Episode 283: Sacramento, CA – 7/16/1998

The Dark Matter tour is now underway! As Pearl Jam took the stage this past weekend for two shows in Vancouver, we now know how the songs on the brand new record sound like, and know a little of how they’ll be structured live. The tour will be addressed at the top of the show, but for more, tap into our reaction episodes over on our Patreon!

The show we’re covering in this episode preps us for next week’s show in Sacramento as we’ll breakdown Pearl Jam’s show there from 1998. There is a notable running storyline in this show that will dominate the talking points. Back in 1998, Pearl Jam had invited legacy rock acts such as Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick and Frank Black to support them as their openers. Legendary punk band X took the stage at this show with the entire band watching them from the side stage. Eddie Vedder even introduced them onto the stage. While they were excited to witness the renowned Los Angeles band, it did not translate to the crowd in a way that satisfied Ed. He keeps a grudge with him the entire night featuring moments where he’d shout ‘fuck you’ and ‘you really pissed me off tonight’ in order to get his aggression out.

A lot of the discussion will stem from the middle of the set where a lackluster demeanor was present, but there are also great moments here to address such as Spin The Black Circle to open the show, a firey Go to end the main set, Matt Cameron’s first performance of In My Tree, and a version of Corduroy dubbed “slideuroy” that Javier will dig into featuring Mike using a slide pick on the song.