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Episodes Covering Pearl Jam Concerts in 2002

Patreon Exclusive: House Of Blues – 9/23/2002

Prior to the release of Riot Act, Eddie was invited to play a benefit concert for the Maryville Academy opening up for his idols, The Who. Originally, it was meant to be his backing band, C Average that was meant to play with him, but somewhere down the line it got switched up, and Pearl Jam ended up opening. It was Pearl Jam for sure, but with a member noticeably absent – Stone Gossard. Stone had a commitment in Papua New Guinea and was unable to make the show, which meant that McCready and Ed were relied upon to be the rhythm section in his place.

We’ll spend the entire episode discussing how important Stone is to this band sonically and what this band is missing when he is not a part of the action. We’ll also talk about what was going on with The Who at the time. Long time legendary bass player, John Entwisle, had passed away earlier that summer, so we will pay tribute to him, discuss his life death and impact and compare how The Who handled the passing of both him and Keith Moon back in the 70’s.

It’s a very interesting show that deserves the conversation, so enjoy the episode, and if you can think of what kind of guitar player Ed is, we want to know about it!

Episode 360: The Showbox – 12/5/2002

Following the tumultuous 2000 tour, Pearl Jam took a year off to recalibrate their energy for 2001. After clearing their heads and writing new music, they were ready to release a brand new album with a different outlook on their personal journeys and the world around them. Riot Act has two centralized themes. One of them deals with the aftermath of Roskilde directly with songs such as Love Boat Captain, I Am Mine, Thumbing My Way and Arc. The other theme is a scathing critique of the United States decision to go to war after the attacks on 9/11. They were extremely critical of President George W. Bush, as well as the corporations that profited from the war.

While the album released in November of 2002, the band didn’t spend a lot of time focusing on touring as it was 2003 that would get the massive exposure for the record. The show we’re covering is the first night at famed Seattle club, The Showbox, that would be followed up by a highly regarded show that turned into a DVD release. This show featured seven live debuts of Riot Act album songs and b-sides, and would be a great indication on how this material would end up working on the live stage during the ensuing tour. The band also hired their beloved B3 organist, Boom Gaspar, around this time, so the crowd gets their first experience of his sound for songs such as Love Boat Captain, Black and others.

We’ll also take time in this episode to chat about life after Matt Cameron and how some of these Riot Act songs that were written by him may not be played moving forward.

Pearl Jam Late Night Series: Ep. 9 – Letterman 2002

The next appearance up in our Late Night Series comes from their promotion of the Riot Act album with not one, but two back-to-back performances on Letterman. I Am Mine and Save You were the two big songs that they were trotting out at the time, but it’s the era that’s much more interesting than the songs. As we’ve studied down this path through their broadcast TV lineage, there are all of these pinpoints where you can mark where the band was at in their career. Coming off an almost two year hiatus following the Roskilde tragedy and 9/11, the band had been out of the public eye, and it would remain that way for most of 2003 after Riot Act didn’t sell as well as the previous six records. They were in the weird stage of not exactly being a legacy band yet and not being anywhere close to feeling fresh. So they went out there and introducing an old Hawaiian organist while changing some important lyrics on Save You. It’s all here, enjoy the episode!

Episode 160: The Showbox – 12/6/2002

We end our 2021 Hometown Series run with the 2002 Showbox show that was released as a DVD. This took place at the beginning of the Riot Act era so we get three debuts from the album as well as a near OTOTO that’s festive for this time of year. Don’t Believe In Christmas, originally written by The Sonics, was featured as a Christmas single that year and closes out the show. We saved it for this time of year so it could be a special holiday treat for you all! Along with showcasing many of the new tracks, a major theme from this show was the incoming Iraq war and how that was impacting the band, mainly Ed. We get to see it in the tag for Daughter where he took a rendition of War: What Is It Good For and shook it to it’s core. The intensity behind his emotional outbreak is one of the angriest displays we’ve ever seen from Ed at a show, and we’ll discuss that in full detail. The political statements would continue throughout the night with the debut of Ed donning a George W. Bush mask during Bu$hleaguer, Insignificance getting a big moment and Yellow Ledbetter getting a few relevant lyrical changes.

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Episode 147: Key Arena – Seattle, WA – 12/8/2002

In this episode, we continue our year long 30th anniversary Seattle hometown series with a tune up show from 2002 that took place shortly before the long Riot Act tour in the proceeding year. The band was slowly returning to the public eye for the first time since the end of the tumultuous Binaural tour, and in the two years since that run, the world had completely changed. In the wake of 9/11 was an impending war with Afghanistan that would transition into a war with Iraq that the band vehemently opposed, and would express their opposition to on the Riot Act record. The Riot Act songs are in their infancy of live performances with most of them only being played in between two and five times. We’ll spend some time talking about the crowd’s reaction to these songs and why some of them took a lot quicker to attach themselves to (I Am Mine, Save You, Love Boat Captain) while others maybe didn’t click as much at first (Ghost, Thumbing My Way). But we’ll also get an early appearance of the George W. Bush mask routine during Bu$hleaguer. Another big talking point of the episode is about The Ramones and their presence in the music world at the time. Earlier that year, Eddie, donning a newly buzzed mohawk, inducted The Ramones into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. It came a year after the passing of Joey, and two months later, Dee Dee would die from a heroin overdose. With Johnny’s health in decline, artists at the time were eager to share how The Ramones had influenced them over the years with Ed at the forefront of all of it. We’ll talk about their impact on the music world and how many artists were looking to keep their legacy alive after losing two original members in such a short amount of time.

Listen to the Episode: