Episode 204: Milwaukee, WI – 10/20/2014

This is a show that I’m sure you’re all familiar with. On a midwestern run in 2014, Pearl Jam did something that can be considered unprecedented. It all started in Moline, Illinois where for the first time, they played No Code in its entirety. Three days later, they decide to test out another album in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Yield is played front to back. That’s what we’ll be covering today, the last full album show that we needed to cover in the modern era!

Returning to the show is the author of new Pearl Jam book, Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation, Steven Hyden. He’ll talk about his experience from that night and what it was like to witness what went down in real time. However, this isn’t the only artist that he’s been in the crowd to see pull out a surprise full album show. It’s a classic album by an all-time legend, find out which one during his interview!

As for the show itself, some might’ve been a little suspicious when they took the stage to Red Dot, but for others that heard rumors swirling round on Twitter, it was a sign that something big was set to go down. The band may have called for a bit of a misdirection early when they invited Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen on stage to do Baba O’Riley as the fifth song in, but once Brain Of J. hit it was off to the races. We’ll talk about the entire Yield portion of the set, how they presented it rather close to the album renditions (no Wishlist tag, no Untitled before MFC), when and how the fans figured it out and we’ll also come up with what the definitive performance from this set is.