Episode 296: Lollapalooza Reston, VA – 8/14/1992

This episode takes us back to a time when Pearl Jam’s popularity was skyrocketing. MTV Unplugged had took place, the Jeremy music video was out and the band garnered a lot of attention traveling on the Lollapalooza tour as one of the afternoon openers. This episode covers a Lollapalooza show from Fairfax County, Virginia where the band were in their prime and “all the rage”. The episode will cover not just Pearl Jam’s impact on the festival, but also the festival’s impact on the culture of the early 90’s.

This show is seen as somewhat of a pillar moment for the band this summer because as they were rising up the charts, so were their Seattle brethren Soundgarden traveling on the same tour. Right around this time as both Vedder and Cornell became the defacto faces of the grunge scene, people were starting to pick up on the collaboration that they did for Temple Of The Dog a year prior. Hunger Strike was blossoming into a massive hit and wasn’t something that was played often until they decided to join forces at this show. From there, it became one of those rare moments that people salivated for. They’d continue to bust it out on occasion during this tour, including during a random side stage performance in Phoenix.

This episode is produced a little bit differently since we are only working with eight songs. You’ll get the rare experience of listening to an entire show on this podcast! Of course we stop and chat in between, but every song will be played in full with Even Flow as a lone exception. This episode also features a conversation about the newly retired Aerosmith and how that happening this past week tied in perfectly with this episode.