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.
Episodes Covering Pearl Jam Concerts in 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.
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.
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.
We take a trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan for this episode, but if you were to listen to this bootleg, you’d be surprised it wasn’t in a major city. After a two night trip in Chicago supporting their self titled, or Avocado album, the band noticed that newer tracks weren’t being well received by the Ten Club members that would continuously get the best seats due to their ranking in the lottery. Because they weren’t feeding off their energy, if you believe the rumors the band decided to shake things up and give some new faces a chance to get to the front. With new faces comes new energy. This show was driven by the energetic enthusiasm the crowd put in with every song, new and old, and the band fed off that momentum the entire night. Additionally, they decided to do a little experiment with the encore playing 6 slower songs in a row, similar as to how they tend to begin encore sets in this current era. One of the new faces that got a chance to see the band up close is one of our Patreon donors, Bradley Piasecki, who joins us this episode to talk about his experience at this show. We’ll talk with him about how the band’s placement of certain new songs in the set could’ve turned off the touring, front row followers as well as what the “experimental” encore has meant for the band moving forward.