Episode 244: Saratoga Springs, NY – 8/27/2000

Toga! Toga! We’re heading to upstate New York to cover Pearl Jam’s last show to date at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, aka SPAC. It’s a widely popular venue, one in which jam bands such as Phish and Dave Matthews Band have frequented, and as Ed would mention in this show, it was an early Lollapalooza tour venue back in 1992 when they played alongside Soundgarden. Glad he kept the shirt.

This show comes right off the heels of a major turning point from the Binaural tour – The Jones Beach shows. The legendary Daughter performance with the It’s OK tag, forever enshrined on the Touring Band 2000 DVD, marked as a healing moment for the band during the toughest period in their history. This show getting off to a hot start was a sign that the band was starting to loosen up and learn how to have a little fun on stage again. Breakerfall, Whipping, Spin The Black Circle, Hail, Hail, Corduroy and In My Tree are the first six songs of the night, and they absolutely do not disappoint. Add in an experimental Rearviewmirror to close the main set and a combination of Black/Yellow Ledbetter to this night, there are a lot of signature moments that make this show stand out. Oh yeah, and the nudist lava lamp inventor… him too.

We’ll hear stories from our Patron, Andrew Famulare, as well as Patrick and Brian from Hallucinogenic Recipe who were both at this show in the same section, but didn’t know each other at the time. They’ll share their hilarious memory from this show from both perspectives. And our Gear Guru segments this week look into Stone’s Rickenbacker impact on Breakerfall, an interesting octave change in the Spin The Black Circle chorus, and why the combo of Black and Ledbetter worked so well, including love for the Nobody’s Fault But Mine Led Zepplin tag.