Episode 126: San Francisco, CA – 10/28/1993

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. T

here 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!