Pearl Jam Podcast Episodes

With a busy weekend covering the final three Pearl Jam shows of the 2023 tour, we’ve decided to make this week’s episode a little bit on the shorter side so we could focus our attention on the Texas shows rather than spend nights heavily editing. So to do that, we had to go back to an era that had significantly smaller sets. Which is why we chose a show from the University of Kansas campus that took place as Pearl Jam was firmly on the rise back in May of 1992. With this little gathering marketed as “Day On The Hill” by the University, they paid the band $3,000 to play this show. It was booked back in January of 1992 when Alive was their only song in circulation, but as the next five months rolled around, no one in Lawrence, Kansas expected this show to be this huge. 18,000 students took over the little outdoor park venue as the band continued their meteoric ascension.

Now it’s pretty clear that what was documented from this day is actually an incomplete show. We’ll get into the details of all that in the episode, but what we do get to see is your classic 1992 affair – the band bouncing around the stage at high energy, crowd surfers galore, songs played at full intensity and of course, stage climbing antics from one Eddie Vedder. The scene is very similar to one set a few months later at home in Seattle for the legendary Drop In The Park show. When Porch breaks into it’s solo, Ed assesses the situation and climbs all the way up to the top of the stage to go swinging. It’s always a sight to behold, and we’ll break down every step of the journey.

We’ll also go through a summary of the tour up to the point of recording, and for those of you who like to study up beforehand, we release our entire rest of the year episode schedule for 2023! But most importantly, our Gear Guru is back! Javier will check in on versions of Why Go and Porch from this day.

As the 2023 tour continues to move from north to south, we’re gonna get you prepared for the Austin shows by covering the last non-festival show that was played in the Texas capital way back in 1995. This was a make-up show for the postponed date that stemmed from Ed’s bout of food poisoning back at the Golden Gate Park show. This show in Austin had it’s own fair share of controversies, including a set time change that threw a large portion of the fans off that thought that 7pm was the start to the show.

This barnburner of a set will have two major talking points – Mike and Jack. Jack Irons was clearly in a groove after nine months of playing and traveling with the band, and while not every song had been fully polished just yet, you can see what spots Jack was having a major influence on and where he thrived the most. Mike on the other hand had numerous moments where his guitar solos shot out of the amps like a cannon on fire. We’re gonna gush over Mike’s presence on songs such as Go, Animal, Corduroy, Why Go, Even Flow, State Of Love And Trust, Immortality, Black and Porch. No shortage of conversation there!

We’ll kick off the episode addressing the recent Indianapolis show postponement and what this may mean for the rest of the 2023 tour.

It’s tour time! We’ve been hyping it up for the last few months, and this episode is the last before the 2023 tour kicks off! We’ll begin the episode talking about the possibilities of what may happen and whether or not there are new songs tossed into the mix. For up to date tour instant reaction episodes, please direct to our Patreon where that content can be found – http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

But let’s not bury this excellent show out of Alabama! Highly regarded as one of the best sounding bootlegs of 1998, it’s a great show to have available in this high of quality. Having never been to this part of the deep south before, the band puts together an inspired performance where we argue the difficulty of choosing an MVP between Ed, Mike and Matt. Stellar performances here. We’ll spend some time breaking down the laser show eminating from the Porch solo, a very aggressive Immortality, Footsteps in an unusual spot played middle of the set, and a powerful Given To Fly that sounds like a 2003 or 2006 version rather than 1998. But the moment that everyone will remember from this show is the Dueling Banjos intro leading way to Corduroy. Was it a little too on the nose for the location?

Sad to say that we won’t be hearing from Javier this week who needed to rest before making his way to St. Paul. But we do have Patrick and Brian from Hallucinogenic Recipe who will take a glimpse into the background behind this bootleg, and the switchover from cassette to CD-R that took place in the trader circuit during this year.

It’s time for our third trip to the Steel City this year! After covering 2000 and 2003 in the spring, we’re going to focus on the tour year that preceded those shows in 1998. Want to hear something kind of shocking? This was their first show in Pennsylvania since Lollapalooza 1992! With the 1994 and 1996 tours that traveled through the northeast, it’s kind of insane that they never hit Pittsburgh or Philadelphia during that time frame. But they make it up to all of yinz by putting together an energetic show where Ed’s intensity is all full force. And we get the live debut of No Way!

With the 2023 tour now a week away, we’ll spend some time discussing some of our thoughts about what could go down, suggesting that perhaps the Metallica method that was popularized this year may be an influence. But tying that into Pittsburgh, what’s great about this show is that we have a soundcheck in our possession. We’re discussing it at the right time because listening to it and hearing the rain and thunder rumbles makes you a little bit homesick for the live Pearl Jam atmosphere. Especially when Ed performs Throw Your Arms Around Me in the pre-set. The rest of the show features classic versions of songs like Black and Do The Evolution, as well as a Rearviewmirror that has a bridge unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time. We’ll also talk about an Easter Egg from this show that’s made the rounds over the years featuring Ed in a different perspective.

Gear Guru segments this week will focus on Stone’s vibrant solo on Brain Of J, Mike’s energy on Alive and a glimpse into why No Way may have never worked out live as well as you’d might think.

We’ve done extensive coverage of the 2003 Riot Act tour celebrating the 20th anniversary this year. Now it’s time to celebrate the anniversary of another major tour in Pearl Jam history – 1998! We kick off a 3-episode Yield tour stretch with an outdoor festival show that took place in Barrie, right outside of Toronto. With Cheap Trick as the supporting act on tour at this time, there are multiple instances where the band gives a subtle nod to their rock heroes, including Mike using Rick Nielsen’s guitar for State Of Love And Trust.

Our Patron Alex Sink joins us for this episode to tell his story of what went down that day. For a bootleg that had a tough time capturing the identity of the show and with no visual aides available, Alex is able to take us back to what that scene was like. A rowdy crowd of over 30,000 created dirt clouds and mud as the mosh pits were in full force on this one. And the band was clearly in a good mood after watching Cheap Trick on the side stage. Ed makes multiple mentions of how great this crowd was, and even addressed some of the craziest fans he had ever seen in the parking lot during an extended version of Leatherman. We also have the world debut of the Do The Evolution music video that happens at this show with the band performing while the images are shown on a screen behind them.

If you love Matt Cameron, this may be the episode for you! Get ready for five moments that we’ve dubbed the ‘filthy fills’ that will be featured throughout this show! Our Gear Guru segments will featured Javier talking about the lack of overdrive pedal from this tour and how Mike would make adjustments on Even Flow and Yellow Ledbetter, and he’ll also discuss Mike’s using Rick Nielsen’s guitar during State Of Love And Trust.

We are less than a month away from seeing Pearl Jam take the stage for nine shows in September, and there’s possibly no bigger stage than the one set for Ed’s hometown of Chicago. As Wrigley Field has dominated the tour runs for the last ten years, the band is finally returning to the United Center for the first time since 2009, which is the show we’ll be digging into in this episode. It was right before the Backspacer record came out, and while not every song had been released yet, it was somewhat of a showcase for songs such as The Fixer, Got Some and Supersonic. With Randy in attendance for the night two of this back to back, he gives some insight as to what was going on this weekend and some of the buzz coming out of night one.

As all Chicago shows are, this is a true homecoming for Ed where he will reference fond memories of his youth on multiple occasions. He ties it in nicely when classic Who songs Love Reign O’er Me and The Real Me are played due to spending lots of cold nights listening to them on his walkman waiting for the L train. He’ll also tie in a story about some of his earliest loves of music coming in the form of listening to Motown and idolizing Michael Jackson, who had died that summer. There is a nice dedication to Michael during Ed’s rendition of Needle and the Damage Done, and a version of Rats featuring a short intro tease of the Michael Jackson song that’s referenced at the end, Ben. And of course, he’ll give nod to the Bulls championship banners in the rafters. As Ed would deem this show to be an emotional ride from the very beginning, we’ll get to hear those kind of songs such as Long Road, Come Back and Man Of The Hour utilized in this set.

Many thanks to Patron Andy Lore who requested this show! Our Gear Guru segments this week will get into a buzzy Mike solo on Sad, how Given To Fly and other songs guitar tone on this tour felt flat, and how Stone’s rigged strumming was the backbone for a fantastic version of Love Reign O’er Me.