Episode 252: Prague, CZ – 7/1/2018

With the 2023 tour in our rearviewmirror, we’re pushing forward back as this episode features a great show from Prague at the end of the Lightning Bolt tour run. Seeing as we are now officially finished with the Gigaton run, we thought it would be a good idea to take both of these tour years and see how they compared before embarking on a new era. It’s interesting to look at side by side because at the show in Prague, the crowd was treated to many crowd favorite rarities such as Tremor Christ, Brain Of J., Love Boat Captain and Help Help. That’s not far off from what we were just treated to! Of course the sets were a little longer in 2018, but we’re going to get into why certain things have needed to be adjusted as the band gets older.

While people may remember 2018 for the Home/Away shows, the massive show in Rome or even the London make-up show, this Prague show should be right up there when people discuss the best of this year. The crowd was lively on big time favorites such as Corduroy and Do The Evolution, which means they were treated to some well deserved surprises later in the set. Two big highlights of this show include a version of Love Boat Captain that features an incredible jam/improv intro, and a tandem of The Beatles Help! transitioning into Riot Act deep cut Help Help. We’ll also have a little Prague history for you that we’ll discuss!

Thanks go out to Ross Strothers for requesting this episode, you’ll get to hear his story told. And the Gear Guru segments this week feature a discussion on Stone’s tone during Tremor Christ and other songs, and Mike using a very unique pedal that created a sound in songs like Even Flow and Black that we didn’t get to see presented in 2023.


Episode 158: Safeco Field – 8/8/2018

We’re nearing the end of our Hometown Series and a show that absolutely needed to be apart of that conversation gets the spotlight in this episode. This one covers the first night of the 2018 Home Shows – a two night stay at the ballpark formerly known as Safeco Field that fundraised $11 million dollars to combat homelessness in Seattle. This show is a true band homecoming and appreciation for their roots as throughout the night, Ed would tell some of the most poignant stories he’s ever told, giving each band member a moment in the spotlight and sharing the long road that it took for them to be where they are today. Ed’s most prominent and pertinent story of the night takes place before Even Flow. He shares the origins of the song which has a direct connection to the true meaning of why they’re raising money to fight homelessness. You get to see a vulnerable side of this band that doesn’t normally come out on stage at most shows and it takes you on a journey through their personal experiences and how they’ve interwoven them into what defines Pearl Jam as a band. There are incredible performances and big surprises from this show, and the Colin Powell rule comes into effect as we get to talk about a topic that might otherwise not be relevant – The Beatles and the Get Back movie. We go into great detail about what makes the film so good, and connecting it to Pearl Jam, we fantasize about a world where we are introduced to a documentary about the Vs. and Vitalogy sessions. It’s worth the listen!

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Episode 136: Rome, IT – 6/26/2018

Pearl Jam has a rich history of playing shows in Italy. Many of their Italian shows have been among some of their best such as Verona 2006 and the entire Immagine In Cornice run. They’ve also had some not so memorable moments opening up for U2 on the 1993 Zooropa tour where they were not well received. Out of the 21 shows they’ve played there, there might not be one that beats the last time they’ve played there to date at the famous Stadio Olimpico in Rome. In front of 70,000 fans, the band returned to the ancient city for the first time since the 1996 tour. That Rome show is relevant because it was on that tour that Ed wrote the lyrics to what would become Yield song MFC and would play it at his first ever solo show in Rome after the tour ended. Ed tells the story of how MFC was written during this show as the song is clearly an obvious choice to play due to the environment.Speaking of obvious songs, since this is a massive crowd, the band comes out firing with all of their hits. Some of the best moments from this show are the songs that you might be able to hear at any Pearl Jam show, but remember this isn’t in front of a mere 15,000 people in a hockey arena. This is in front of one of the largest stadiums in the world. After Ed had to deal with throat issues that postponed a London show a week prior to this night, they bounced back with a 35-song performance and an instant classic. Release, Elderly Woman, Corduroy, Daughter, Black, Rearviewmirror, Alive, and Rockin’ In The Free World are all major highlights from this show. Thanks to our Patron Craig Peterson for requesting this episode!

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Episode 134: Rio de Janeiro, BRA – 3/21/2018

In this episode we  chat about a show from the last tour cycle way back in 2018. Of course we know how crazy intense the Brazilian crowds are, and the crowd at this show in Rio de Janeiro would once again control this night. Joining us to talk about it is friend and Patron, Dukes Wooters, who traveled from Seattle to be there that night. Also, since we’re talking about Brazil, we’ll share a message from the band Black Circle about their experiences at this show, including an attempt to get their lead singer Lenny to sing with Ed! A lot of the content in this episode will feature Dukes story of his trip and what was happening in Brazil at the time. This show came shortly after councilwoman Marielle Franco was murdered which led to Brazil undergoing a major transfer of power. This was not lost upon the band as they addressed and paid tribute to the situation, clearly aware and looking out for Brazil’s best interests. Powerful political and progressive songs such as Can’t Deny Me, Leaving Here and a W.M.A. tag off Daughter were played as a reaction. But this show had many of the key fun moments you expect from Brazilian crowds, lots of singing, lots of chanting, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly and Black sounding otherworldly. But the band also broke out some of the deeper tracks such as Garden and Immortality. Having Josh Klinghoffer and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers join the party was another awesome added bonus to make this night special for the locals.

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Episode 96: Barcelona, ESP – 7/10/2018

We’re back around the world this week and we’ll continue the series this entire month finishing up two more stops and Europe and FINALLY getting to some highly regarded South American shows. This week though we kill two birds with one stone (Gossard) as we’ll also treat this episode as a Patreon request from our friend Luke who attended this show! The best thing that you can say about a Pearl Jam show is that when you hear the city and year, you know immediately what it attaches to. For this one, it’s Oceans for Israel. Israel was a fan from Mexico who was set to attend this show, but in June of that year suffered a heart attack and would later pass away due to complications from surgery. His friends and fans alike started a social media campaign to get the band to play Oceans, his white whale, at the show. And as the band always does, they take it a step further with a section that could’ve been seen as dedicated to Israel featuring Oceans, Light Years and Daughter with an Esta Bien tag. Other great things from this show – we’ll get to hear a great crowd participate on their most popular of songs such as Black and Do The Evolution and we FINALLY get to cover Riot Act deep cut Ghost for the first time ever on this show.

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Episode 90: Wrigley Field – 8/20/2018

We’ve come a long way this series – we’ve talked to great people, talked about great shows and basked in the amazing moments this band has celebrated at one of the United States most treasured landmarks in Wrigley Field. And now it’s time for this series to come to a close, but we’re gonna go out with a bang! Just like we started, Night 2 of 2018’s big storyline was the rain. This time it was different. There was no beautiful day gone wrong, the band never took the stage at the time they were supposed to as they did in 2013. There was waiting… and waiting… and rain and more rain. Until the band finally took the stage around 9:30. They came out of the gates swinging knowing that this crowd was gonna be ready to erupt blasting an impassioned version of Given To Fly and followed up with a tight set of speedy rockers to get the crowd excited. As we’ll mention in the episode, it was an immaculate setlist for the situation that they were in. the brought out the big guns and the songs everyone was ready to sing while mixing in some special favorites such as In My Tree and U. But the thing that this show will go down in history as being most famous for was the OTOTO of Evil Little Goat. Never before and pretty likely that its never happening again, the crowd was treated to one of the deepest cuts in their back catalog.

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Episode 89: Wrigley Field – 8/18/2018

There’s only two shows left to cover in our Wrigley Field Series as we’ve crossed off 2013 and 2016 and we’re now onward to the most recent year the band has been on tour. This episode will cover the 2018 Night 1 show where the band had a lot to follow up on. They had to follow up on a massive Seattle performance only a week prior that everyone was still raving about, and they had to follow a 2016 performance at Wrigley that was one for the ages. The stakes were high, but did they meet expectations? We’ll invite a panel of our Patreon members onto this episode to discuss a few topics including the performances of Missing and I Won’t Back Down and the infamous incident where a fan ran onto the field and stole home during RITFW. The first two moments being two of the absolute most memorable from this night and included Ed playing on Tom Petty’s guitar with the fireflies lighting up in the darkness. Missing was an incredibly emotional, albeit subtle, tribute to Chris Cornell without any official dedication. Other moments from this show that we’ll talk about are how the band performed some of the early set tracks such as Breakerfall, Getaway and Leavin’ Here in alternate tuning. It was a strange vibe that didn’t sit very well with us, but there are plenty of other moments in this set to get excited about including Wash as the opener, Present Tense, a combo of Footsteps/SOLAT/Breath and one of the oldest songs in the catalog Alone.

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Episode 72: Kraków, POL – 7/3/2018

What’s a better way to enjoy your time social distancing than reliving some of Pearl Jam’s best shows in their history? This one we don’t have to go back too far as we’ll only travel back to 2018 to cover the Krakow, Poland show – another episode in our Around The World series. This show provides another chance to talk about a smaller city/country that Pearl Jam brings their a-game to. From opening with Of The Girl to busting out uncommon favorites from the Riot Act era, the band was having fun while taking their chances on this very memorable night. But there is no argument that the most important thing that came out of this night was a rare appearance of the Lost Dog track Other Side. Only having appeared two other times at the 2010 Bridge School and Worcester in 2013, this song came as a complete surprise in this set list. Especially in the very early part of the set. This will obviously be one of the only times we get to talk about the song so we do our best to figure out why the band might not bust it out as much as the fans may want them to.

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Episode 67: Missoula, MT – 8/13/2018

In 2018, sandwiched between The Home Shows and two nights at historic Wrigley Field, Pearl Jam headed to Big Sky country in Missoula, Montana to benefit Rock2Vote and Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election. On this week’s Live on 4 Legs, hosts John Farrar and Chris Buckley give the local boy, bassist Jeff Ament, some love as he takes center stage for this concert, featuring Pilate, Lowlight, Bee Girl, and other Ament-centric material, as well as pointed covers of Know Your Rights, Imagine, and Throw Your Hatred Down. We’ll also spend time discussing the most controversial poster in Pearl Jam’s history depicting the White House in a blaze with the former President’s carcass remains burnt to the skull. Thanks to patron Dan Opallo for picking this week’s show to cover!

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Episode 65: Safeco Field – 8/10/2018

So we’ve been back n forth covering all different eras in the mid to late 90’s lately, but we don’t have to travel too far to get to this episode as only a Gigaton of news has happened since then. We cover the second night of the Seattle home shows. Thanks to our Patron, Adriane Petersen, who made the request for the episode! We emphasize it so often when discussing this one – this was a homecoming show that paid tribute to early-era Pearl Jam with songs that the folks from day one may remember seeing them playing in clubs like RCKCNDY and the Off Ramp. Oceans, Footsteps, Leash, Rats and even the essentials such as Alive, Even Flow and Porch were seen as a throwback to the band’s roots. And to prove that this one was legit, this was the only time since the album released that they hadn’t played a song off Lightning Bolt. But with all of the fun that the band had on stage with their Seattle buddies helping them along the way, we can’t help but discuss what this 35-song marathon means for future shows. Seeing as how the band is going on tour with an opener for the first time in 8 years this year, we wonder if the length of this show and the band’s lack of stamina in their older age has something to do with it. Wait for it around the end of the first encore, the band had a rough time making it out of some spots in this show that was otherwise full of energy.

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Episode 55: London, ENG – 7/17/2018

In the summer of 2018, we witnessed a possible turning point in the band when a second show in London was canceled due to Eddie having a busted throat. This would lead to a rescheduled date that ended the European tour with tons of great moments to make up for the cancellation. LO4L Patreon donor Aurelien was there that night and joins the show to discuss his experience. A lot of what we discuss in this episode is how the situation in London possibly has something to do with how quiet the band has been in 2019. Was Ed losing his voice so much of a concern that they halted album recordings in order for him to save himself for solo shows? We’ll also talk about Can’t Deny Me and whether after almost 2 years if it should even be placed on a new album let alone in a prominent spot on it. Aside from that, the show had a lot of big moments in the set that you don’t usually get. Oceans and Nothing As It Seems as openers, Mankind, Satan’s Bed, Fatal and a whopping 4 Riot Act songs that were played! Not stuff you get from a normal performance. It also has a wonderful dedication to friend of the podcast Andrea Oakes whom the band played I Won’t Back Down for.

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Episode 2: Fenway Park – 9/4/2018

We head back to Fenway to finish up the last of the 2018 away shows. Randy and Matt discuss how their entire day was planned from 6:30 am until showtime – this featured merch line waiting, word of mouth promotion and especially meeting all of the awesome LO4L fans for the first time. This experience made the day extra special for both of them! Oh right! There was a show that night too! What an incredible way to end the 2018 stadium shows as the band lit the stage on fire from the very start. From fan favorites like Red Mosquito, to an interesting take on Immortality, and a DIRTY little teaser near the end – we cover it all in this jam packed episode!

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Episode 1: Fenway Park – 9/2/2018

Our first episode covers the first of two nights of Pearl Jam’s away shows at Fenway park. Since this is LO4L’s first go around, Randy and Matt introduce themselves and tell stories about how they got into the band as well as inspiration for starting the show. The first night at Fenway had its ups and downs and we break it all down from Eddie’s drunk ramblings to highlights of the night such as “Tremor Christ” and “Out Of My Mind”.

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