Episode 293: Milwaukee, WI – 6/30/2006

It’s been a rare occurance throughout Pearl Jam’s history to see them as the opening act on a tour. They toured in support of Neil Young in the early 90’s, and famously for a set of shows for the Rolling Stones in 1997, but for six shows in 2006, Pearl Jam appeared as the opening act for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Pretty good company to cede the headline to, right? This episode covers the second night of Milwaukee’s Summerfest from that run.

A majority of this episode is dedicated to talking about what Tom Petty means to not only us personally, but music and pop culture as a whole. We’ll share stories of our favorite memories getting acquainted with his music, and what he meant to the band as an influence. For a 17-song set, this could have been seen as a typical festival set, but they took advantage of the opportunity and cranked out some special moments. Last Kiss was played as the opener at this show, an occasion that’s only happened two other times, we get rarities such as Sad and Around The Bend and Smile with a little dedication to how the story of the song came to be.

We’ll also discuss the performances of The Waiting and American Girl from the Heartbreakers set that Eddie got to help out with, and the Javier segment is a little bit different this week, so stay tuned for what’s in store!


Episode 285: Los Angeles, CA – 7/9/2006

Pearl Jam is playing two shows in the City Of Angels this week, so once again we’re back to cover another show from their history that they played in The Fabulous Forum. We’re going back to 2006, the Avocado tour. A tour that we can kind of connect to what they are doing now with Dark Matter considering the high representation that you’ll get each night from the album. This show in LA featured 10 of the 13 tracks while Dark Matter has consistently hovered around 8 of 11. We’ll talk a little bit about the impact of the setlists thus far on this tour and where they intersect with Avocado.

A great crowd show here (which is disappointing when you look at the ticket sales for both Forum shows for this week) and we’ll get into how they made what could be considered a standard setlist to many feel exciting. The crowd came to participate on songs like Release, Corduroy, Even Flow, Small Town, Last Kiss and Alive, but also reacted well to the brand new songs. The highlights of this set that we’ll get into come from Rearviewmirror, Crown Of Thorns, Gone, Big Wave and Inside Job, and we’ll get to see an appearance from Tim Robbins joining in on a modern take of a song by folk musician Phil Ochs.

Javier will join us to talk and teach about the Dumble amps that they’ve been using all tour, and he’ll do a breakdown of Big Wave as well. Stay tuned as he’ll join the show next week in preparation for Seattle!


Episode 268: Melbourne, AUS – 11/16/2006

With some rumors swirling about Pearl Jam playing Australia this year for the first time since 2014, we thought now would be as good of a time as any to get into a show from down under. 2006 was the last time they played Australia without the help of the Big Day Out festival. For Melbourne, they were treated to three great shows in the same fashion that they had done in previous years, such as 1995 and 1998. While the performances are great from this show, there is one thing that will make this one go down in the annals of Pearl Jam history, and that is… Ed’s butt cheeks.

Yes, you read that right. Three nights in Melbourne means that shenanigans are bound to be had both after the shows and on the off day, which Ed had partaken in. During his escapades, he was informed of a traditional Australian drinking game in which you take a 50 cent coin, wedge it between your butt cheeks and then try and walk with it over to a cup and see if you can drop it in. In the spirit of a night three, Ed plays the game on stage to pretty hilarious results. Also, Stone takes a crack (ha….) at it as well.

Aside from that, we have some great performances at this show. We’ll end up talking about Jeff a lot who is prominent in the mix on such songs like Hail, Hail and Even Flow, and Javier’s segments this week will focus heavily on the Telecaster sound during World Wide Suicide and Save You, as well as Mike’s Ibanez (not Gibson) Flying V on Present Tense. Big thank you to our Patron, William Rees, who submitted this episode request and joins us to tell his story

 


Episode 267: Prague, CZ – 9/22/2006

This episode is manhandled by a recurring theme in which Pearl Jam has never attempted prior or since. On a 2006 night in Prague following a very memorable series of shows in Italy, the band balanced a main set sprint with a first encore where five songs all connected. As we are used to sometimes seeing the songs Better Man, Nothingman and Leatherman used together in what has been dubbed “The Man Trilogy”, on this night the trilogy expanded it’s tribe by adding in Dead Man and Man Of The Hour into what we dub as The Man Pentology. This is a one off instance which was never repeated in this group of five again, and we’re excited to share it with you because it’s things like this that seem to get forgotten about over time. Especially at a show that was not played in America.

As mentioned, this is one of the fastest main sets you’ll ever witness from the modern era clocking in at an hour and 8 minutes. When sets tend to trail on the faster side, that’s all thanks to Matt Cameron’s furious pace that he brought to the table during shows in this era. Songs like Sad, Daughter and Marker In The Sand were all revved up more than usual, and even the songs that already have that identity  such as Last Exit, Whipping and Animal were all amped up a little more than usual. We’ll work quick through this set, but not before taking a moment to feature some of our favorite songs, including a few Filthy Fills tossed in there.

Check out this week’s Gear Guru segments with Javier where he’ll break down a phaser that McCready uses on Life Wasted, to talking about a pedal no longer featured on Stone’s board that was implemented in this version of Insignificance.


Pearl Jam Late Night Series: Ep. 13 – Letterman 2006

We have a jam packed Late Night episode for you! Not only are we digging into the late night show performance of Life Wasted, but we are covering the entire 10 song after show that took place in the Letterman studio! Only about 300 fan club members got invited to a show after the taping that showcased some of the brand new Avocado songs for a very early time live, as well as a few other fan favorites. To the disappointment of the crowd, Leash was not played on this night, but one song that was played changed the entire trajectory of how the fans see it today. Take a listen and find out which one I’m talking about, it’s an absolute classic!


Pearl Jam Late Night Series: Ep. 12 – Later… With Jools Holland 2006

We’re heading across the ocean for this Late Night Series episode to focus on Pearl Jam’s appearance on Later… With Jools Holland in 2006. Only weeks before the self-titled record came out, the band continued to do the promotional circuit, which in this case also led to a surprise show the night prior in which many Avocado songs were debuted. We get three great performances here, and an interview that reveals some thoughts about the band taking from inspirations and how they’ve changed since early in 1992. Enjoy!


Episode 224: Antwerp, BEL – 8/30/2006

Out of around 1,200 shows played within the lexicon of Pearl Jam, there are inevitably some that are going to fall between the cracks. Those shows are mostly considered to be outside of the USA, just because the majority of active fans happen to be American. But there are hundreds of Australian, South American and European shows that over time get forgotten about mainly due to being fresh in people’s heads. This episode features a show from 2006 out of Antwerp, Belgium that some may not consider to be better than average just from viewing the setlist, but is extremely important when looking back on their entire history of playing there. Thanks to Gunter (never thought you’d…) Habets for the off the radar request!

This show is important because after 15 years it was their first in Belgium, but that was never the plan. They’ve had to make multiple cancelations back in 1992, and then again in 2000 as a show at the Rock Werchter Festival was slated to be the following show after Roskilde. Since the fans had been waiting a long time, and the band also waiting just as long, this felt like a massive show for everyone involved. The crowd is in top form coming up with creative ways to participate during songs like Small Town, Present Tense and especially Black. We’ll also hear the band put forth inspired versions of songs like Big Wave, Hail, Hail and a version of Even Flow with a massive Matt Cameron solo befitting of the era. We’ll also get the first appearance of Hunger Strike in three years, but was the Wolfmother frontman good enough to step into Eddie’s shoes? Very debatable.

Check out the answers for question of the week where we asked you all on social media what you thought was the best Avocado live track from the 2006 tour to see what songs ranked highest. And we’ll also have three Gear Guru segments this week where Javier will discuss the overall 2006 sound in songs like Unemployable, Big Wave and Alive.

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Pearl Jam Late Night Series: Ep. 11 – Saturday Night Live 2006

We have moved along forward in our Late Night Series to 2006 where the band would make their most public television appearances since 1992. It kicks off with SNL and the live debut of two songs from the Avocado record – World Wide Suicide and Severed Hand. We’ll discuss the era a little bit as well as some of the disappointment within the director’s decision to produce these performances. Oh, and we have Lindsay Lohan as our host in one of her most prime tabloid years!


Episode 208: Newcastle, AUS – 11/19/2006

In this episode we’re talking about one of the wildest sets in Pearl Jam’s catalog coming out of Newcastle, Australia in 2006. This is a one and done city at the point of this release, they’d never played Newcastle before then and haven’t played there since. There are two key factors as to why they played there in the first place. For one, world champion surfer Mark Richards made a push for them to play, as well as a fan made petition featuring 2,277 signatures of the locals. Since this was such a unique situation, the band gave Richards the important duty to put pen to paper on this set, and boy oh boy he didn’t disappoint.

If you like to listen and go to shows where Pearl Jam does something completely out of the ordinary, you may be sold on this show from the first note. For only the second time in history, Alive was played as the opener of the show. This is the true definition of the phrase ‘anything can happen at a Pearl Jam show’ and is why this show over time has been elevated to legendary status. We’ll take about the memorable moments from this version and how the song gave this show a very strong momentum that stayed consistently high the entire night.

And how about the other rarities? For only the second time in their history, the band broke out Undone for a performance, one of five all-time. Leatherman, Down, Masters Of War, Crown Of Thorns and Alone are more surprises that pop in to make this show stand out, as well as Even Flow closing the first encore and Corduroy beginning the second encore. Lest we forget, there is an incredible 9-song run with no stops to begin this night. This show takes you on a ride, so take a listen and come celebrate it with us!

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Episode 205: Boston, MA – 5/24/2006

Pearl Jam has such a rich history in the city of Boston and it’s surrounding parts. Between there, plus Mansfield and Worcester, they’ve played the area a total of 24 times in their 32 year history. From the famous Ten Club show at The Orpheum in 1994, to the three night stay where they made the attempt to play every song in their catalog at Mansfield in 2003, to more recently when Fenway Park has become the crown jewel venue for them to play, there are a lot of absolute classics to take away from this region. In this episode, we won’t be talking about a show that was considered a classic. If there was consideration for one, it would probably be the follow up night 2 show in 2006. But as a night 1 show that didn’t have a set topping moment like Leash did the next night, it’s easy to misplace it within that massive group previously mentioned. Is it time to get this show back on some people’s minds?

We invite in our Patron, Joe Ierachi, who requested this show for us to do as an episode. He joins us here to tell his story featuring his memory from what was an unforgettable crowd, being at a show with his sister and friend who has since passed away, and a story about a fantasy football bet and how it pertains to Even Flow! It’s Joe’s pick, and he’ll tell you why night 1 is more meaningful to him than night 2.

As mentioned, this crowd had an excellent night. We’ll talk about their impact on songs such as Release, Love Boat Captain, Jeremy, Why Go and Crazy Mary. This is also a big night for Mike solos, but Stone has a big moment towards the end of the night as well when an orange shirt gets tossed on stage bearing his name.

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Episode 194: Camden, NJ – 5/28/2006

With September right around the corner, we’re back to covering cities that Pearl Jam will be visiting on tour this year! First stop is Camden, a city that the band had never planned to be in back in 2020, but it just so happens to be on of the most frequent venues that Pearl Jam has ever played. This show we’re covering is the second night of the two show run in 2006.

Lots of good performances to discuss here, from the brand new at the time Avocado tracks, Gone and Severed Hand are two that stand out from this one. Most of this set features songs with blazing speed such as Save You, Grievance and Whipping, but on the flip side the first encore was a complete change of pace bringing in the more emotional tracks such as Man Of The Hour, Black and the second all-time performance of Parachutes. But this show we’ll also have a big finish on encore 2 as well!

Tune in to check out the set, some discussion on Ed singing with The Strokes and a New Jersey tailgate fit for kings!

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Pearl Jam Song Tier Lists: Ep. 8 – Avocado

You may say Self-Titled, I may say Avocado. Regardless of what the album is actually called, it has 13 tracks that are up for discussion in this episode. I’ll be ranking these in what will be a brutal challenge to figure out placements, however, there may be one that stands out above the rest. Is that going to be the super tier song? Gee, maybe watch for that answer, huh? I’ll have opinions in this one as I always do. We’re getting on the dad Ed era now where things get a little interesting in a way that perhaps the 90s albums didn’t. Some people may not agree with my opinions and that is fine. I don’t care if you disagree with me, I care if you’re a whiny baby about it. Constructive conversation is always the key to understanding, so let’s try and understand instead of torching the channel down?


Episode 165: Cleveland, OH – 5/20/2006

This episode takes us to Cleveland for a show on the massive 2006 tour supporting their self-titled record. The big story at the time was coming off of a huge show in Grand Rapids where a slight shake up led to an inspired performance filled with rarities and a different set-up. This show has a few things shaken up itself with the two most notable being Better Man in as the opener and no appearance of Even Flow. The latter of which at the time was turning into a song that long-time Ten Club members rebelled against because of it’s frequency. How do they fill in that gap? Well, immediately you lose a big McCready moment, so we have Immortality to help with that, but you also lose a big crowd participation song, which in this case Daughter steps in for. We also get to see a few requests taken in encore 2 that led to some songs you almost never see, including one in which a certain Gossard sings. Along with Cleveland we’ll also talk about what’s going on with the presumed 2022 tour and get you a little prepared for the upcoming Ed and The Earthlings shows.

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Episode 157: Albany, NY – 5/12/2006

The 2006 tour is seen as Pearl Jam’s last massive rigorous year in their touring history. Supporting the Self Titled, or better known as Avocado record, they were finding their groove with new songs while also emptying the tank of all their songs with long droughts of not being played. The Albany show that we cover in this episode takes place just over a week after the album’s release, and while nine of those thirteen songs were showcased, the band went through and did some digging deep into the back catalog to bring back a few that hadn’t seen the live stage in a number of years – Red Mosquito, that had been played on the previous tour year but held off for 40 straight shows, Satan’s Bed, which was haphazardly brought back at State College in 2003 but played for the first legitimate time since 1996, and Rats which had only been played twice in the Matt Cameron era. Rats is the big one from this set that most fans will remember since it had gone 224 shows on the shelf. Later that month, the band would end up adhering to another popular drought request, Leash, and then eventually the elusive Dirty Frank. This show is defined by its rarities just as much as its defined by the brand new songs energizing them. Wasted Reprise/Life Wasted combo opening the show was something they didn’t break out very often, and after this era songs like Marker In The Sand, Army Reserve and Gone were pushed aside. We’ll get to talk extensively about some of these tracks and how fresh they felt being played for only a single digit amount of times till that point. Thanks to Horizon Leg Patron Zach Fields for requesting this show!

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Episode 121: Honolulu, HI – 12/2/2006

Hawaii has always had an important place within the history of Pearl Jam. From Ed’s love of surfing to discovering and connecting with B3 organist Boom Gaspar, a lot of important moments have developed from the islands. In this episode, we’ll talk about a 2006 show that acted as the end of an era for one of their most important touring years. To join us on this one is former Live On 4 Legs host Matt Helbig to talk about a few of his go-to songs. This episode is gonna be all about the love for Boom who got a warm hometown welcome on this night. We’ll talk about his introduction to the band and how he didn’t even know who Ed was before meeting him, but fast forward into the future and Boom has been a sixth-man staple of the live act. We’ll get to hear some of the classic Boom songs in this show such as Love Boat Captain, Wasted Reprise and Crazy Mary. We’ll also chat about how good of a mood the band was in on this night being able to finish out a monstrous touring year on such a positive note. We get performances closely representing some Hawaiian and beach themes such as Oceans, Big Wave, Ed ukulele song You’re True and a cover of Hawaii 78.

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Episode 91: San Francisco, CA – 7/18/2006

We’re taking a request from not just one, but two of our Patrons! We welcome Sean Rashkis and Brian Anderson to the show to talk about a rare occasion in Pearl Jam’s live catalog – a night 3 show, this one from the batch of San Francisco shows in 2006. Surprisingly, these set of shows were the first time the band played the bay area city since the infamous Polo Fields show from 1995 where Ed was struck with a bout of food poisoning and led to Neil Young jumping in as a replacement. To say this stint went better than the last would be a massive understatement. They gave the bay area fans three nights filled with 90 songs in total and 50 different tracks spanning their entire catalog. Night 3 was no exception as the main set dug into some brand new Avocado tracks along with some deep cuts that you may not hear as much nowadays. Songs like Untitled, MFC, Sad, Light Years, In Hiding, Down and the very appropriate Red Mosquito all filled up the main set. We’ll talk about the set and the songs, but we’ll also discuss the entire 3 -day experience with our guests who recall GA lines being super long and the GA itself being smaller than most venues, leading to some challenges down in the pit. We’ll also talk about a few moments from the previous nights including Ed completely forgetting the lyrics to Sometimes and performing Last Kiss from the crowd.

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Episode 82: Bern, CH – 9/13/2006

This episode features coverage of the Bern, CH show from the 2006 tour. Out of respect to the situation that happened in America at the time of this recording, no episode details will be noted here. This episode is for archival purposes only.

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Episode 81: Marseille, FRA – 9/9/2006

Our Around The World series takes us to France this episode as we talk about one of the best shows from the 2006 Avocado tour. Joining us to talk about it are some old friends of the show making a long awaited return, our old co-host Matt Helbig is back and right alongside him is his brother, Steve Maytan, who gets to share his experience being at this show and doing a small portion of the European tour that year. The show starts off hot with a version of Long Road that on paper would seem a part of the slowburn openers but in turn gives this show the much needed engine start up that pushes them through an extraordinary 6-song kick off to this show. Matt Cameron is the key player on this night and his performance shines through on Corduroy and Even Flow especially. Also on this night you get a handful for the serious collectors. Fatal would be busted out live for only the third time ever, Satan’s Bed was thrown in the mix as well as Leash which was in the midst of a resurgence in 2006. But the one talking point from this show that everyone walks away with is the incredibly rare appearance of Dirty Frank. Don’t worry, we have a LOT to say about Frank and it’s popularity with the fans. We try to both make sense of it and celebrate its presence by breaking down why the band never wants to play it even though its one of the most requested songs from the fanbase.

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Episode 44: Reading Festival – 8/27/2006

This episode we take a trip on the festival circuit, but since all great festivals can’t happen with just one band, we’ve enlisted another podcast host to help us out for this one. Tom Kwei, the host of the Alphabetallica Podcast joins us to tell the story of his first and only Pearl Jam show. When you think festivals and Pearl Jam’s connection to them, you immediately think of the Roskilde tragedy. At this time in 2006, they had just jumped back into playing festivals with this show being the second played since the incident six years prior. With that said, the band was mindful of what was going on in the crowd and announced that they would stop playing if they had to just to make sure everyone was safe, As for the set list, when you think festivals you usually think that it’s a collection of greatest hits, and no doubt they played the hits at this show, but it felt like they put a little bit more into the set to give the hardcore fans a chance to see something special. Songs such as Sad, Soon Forget and Crown Of Thorns were all played among Better Man, Jeremy and Alive making for a balanced group of songs.

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Episode 32: Las Vegas, NV – 7/6/2006

It’s not a stretch to say that when you think of Vegas, usually the first thing that comes to mind is gambling. Funny enough, gambling would be a major theme of this night back in 2006. Branden Palomo from the Better Band Podcast joins us as our guest to help us relive this one. The first major gamble of the night came right away opening out the show with emotional cut Inside Job. It was a risk the band hadn’t taken with the song up until that point, and although it paid off, we discussed how much it affected the feel of the early set. Another gamble here? Well, you’ll have to listen to this unique version of Garden that around the ranks has been labeled “Sound Garden”. We describe it as Beethoven meets Phantom of the Opera and it’s something that you certainly wouldn’t hear in a version nowadays. The biggest gamble of the night however (outside of a jacket that Eddie donned while covering Elvis’ Little Sister) was Eddie taking a gamble on his voice which he claimed was stifling him on multiple occasions. You’ll be able to tell at times that Ed is having some difficulties, but only if you’re listening for it. It was a situation where if he had not complained about it or made fewer mentions than he did, you would never have known he was having an off night. We stressed this fact throughout the entire episode.

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