Episode 21: Barcelona, ESP – 11/21/1996

In this episode, we dig into a show from the No Code tour in 1996 that was a popular bootleg back in the day, but not necessarily for the reason you’d guess. This Barcelona show featured a sound check that made the rounds throughout the Pearl Jam community because of three featured songs – Parting Ways, Hard To Imagine and I’m Open. While Parting Ways was 4 years from even being included on an album, the other two songs were ones rarely in Pearl Jam’s live repertoire at the time. While the sound check is certainly an interesting facet, we’ll talk about how in hindsight it might not be as good as was praised at the time.

As for the show itself, it’s obviously very No Code heavy which we’ve talked about before. But there are interesting set decisions here that we wouldn’t usually see nowadays such as a mid-set version of Off He Goes and a late set version of Sometimes. Can’t forget to mention our Wishlist set choice for closer, Around The Bend, that was used in that spot for the third and last time here. You’ll tune into this show for the Pearl Jam, but you’ll stay for the pizza and Muppet comparisons which are totally logical. We swear!