only been debuted a few days prior in Wyoming, Jeremy was deconstructed into its experimental “No Jeremy” version that popped up sparingly in 1995 and 1996, an OTOTO cover called Ship Song was played, a rare performance of b-side Footsteps, the one and only performance of Falling Down either live OR studio, and then the set would finish with Better Man. The importance of this mini-set would prove that PJ is always up to the challenge making the biggest moments of their career everlasting. Along with the sit down set, we’ll look into the rest of the setlist which was a completely different beast from the first night. Instead of blistering through the set with 13 straight energetic rockers, they were able to balance this show out more utilizing some of the more mid-tempo songs in order to build momentum off of. Something that would be a staple of sets moving forward that allowed for them to save energy for the end of shows.
In this episode we chat about a show from the last tour cycle way back in 2018. Of course we know how crazy intense the Brazilian crowds are, and the crowd at this show in Rio de Janeiro would once again control this night. Joining us to talk about it is friend and Patron, Dukes Wooters, who traveled from Seattle to be there that night. Also, since we’re talking about Brazil, we’ll share a message from the band Black Circle about their experiences at this show, including an attempt to get their lead singer Lenny to sing with Ed! A lot of the content in this episode will feature Dukes story of his trip and what was happening in Brazil at the time. This show came shortly after councilwoman Marielle Franco was murdered which led to Brazil undergoing a major transfer of power. This was not lost upon the band as they addressed and paid tribute to the situation, clearly aware and looking out for Brazil’s best interests. Powerful political and progressive songs such as Can’t Deny Me, Leaving Here and a W.M.A. tag off Daughter were played as a reaction. But this show had many of the key fun moments you expect from Brazilian crowds, lots of singing, lots of chanting, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly and Black sounding otherworldly. But the band also broke out some of the deeper tracks such as Garden and Immortality. Having Josh Klinghoffer and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers join the party was another awesome added bonus to make this night special for the locals.
2008 was an interesting year for Pearl Jam. Touring in between their Self-Titled and Backspacer releases, they were given the flexibility to experiment in their setlists moreso then they had in the past. On the 13-show east coast tour, there were songs that had been almost unfathomable to hear at a Pearl Jam show prior. Who You Are, All Night, a full version of W.M.A. and a solidified set opening role for Hard To Imagine are just some of the exciting additions brought into the fold in 2008. At the Washington DC show that we cover in this episode, we’ll hear some of those unique additions as well as a few twists and turns that made this setlist memorable. We’re all familiar with the “man” trilogy where the songs Nothingman, Leatherman and Better Man are played in sequence, that’s a frequent enough occurrence in setlists. The band pulled out not one, but TWO new trilogy series combining songs with the word “I” and the word “you”. These are fun inclusions that you’ll never see in a setlist outside of this unpredictable 2008 tour. As mentioned above, one of the songs that made a huge impact in 2008 was Hard To Imagine. After using it as an opener once in Halifax on the 2005 tour, they hadn’t gone back to it in the role since then. But the song would be played five times in 2008, all as the opener, solidifying its place among the pantheon of special opening songs.
We continue our hometown series with a show in… Spokane? Yes, you heard that correctly. In relation to the Deep streaming site that was unveiled in May, we decided to pivot to 2013 and call this a hometown show. Yes, they did play Key Arena in 2013, but if we’re gonna cheat we might as well go all the way. That show will happen later in the year! Why is Spokane a hometown show? It’s not because Jeremy… you get the joke… As the second most populous city in the state of Washington, where the band has resided throughout their entire 30-year career, they’ve only played in Spokane ONE other time. It was in 1993 and there’s no bootleg or setlist anywhere. The only thing we know about that show is that Ed made… the joke. This show we cover in this episode is celebrated as being a home away from home with many apologies for waiting this long and empty promises that they’ll be back every year. Ed even busts out the novelty wine bottle for this one! There are a few things to know about this show before diving in. 1) the setlist was curated by Steve Gleason. Only a month after creating the Voodoo Fest setlist, Gleason gets another crack at it, this time adding a few more serious collector’s items to the menu. 2) A fan gets a once in a lifetime chance to join the band on stage and rock out to his favorite song under one condition, he must get his head full of dreadlocks shaved. 3) Anything you’ve read about a specific Van Halen song being played on this night is wrong and you need to forget any mentions of it. The song has only been played twice, both times in Hartford, CT and that’s it. Want to fight about it? Listen to the episode first.
One of our promises for 2021 was more Canadian shows for the listeners up north and this episode stays true to that. We continue to dig into the Deep streaming catalog tour years featuring this Montreal show that kicked off the final leg of the 2000 tour.
In this episode, we’ll talk a little bit about how important the retail released bootlegs from the 2000 tour were to the fandom expanding and growing and their live act getting some more recognition. The bootlegs from the European tour were released only a week before this leg began. We’ll discuss whether or not the bootlegs had anything to do with bringing back some of the older, more rare songs from Ten and Vs. that were played in the years following this tour. We’ll also get into a discussion about whether or not the popularity of Last Kiss led for a change up in how the Binaural record was produced and written. As for the show, while dealing with some first night technical difficulties, the band came through with some big performances at this show including a Corduroy with a riveting solo similar to ones you hear on Even Flow. The show really kicks in toward the middle of the set as a nasty Do The Evolution sets the tone for a hard rocking section with MFC, an improv and Habit. Other highlights from this show are Porch, Off He Goes, Of The Girl and Leaving Here.
We continue covering the tour years offered through the Deep project and Spotify with this absolute gem from the Riot Act tour. Buffalo was the second to last show from the first leg and it took place during a notable run. The night prior on Long Island, they were getting quarters hurled at them for mocking the President and the following night in State College, the tour ender is one of the longest shows of all-time. Only Pearl Jam you guys… Joining us to tell the stories from the night is our Patron Randy Morgan! Coming off that highly controversial show at Nassau Coliseum, there was a sense that the purpose of the Buffalo show would be meant to unite the crowd rather than divide. Examples of that were the most apparent in two spots – the tag of Wishlist and their cover of Patti Smith’s People Have The Power. Without blatantly addressing the infamous Bu$hleaguer moment (aside from a part where he mentioned there had been a lot of booing lately) they put aside whatever political differences they may have had with the crowd to play songs that would make everyone feel like they were a part of something special. Other big moments – just listen to the first 5 songs from this night! Can you ask for anything better to kick off your show? And Randy (guest Randy) will tell the story of how a simple writing accident led to his song request being granted.
**This episode is dedicated to the life of our friend Frank Slitti who was taken away from us way too soon. Miss you already…**
One of the most revered live albums in the history of music is The Who’s Live At Leeds record. The album cover itself was an inspiration to Pearl Jam’s Vault collection cover art, but even more than that, the entire performance from the record can be traced back to elements of Pearl Jam’s live act. They’d mention in this show that they were only able to properly play the city of Leeds once before this (It was actually Bradford 92, not the 2006 Leeds Festival in Weatherby) so this night was an opportunity to pay tribute to one of the band’s biggest influences on their career. There are 3 Who songs played, alongside references (a Young Man Blues tease) and nods (Breakerfall, which has an intro inspired from I Can See For Miles) that show that the band had fulfilled a dream by playing on this stage. With 22 main set songs and 36 in total, many taken from the serious collector’s collection, this set is a 3-hour marathon of amazing performances, positive vibes and a connection with the crowd leaving memories lasting lifetimes. It couldn’t have come at a better time as the band was next to finishing the European leg of the 2014 tour giving them the ability to take a deeper dive into the underutilized albums. Let’s put it this way, No Code, Binaural and Riot Act had more representation than Vitalogy… which featured one song from the record, rarity Tremor Christ. As this show prospers from the more obscure, to add a few more Yield’s Push Me Pull Me and the Stone Gossard sung Don’t Gimme No Lip amongst others, it also fully encompasses everything you want from a Pearl Jam show. Playful banter, unexpected moments and interactions and emotional tributes that had the crowd hanging on every note.
In this episode we go back to our 2021 hometown series celebrating the best shows in the band’s 30-year history emanating from their Seattle residence. This surprise Showbox show from 1996 was the tune up for that fall’s No Code tour. We get EIGHT, yes, EIGHT song debuts from this night from the No Code record so there will be a lot of discussion about the earliest renditions of these songs and how they’d evolve. Sure, the first half of this show is No Code and as mentioned, basically everything is a debut (outside of previously played Habit and Red Mosquito) but we also get some important moments during the ‘jukebox’ set. We get the first ever extended Immortality intro and the first time Cinnamon Girl was tagged on I Got Shit. We’ll also get into a larger discussion about how some of the Ten, Vs. era songs weren’t clicking at the time the way they once were and also how Ed was considering new vocal changes that strayed from his mid-90s primal screaming.
We’re back to a more recent era in this episode as we look back at a show from the 2016 tour from Hampton, Virginia. While a great show with many moments to take out from it, this show may be remembered most for happening on the day where the band had to cancel their Raleigh, NC show due to the state’s LGBTQ discriminatory HB2 law. We’ll go into full detail about the band’s decision to cancel the show as well as John’s original plans for that week and how he almost tried for Hampton. However, thinking that the Raleigh and subsequent Columbia shows would be enough, there is a certain song that John missed on this night that we’ll discuss at length. This show has a very unique setlist with some throwbacks to past Virginia shows. For those who remember the Virginia Beach show from 2000, it was their first show since the Roskilde tragedy. Two major moments that came out of this show were the It’s OK tag off of Daughter and opening with Long Road. Both moments were called back to in this show, including a version of Long Road in the middle of the set that is almost unprecedented. We’d also hear songs that are less common in the modern day era of Pearl Jam including Brain Of J, Habit, Sad, Breath and Inside Job.
In this episode we invite Clint Brownlee, author of the new 33 1/3rd book about Vs. onto the podcast! He’ll talk about his research for the book in an extremely important era for Pearl Jam that almost tore them apart as they became the biggest band in the world. We’ll also talk about the story of his first show which was the kick off to this album tour in 1993. There is no perfect formula for handling fame when you’re popularity is skyrocketing to peaks reached by a select few in the industry. Some bands live a lavish life on the road carelessly spending money, diving into drugs and alcohol, and bringing new women backstage after every single show night in night out. Pearl Jam reacted to their fame with the concern that they weren’t prepared to reach that level of fame so fast. While Ed is donning covers of Time and Rolling Stone magazine quickly becoming one of the most recognizable faces in America, he increasingly made attempts to shy away from the spotlight. When you look at the timing of this show, two days after the release of Vs., you may be shocked to know that no one was celebrating the record breaking sales of the new album. Instead, the show and the music was used as an escape from that. Ed would address the crowd multiple times in attempt to describe how he was feeling, you got a sense of what was really happening with the band behind the scenes during this show. We’ll talk about that, some interesting soundcheck moments, a recurring improv and many references to The Who!
This episode we dip back into a more recent era to talk about the 2014 US leg opener in Cincinnati. Our Patron David Ritter will join us to talk about his emotional experience from this night! The band was in a good mood mixing up the setlist with songs representing every album and stories you could fill a memoir with. This night had classic tales including one featuring a club they played back in 1992 in Cincy called Bogarts, and a crazy story where Keith Richards pull a knife on them. The performances were on point at this show too, most notably a version of Love Boat Captain with an extended jam intro and a Jumpin’ Jack Flash near the end. We’ll also talk about the tragedy in Cincinnati where 11 people were killed at a Who show and the nice dedication that the band made for them during this show.
This episode is a part two of a two-part series focusing on the Moore Theatre shows in 1995 where the band performed under the pseudonym Piss Bottle Men. If you like to listen to things linearly, the first part of this series is available through our Patreon which you can sign up to for as low as $1 per month here: http://patreon.com/liveon4legs This episode is another addition in our Hometown Series dedicated to telling the stories of their best Seattle shows in their 30-year anniversary. These two shows were special fan club shows meant as a warm up before heading off to a big tour in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. With Vitalogy selling over 4 million copies in the prior months late in 1994 and early 1995, these shows were the first time that the hometown fans got familiar with new drummer Jack Irons and seen some of these newer Vitalogy songs fleshed out in the way they were played on the record. This was also in the middle of the Mirror Ball recording sessions, so a certain Uncle was in town available to make a visit to his favorite nephews. However, earlier in the night the band decided to present a preview of the new collaborative record as they played Act Of Love mid-set. When Neil makes his appearance to join them, we get a little bit of a reprise to close the night. This may remind you of another instance where this happened – the Polo Fields show where Neil filled in for Ed who had food poisoning. The band would play two versions of RITFW that night.
March of 1992 was somewhat of a breakthrough for Pearl Jam. After returning from a successful tour overseas featuring memorable shows in Germany and The Netherlands, they found themselves in a major spotlight getting the call to perform on MTV’s Unplugged. Although it wouldn’t premiere for 2 months, the band’s rise was imminent and their popularity in America had grew exponentially from the time they left. This show at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago, as documented in the Let’s Play Two documentary, was important for so many reasons. Not only was it a hometown show for both Ed and The Smashing Pumpkins, who acted as the opening act, it was a platform where they had to prove that they belonged up on that stage headlining club shows and even bigger shows to come. The guys from U2 were there that night to scout them to be an opening act for what would be the Italian run of the Zooropa tour. Everything seemed to be falling into place at the time. This performance is classic 1992. You have some improvs, including Rockin’ In The Free World played on the spot due to a drum issue, great performances of Ten songs and an encore where they shared the stage with the Pumpkins saluting them in their hometown.
We’re back into our run of early 90’s episodes as we tackle a great show and memorable bootleg in this episode. St. Petersburg happened on the well documented 1994 tour that the band was on the top of their game for. This is a Patreon requested episode and joining us for this one is Horizon Leg Patron Gabe Spece! Coming off a night in Miami where 24,000 fans attempted to cram into a venue that could only fit 8,000, the local Florida newspapers made attempts to sabotage the band by stating that they incited the “riots” that led to some incidents happening during the show. Unlike what we saw in our Ann Arbor episode that happened just nine days prior, the band didn’t want to let yet another issue (to go along with bomb threats, ticket distribution challenges, backstage break-ins) to hamper their show for a new live crowd that seemingly couldn’t care less what happened to them the night before. The result of that was a very relaxed show with tons of positive energy. Almost a rarity for that tour year. This show has gone down in lore as being one of the better fan recorded bootlegs of that year which helps take in all of the fantastic moments that happened here. Highlights from this one that we’re gonna dig into are opening the set with Rearviewmirror, a fantastic Daughter with both Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2 tag and W.M.A. which essentially led to a full version played. Great improvs off Black and Alive and a rare 3rd encore closer of Throw Your Arms Around Me. But possibly the most important thing to come out of this episode is a bit of a debate that ramps up during Porch. This Porch has always been known for having a Dirty Frank tag, but we dig a little deeper and question if that’s the case here or not. Check it out, you’ll know what we mean!
Hawaii has always had an important place within the history of Pearl Jam. From Ed’s love of surfing to discovering and connecting with B3 organist Boom Gaspar, a lot of important moments have developed from the islands. In this episode, we’ll talk about a 2006 show that acted as the end of an era for one of their most important touring years. To join us on this one is former Live On 4 Legs host Matt Helbig to talk about a few of his go-to songs. This episode is gonna be all about the love for Boom who got a warm hometown welcome on this night. We’ll talk about his introduction to the band and how he didn’t even know who Ed was before meeting him, but fast forward into the future and Boom has been a sixth-man staple of the live act. We’ll get to hear some of the classic Boom songs in this show such as Love Boat Captain, Wasted Reprise and Crazy Mary. We’ll also chat about how good of a mood the band was in on this night being able to finish out a monstrous touring year on such a positive note. We get performances closely representing some Hawaiian and beach themes such as Oceans, Big Wave, Ed ukulele song You’re True and a cover of Hawaii 78.
This episode is the third installment of our Hometown Series where we celebrate Pearl Jam’s 30-year history by paying homage to the place where it all started, Seattle, Washington. In this show we cover the first of a three night stint that ended the 1993 Vs. tour at the Seattle Center Arena. The hype around Pearl Jam was massive and as they continued to push new material and tour extensively, the demand proceeded to grow. This was just over a month after finding out that Vs. had sold over $1 million copies in its first week. That’s something that would be a crowning achievement for most bands, but this was a growing concern within their circle that things were moving way too fast. The band was expecting a more gradual rise to fame, but instead Eddie is finding himself on the cover of Time Magazine. While there is a sense of comfort from being in their home city, most people recognize this set of shows from the night 2 affair that was recently released as a part of the Vault series. While they cracked jokes about their rise to fame, 1993 shows are some of the most raw sounding and unruly in their catalog. As they rip through standout tracks like Go, Why Go and Porch, they also have to deal with a crowd that has a disregard for safety at times of this show. We’ll talk about it all along with how playing songs such as Alive, Black, Blood and Porch before getting into their encore was something that almost never happened from that point afterward.
It’s time to hop back aboard the Yield tour as this episode brings us to a popular recording from 1998. Recently, Ed claimed that Australia may be the first continent to get the Gigaton tour, so that’s where we end up in this episode. The third night in Melbourne is one that has gone down in the books as an all-time classic, yet is perhaps still undervalued. Broadcast at the time on JJJ radio in Australia as well as being one of the very early internet livestreams, this show was really one of the last of its kind. The performances are what makes this show special and we highlight just about every single one of them. From hearing the raw power of Ed’s growl on Brain of J, to the soaring sounds of Mike’s guitar during In My Tree, Jack Irons doing damage on the kit in an otherworldly version of Immortality, This show has so many moments you want to go back to again and again. We’ll talk about all of the above as well as a very early version of Porch blues with the slower intro that has been popularized in the modern era. We’ll also talk about the CD called Give Way that was supposed to be released alongside Single Video Theory. What happened to it? Why was it never issued? Do copies of it still exist? We answer all of that!
2008 is an under the radar tour year for Pearl Jam as the Avocado era was nearing it’s end. They went out on a 13-show east coast run where songs that they either hadn’t played in years or never played at all starting popping up in setlists. Fan favorite tracks like W.M.A. and Who You Are mixed in with Lost Dogs such as Sad, Education and All Night all found playing time during this tour. This show in Columbia, SC that we cover in this episode is a microcosm of that year. A big thank you goes out to our Patron Michael Keating for requesting this show! The craziest thing about this setlist is how incredibly balanced it was. No Code has the same amount of representation as Ten and Vs., Riot Act has more songs played than Yield and Vitalogy and there are Lost Dogs galore. The band took this opportunity of not having to promote an album as a platform to celebrate their entire discog and the fans reaped the benefits. This is definitely a stat heavy show and we’ll get into some of the gritty statistical details that may make this show feel amongst the rarest of the bunch
We’re taking this episode back to the revered 1994 tour smack dab in the middle of the Vs. and Vitalogy records. It can be argued that 1994 was Pearl Jam’s most important year – it was a year where they stood their ground in the fight against Ticketmaster, a year where they spoke up about important social justice issues such as pro-choice rights, a year where they were about to fire their drummer, and it was the year where they grieved the loss of Kurt Cobain. The Ann Arbor show fell right in the middle of that tumultuous time as the 10th out of 21 shows on tour and as we’ll discuss throughout this episode, you could tell that the drama was weighing on them a bit. Through the duration of this show we’ll talk about how Ed’s mood seemed to reflect one who was struggling to make it through the night. Visceral performances of songs like Daughter and Porch that utilized improvisations that weren’t necessarily out of character for him at the time, but they set a tone for the show expressing how fed up they were with the ticket fiasco. Ed even made mention to it later in the set and apologized for how impossible it was to get tickets that night. Blood was another performance where his frustration seemed to burst whilst on stage. We also get a few very interesting moments that make this show unique. One of those moments featured Jeremy in the opener spot, something that hasn’t happened at a Pearl Jam show since. Three Vitalogy songs were played 9 months before the album would be released – Last Exit, Not For You and Nothingman, with the latter making it’s live debut and the only performance of the song for over two years. There’s also a very raw version of Yellow Ledbetter that was played for only the 5th time.