Episode 307: Denver, CO – 10/22/2014

Happy 34th birthday, Pearl Jam! This week we are celebrating the anniversary of the band’s debut show from the Off Ramp back in 1990 by covering the show that happened on the last time they played the anniversary date in 2014. There are certain shows that are highly praised in their catalog for being marathon shows playing upwards of nearly 40 songs in a set. State College, Mansfield and The Spectrum are a few by name, but the tour closing show in Denver had a whopping 38 performances that could put this show in the neighborhood of the others previously mentioned.

Does this show belong among the classic marathon shows? That will be a topic for discussion here as we have tons of material to break down. What’s interesting to note is that this show features six of the eight songs that were played in that Off Ramp set, including Release as the opener. While the band may not have recognized the significance of the date prior to the show, they certainly rise to the occasion to make it a special night for their audience. It was a great show for deep cuts such as Ghost, Of The Earth, Don’t Gimme No Lip, My Father’s Son and Sleight Of Hand, and to really give the crowd something unique, Lukin is played with a slow burn intro.

As mentioned, there’s 38 songs at play here so there’s a lot to pack into this episode!


Episode 295: Vienna, AUT – 6/25/2014

It’s Olympics week, and since we’ve been following heavily on some of Pearl Jam’s past European shows lately, why not add one more into the fold to keep the theme alive? This show from Vienna is like running a marathon as the band treats us to nearly 3 hours of an excellent 35-song set. Everything was on the table here as they dipped into songs from nearly every album, including many of the check list songs for all of the serious collectors.

The theme for this show? Less talk, more rock. The band wasted no time at the beginning of the show going on a run of eight straight songs to start the show. This was not necessarily a night for chatting, it was a night for amazing bass grooves and solos ala Gossard. We’ll talk about how great they both sound at this one and highlight songs such as Hail, Hail and Brain Of J where they both thrived. But the rarities also dominate the night as it’s the last time to date that they’ve played Can’t Keep, Rats and the deep Backspacer cut Speed Of Sound is also featured at this show. We also hear some rare covers involved including Rain, Public Image and Needle And The Damage Done.

We’ll also get into a deep conversation about how meaningful encore 2 sets are outside of creating the party atmosphere to close your night.


Episode 291: Berlin, DEU – 6/26/2014

Well. Originally this episode was slated to get you guys excited for the shows taking place in Berlin this week, but while the band was forced to cancel their plans, we’ve decided to stick with ours. Berlin is one of Pearl Jam’s best cities to play in that perhaps nobody ever talks about. This crowd comes into every show ready to bring their a-game, and at this show in 2014, nothing was spared. From waving their arms in the air to clapping in rhythm, bouncing up and down and singing every lyric and guitar melody, the fans in Germany absolutely know how to give this band the best they got.

This Lightning Bolt era show went for nearly 3 hours and featured 34 songs from every variety of rarities to the radio hits. This show will have plenty of great crowd moments, including on songs like Do The Evolution and Sirens where the band is greeted with post-performance melodies. Checklist songs galore here that include God’s Dice, Sleight Of Hand, You Are, Who You Are, All Those Yesterdays, Bee Girl and one of the rarest songs in the Pearl Jam catalog, Hold On played for only the fourth of a total of five times. But that’s not all! Find out why this crowd needed to hear the dulcet tones of the voice of their favorite guitar player, and the hilarious ensuing result.

We’ll of course start the show reacting once again to the news of cancelations, and once again bring more context to the situation.


Episode 215: St. Paul, MN – 10/19/2014

This episode is about breaking a stigma. No show could ever be at fault for following a marquee night where the entire No Code record was played on a whim. Nor can it be at fault for not being the show in Milwaukee the next night where the entire Yield record was done. But if you ask anyone that was in the building on October 19 of 2014 in St. Paul, Minnesota, they’ll tell you that they got a near perfect show. Pearl Jam hadn’t played in Minnesota (aside from some Target corporate party that doesn’t count) since 2006, but it was two shows where they were the opening act for Tom Petty. So for a full Pearl Jam experience? 2003. This crowd waited 11 years, and although they didn’t get an album show, there were enough moments here that this crowd holds special.

There are a few things to take away from this night. Although the setlist on paper may look like a pretty average Pearl Jam set, the performances are all delivered with a sense of purpose. This was the first instance where Ed spreads awareness for a rare skin disease called EB. Something he and his wife have raised millions of dollars for in order to find a cure ever since that day. He invites a doctor on stage who specializes in bone marrow treatment named Dr. Yakub Tolar, and the result is an inspirational moment where he relates what the band does to his own work in the medical field. Performance wise? It’s hands down Love Boat Captain as the best moment of this show, and it’s a must listen.

Thanks to our Patrons Kirk Walton and Ben Dwyer both for pitching this show. You’ll get to hear their stories during the episode.

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Episode 210: Detroit, MI – 10/16/2014

In this episode, we put a Stranglehold on Detroit Rock City as it’s time to Kick Out The Jams on this Elephant of a show with tons of Raw Power that emanated from Detroit in 2014. A 32-song set with an excellent crowd that took place in the middle of their Heartland Tour during the Lightning Bolt era, this show was dominated by Motor City Easter eggs, local sports legends and some things you’ve never witnessed before. Big thanks to long-time Horizon Leg Patron, Fred Blood, for requesting this as he’ll get to tell his story in the episode.

Though it was the show that preceded the wildly popular Moline No Code performance, people still talk about this one eight years later. There’s no shadow hanging over it, and it’s because it was an excellent mix of fan favorites, rarities and tons of memorable speeches. It was the sixth all-time performance of Black Red Yellow, the first instance where Release and Oceans opened up a show back-to-back and includes a highly emotional version of Light Years dedicated to Ikey Owens from Jack White’s band who had recently passed away.

Listen in if you want to find out what happens when you challenge Chris Chelios to a fight, and discover the reason as to why Get Right hasn’t been played in nearly 20 years. But stay until the end if you want to know which 2022 shows we’ll be covering during the month of December!

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Episode 204: Milwaukee, WI – 10/20/2014

This is a show that I’m sure you’re all familiar with. On a midwestern run in 2014, Pearl Jam did something that can be consider unprecedented. It all started in Moline, Illinois where for the first time, they played No Code in its entirety. Three days later, they decide to test out another album in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Yield is played front to back. That’s what we’ll be covering today, the last full album show that we needed to cover in the modern era!

Returning to the show is the author of new Pearl Jam book, Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation, Steven Hyden. He’ll talk about his experience from that night and what it was like to witness what went down in real time. However, this isn’t the only artist that he’s been in the crowd to see pull out a surprise full album show. It’s a classic album by an all-time legend, find out which one during his interview!

As for the show itself, some might’ve been a little suspicious when they took the stage to Red Dot, but for others that heard rumors swirling round on Twitter, it was a sign that something big was set to go down. The band may have called for a bit of a misdirection early when they invited Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen on stage to do Baba O’Riley as the fifth song in, but once Brain Of J. hit it was off to the races. We’ll talk about the entire Yield portion of the set, how they presented it rather close to the album renditions (no Wishlist tag, no Untitled before MFC), when and how the fans figured it out and we’ll also come up with what the definitive performance from this set is.

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Episode 195: St. Louis, MO – 10/3/2014

Let’s focus on more September show locations for this episode! In this one, we’re gonna discuss a St. Louis show that happened on the 2014 US tour leg thanks to a Patreon requested episode from David Ruthman. This show’s story centers around a few themes. This night happened to be the same night that the playoffs started for the Cardinals that year, so we receive many scoreboard updates and references. We also get to see a lot of dedications and mentions of fans who made it out to see them, some against all odds. That will bring us into a good conversation about how the band’s propensity to acknowledge fans who are going through a rough patch draws this community closer together.

It being a Lightning Bolt tour show, we’ll get a few songs from the record, some heavily played and others rarely. It’s mostly a greatest hits set with a few nice surprises including the live debut of Imagine, great versions of Not For You, Footsteps, Given To Fly, Better Man and a chilling version of Daughter performed in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, MO.

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Episode 151: Austin City Limits – 10/5/2014

A festival show is on the docket as we take a look back at the first night Pearl Jam performed at Austin City Limits in 2014. ACL is always an eclectic festival weekend, but this year had the band headlining alongside Eminem and Outkast, which on paper doesn’t seem to be their scene. But the reunited Replacements would go on before them, which would lead to a nice tribute during the Daughter tag. While this is kind of what you’d expect from your average festival sets, there are moments worth going back to in this such as the extended intro version of Love Boat Captain, a touching dedication during the Come Back performance, and we get a Danny Clinch appearance on Red Mosquito. With apologies to all Texans who’s state finally has representation on our podcast for the first time in three years, but also, someone might’ve called them sensitive.

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Episode 129: Leeds, UK – 7/8/2014

**This episode is dedicated to the life of our friend Frank Slitti who was taken away from us way too soon. Miss you already…**

One of the most revered live albums in the history of music is The Who’s Live At Leeds record. The album cover itself was an inspiration to Pearl Jam’s Vault collection cover art, but even more than that, the entire performance from the record can be traced back to elements of Pearl Jam’s live act. They’d mention in this show that they were only able to properly play the city of Leeds once before this (It was actually Bradford 92, not the 2006 Leeds Festival in Weatherby) so this night was an opportunity to pay tribute to one of the band’s biggest influences on their career. There are 3 Who songs played, alongside references (a Young Man Blues tease) and nods (Breakerfall, which has an intro inspired from I Can See For Miles) that show that the band had fulfilled a dream by playing on this stage. With 22 main set songs and 36 in total, many taken from the serious collector’s collection, this set is a 3-hour marathon of amazing performances, positive vibes and a connection with the crowd leaving memories lasting lifetimes. It couldn’t have come at a better time as the band was next to finishing the European leg of the 2014 tour giving them the ability to take a deeper dive into the underutilized albums. Let’s put it this way, No Code, Binaural and Riot Act had more representation than Vitalogy… which featured one song from the record, rarity Tremor Christ. As this show prospers from the more obscure, to add a few more Yield’s Push Me Pull Me and the Stone Gossard sung Don’t Gimme No Lip amongst others, it also fully encompasses everything you want from a Pearl Jam show. Playful banter, unexpected moments and interactions and emotional tributes that had the crowd hanging on every note.

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Episode 125: Cincinnati, OH – 10/1/2014

This episode we dip back into a more recent era to talk about the 2014 US leg opener in Cincinnati. Our Patron David Ritter will join us to talk about his emotional experience from this night! The band was in a good mood mixing up the setlist with songs representing every album and stories you could fill a memoir with. This night had classic tales including one featuring a club they played back in 1992 in Cincy called Bogarts, and a crazy story where Keith Richards pull a knife on them. The performances were on point at this show too, most notably a version of Love Boat Captain with an extended jam intro and a Jumpin’ Jack Flash near the end. We’ll also talk about the tragedy in Cincinnati where 11 people were killed at a Who show and the nice dedication that the band made for them during this show.

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Episode 116: Lincoln, NE – 10/9/2014

This episode we take on some uncharted territory as we head to the heartland of America to cover a show from Lincoln, Nebraska on the Lightning Bolt tour in 2014. The state had been a flyover state for them since 1992 so this crowd, with the show being 22 years in the making, showed them why some of the often forgotten states deserve more love. Joining us for this episode is our Patron Curtis Hames who was there that night with many stories to share. When you think 2014 shows, Moline is probably the first that comes to mind. The Moline show where they played No Code track-by-track happened 8 days after this show, and you have to wonder with three No Code songs mixed into this setlist, was this in preparation for that night? There were also 3 Binaural tracks mixed in this show which is pretty rare for any show in the past decade. There are three moments to look out for in this show. One is within the middle of the set where Ed makes conversation with a child celebrating his 6th birthday and sung 1/2 Full directly to him. Another moment came during a wild version of Porch where Stone took a solo and Ed went all Miley Cyrus and swung on the green orbs like a wrecking ball. And in the final moment of the show is a very memorable Yellow Ledbetter where Ed was using a faulty mic and led to some humorous moments, including him singing into a beer bottle.

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Episode 75: Oslo, NOR – 6/29/2014

Happy 75th “official” episode to us as we continue to embark on our Around The World journey in the Scandinavian territory covering the Oslo, Norway show from 2014. While this show has many ups as well as a few downs, its widely known for being the first ever show that the super rare Lost Dog track, Strangest Tribe, made an appearance at a show. With the Lost Dogs album being out for 10 years prior to this show, there were only a few songs that the band has held out on playing from the double disc. While songs like Undone, Hold On and on one occasion Hitchhiker have been brought to the table, Strangest Tribe was seen as one that would never be touched even though it was incredibly popular with the fanbase. We’ll talk about how big of a shock it was to hear that it was played, and having seen the other version of it, Randy will compare it to the Fenway performance. That wasn’t the only rarely heard song you got from this show. The band powered through a stretch of uncommon songs in the middle of the main set such as My Father’s Son, In Hiding, Sad, Light Years and Garden and then would power through the encore with songs like Satan’s Bed, Leash and a rare rendition of Rolling Stones cover Waiting On A Friend.

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Episode 22: Milan, ITA – 6/20/2014

Ciao! This week’s episode takes us back a few years ago to a 2014 show in Italy. Live On 4 Legs Patron donor Aurelien Moureaux joins the show to talk about his experience in the pit as well as some insight on the differences between following the band on tour in Europe than the US. Big talking points in this episode include early utilization of the songs “Sirens” and “Black” in the set list and how weird they may seem on paper, but the results will surprise you. Also – Eddie makes his best attempt at being a Disney princess that will leave you Frozen. This is an episode you won’t want to let go!

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Episode 15: Moline, IL – 10/17/2014

As a major surprise in an intimate setting, Pearl Jam brought something to Moline that hadn’t been done before – they played No Code in its entirety. While they had performed two albums front to back in years prior to this night, this was the kick off of an unexpected tradition that spurned into more album shows on following tours. This one had a special feel to it though. We’ll do our best to recreate a night that can’t be replicated, but as you’ll hear throughout this episode we’re just as blown away by the surprise as the fans in attendance were.

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Episode 6: Memphis, TN – 10/14/2014

We’re going to Graceland! We take our first bite into covering the Lightning Bolt tour with this Memphis show from the 2014 Midwestern leg. This episode focuses on Randy’s experience traveling down south and witnessing the band from the rail all while Eddie was battling a dreaded cold. As we’ll mention throughout the episode, it was raining throughout the entire day and the set list choices reflected it. Lot’s of fun going on in this episode, so come for Pearl Jam and stay for the amazing Elvis impersonations!

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