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Pearl Jam

Rip76

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Rip76

Rip76 5013

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Did a quick search and didn't find a Pearl Jam thread, so here goes.  It was April or May of 1992, I can't remember.  I was over at my girlfriend's apartment and the "Evenflow," video came on MTV. 

The summer of '92 was all Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.  Fast forward to September 1992 - Lollapalooza at Ft. Bend County Fair Ground in Rosenberg.  (Met Eddie that day and talked for a bit about music)

After that show, I was a full blown fan.

I remember the anticipation waiting for "Vs.," to come out.  It was actually released one day after my 21st birthday, but they played the whole album on (101Klol or the Buzz) the night before on my birthday.  My friend's were taking me out to "F.A. Skippy's," in Galveston for my 21st.  I sat and drank beer in the car and listened to the whole album before going into the bar.  

Great fucking time to be alive during all of this.  Saw them again in 1993 in Nacogdoches, Woodlands 2000, and Dallas in 2013.

Since "Ten," I've waited with anticipation for each album. **Except for Gigaton** - I stood in line for more than a few of the records the day they came out.

When I was listening to Dark Matter, the last song "Setting Sun," really hit me hard.  If this is their last album, it's a perfect song to end a career with. 

I just kept thinking while listening to "Setting Sun,"  and the whole album for that matter, is that Pearl Jam has been with me through my whole adult life and I'm 51 now.  Through all of the bullshit, ups and downs, deaths of family and friends, birth of my son, etc, etc, etc ...  I got to follow them from their beginning and possibly their end, and their songs followed me, and helped me along as well.   

 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 47068

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I have a feeling this isn't their last release.  I've read a bunch of interviews about the recording process, and how their producer pushed them back into a live-in-the-studio process.  They seem to be energized.

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stc

stc 1500

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have been a fan forever but prior to last year had only seen them twice since they rarely play in tx. attended 3 shows last year and had no idea that their fanbase is so...cult like. people lining up hours before the show to buy the poster/tshirt for that specific city. people camped out all night to be first in line...and then there's some sort of weird controversial wristband thing they do to save their place. all of the people around us at the shows had seen them 25+ times. it was very reminiscent of deadheads, except rich old people and no hippies. honestly it was very much a turnoff but i'm seeing them twice more this year so maybe they've got me right where they want me. the weird holier than thou undertones of all of it was pretty terrible. 

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4th&Five

4th&Five 41938

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3 minutes ago, stc said:

have been a fan forever but prior to last year had only seen them twice since they rarely play in tx. attended 3 shows last year and had no idea that their fanbase is so...cult like. people lining up hours before the show to buy the poster/tshirt for that specific city. people camped out all night to be first in line...and then there's some sort of weird controversial wristband thing they do to save their place. all of the people around us at the shows had seen them 25+ times. it was very reminiscent of deadheads, except rich old people and no hippies. honestly it was very much a turnoff but i'm seeing them twice more this year so maybe they've got me right where they want me. the weird holier than thou undertones of all of it was pretty terrible. 

the only thing i don't love about the band and traveling around to see them is a large percentage of their fans.  i've met some cool people over the years but many are like you're saying.  my biggest problem is how many only listen to PJ. i roll my eyes at the ridiculous discussions about setlists and their white whale tunes.  if i'm taking a first timer i always warn them of what they're walking into.

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oSuJeff97

oSuJeff97 3439

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On 4/25/2024 at 1:25 PM, gsoda3 said:

they still sound good.  i haven't seen eddie in a while, i don't like seeing my idols getting older.

The last time I saw them live was during the Lightening Bolt tour…which, holy shit, was 11 years ago at this point…

But even then their live show was freaking incredible. They played like 3.5 hours and did two encores… they played just about everything you’d want to hear… was an incredible experience. I remember about halfway through the show when they played “Jeremy” it just really hit me that I was seeing PEARL JAM and it was like I completely channeled my 21-year-old brain and it was in heaven… 🙂

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Rip76

Rip76 5013

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41 minutes ago, oSuJeff97 said:

The last time I saw them live was during the Lightening Bolt tour…which, holy shit, was 11 years ago at this point…

But even then their live show was freaking incredible. They played like 3.5 hours and did two encores… they played just about everything you’d want to hear… was an incredible experience. I remember about halfway through the show when they played “Jeremy” it just really hit me that I was seeing PEARL JAM and it was like I completely channeled my 21-year-old brain and it was in heaven… 🙂

Where did you see them?

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oSuJeff97

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36 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

I was at that one too. Fun show. 
IMAGE_192_Original.thumb.jpeg.91d11bc339e5709171ebfb47dc1ef2bb.jpeg

Nice man. Your seats were way better than mine!

I was in the lower bowl kind of on the left side of the stage about half way back. Awesome show.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12622

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I was in grade school when grunge hit and didn't really embrace it until middle school ('96ish) after Kurt had died.  I was a huge Nirvana immediately and never really took to Pearl Jam.  I even sort of reflexively hated them for awhile because of Kurt's low opinion of them.

I made all sorts of musical evolutions over the next decade, and as Soundgarden broke up, Layne Staley died, and grunge faded, I couldn't help but notice how Pearl Jam just kept hanging around.  I got super into The Who and The Stones my freshman year of college, and picked up that Pearl Jam worshipped both bands to a various extent.  A couple years later they dropped the Avocado album towards the end of my junior year, and it just really caught me.  Obviously I knew all the radio songs, but I just dived in head first and completely devoured their entire discography in the summer of 2006.  We were still buying CDs at Best Buy in those days, and I picked up one of the full show live albums.  It was at State College PA in like May of 2003 or something.  For the next year I was unabashedly obsessed with Pearl Jam, chasing down odd cuts, following the influences, and all that shit. 

I've moved onto other stuff over time, but I still love Pearl Jam and listen regularly.  The new album really caught me off guard with how vibrant, and well, fucking good it is.

Pearl Jam's staying power, IMO, is how much they embraced classic rock.  It might have made them uncool to the punk kids in '93, but there's enduring qualities to that music that spans generations.

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locodos

locodos 5590

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14 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Pearl Jam's staying power, IMO, is how much they embraced classic rock.  It might have made them uncool to the punk kids in '93, but there's enduring qualities to that music that spans generations.

I can assure you, very few people in '93 thought Pearl Jam was "uncool"

Quote

Vs. was released on October 19, 1993.[1] The album sold 950,378 copies in its first five days of release, which set a record for the most copies of an album sold in its first week of release since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991, surpassing the record held by Use Your Illusion II by Guns N' Roses in 1991, and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined.[1][23][24] Vs. held this record for five years before it was broken by Garth Brooks' 1998 album, Double Live. While Double Live officially beat Vs. in first week sales, Vs. still holds an unbreakable record in that SoundScan only counted the first five days of an album's release in its first week sales until 1998.[25] The album has been certified 7× platinum by the RIAA,[26] and, as of July 2013, has sold 7,400,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.[27]

 

Also punk kids <> grunge kids

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12622

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21 minutes ago, locodos said:

I can assure you, very few people in '93 thought Pearl Jam was "uncool"

 

Also punk kids <> grunge kids

I'm aware how popular Pearl Jam was (I mean, I was 8 at the time and somewhat paying attention to that stuff), but Kurt Cobain constantly slagged them, and Nirvana was definitely considered edgier/cooler/whatever.  Nirvana definitely had more cache with the cooler than thou crowd than Pearl Jam did.

Punk kids would go for Nirvana, but often wouldn't go for Pearl Jam.  I'm very aware that the punk crowd and grunge crowd were not the same, but they definitely overlapped a lot in Nirvana fanhood.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 47068

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My only "problem" with Pearl Jam is that I'm not a big fan of the vocals or lyrics, but I sure recognize the integrity.  Plus, they can rock like nobody's business when they want to.  I was much more into Nirvana's "Beatles" co-op and even Soundgarden's plunging the depths of punk + Sabbath, though, as opposed to PJ, but I definitely respect the band.

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Ignatius

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One of my favorite UT game days was finishing off Pittsburgh was a Jason Reeves pick-6 and sprinting to my car to head down to Southpark Meadows in 1995 to check out the PJ show.

Unpopular opinion - Yield is a top 3 PJ album….

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12622

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17 hours ago, Ignatius said:

One of my favorite UT game days was finishing off Pittsburgh was a Jason Reeves pick-6 and sprinting to my car to head down to Southpark Meadows in 1995 to check out the PJ show.

Unpopular opinion - Yield is a top 3 PJ album….

It's probably in my top 3.  Definitely top 4.

I'd put Vitalogy and Vs. ahead of it, solidly, but after that there's a strong argument in it's favor.

14 hours ago, GenXer said:

Speaking of covers, I dig PJ’s cover of It’s Ok. If they play it live, it’s a transition from daughter

I always enjoyed them rolling Betterman into Save It For Later by the English Beat.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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Don Johnson

Don Johnson 4846

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Only saw them once, in November of 1994.  IMO, they've greatly improved as a live band in the 30 years since then, but damn it was awesome for them to only be able to essentially draw material for that show from Ten and Vs. 

Release

Go

Animal

Why Go

Deep

Jeremy

Dissident

Even Flow

Glorified G

Daughter

Blood

Alive

State of Love and Trust

Porch

Kids Are Alright

Rearviewmirror

Last Exit

Sonic Reducer

Indifference

 

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Bender Bending Rodriguez

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On 4/27/2024 at 1:48 PM, oSuJeff97 said:

BOK Center in Tulsa.

I caught the two Brooklyn shows that tour. The first night had two openers, starting with Pendulum then seamlessly shifting to Release. So good....

I've seen them 13 times, 15 if you count a couple EV solo shows in 2012. The Wrigley show in 2016 was a very memorable experience/weekend, but I much prefer to see them in an arena. 

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Rip76

Rip76 5013

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28 minutes ago, Don Johnson said:

Has Vedder had some plastic surgery or botox?  His face has taken a strange look in the past few years.

I was thinking the same.  Curious as to what he’d look like minus the Townshend beard.

lookin puffy-ish

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Bender Bending Rodriguez

Bender Bending Rodriguez 1708

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6 hours ago, Rip76 said:

I was thinking the same.  Curious as to what he’d look like minus the Townshend beard.

lookin puffy-ish

I think he’s lived a little harder than most and he’s almost 60. Seems to be in good health and still a very active surfer and whatever, but hard to visually hide decades of heavy smoking and drinking. He kinda already had the puffy face thing in the early 90’s MTV era interviews, too. Jeff, Stone, and Matt look great for their age. McCready looks like the last 20+ years of sobriety have treated him well, too. 

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12622

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Eddie used to drink 2 whole bottles of wine at every show.  In the not that distant past.  And he smoked cigarettes for years (maybe still does?).  Combine that with just being a touring musician and all the complications that would put on someone, and I think he looks pretty good for 60.

Other than McCready, who got clean pretty damn fast, they all stayed away from hard drugs, which is the other secret to their longevity.

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usmc0331horn

usmc0331horn 990

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I still watch the movie Singles multiple  times a year. Their free show on the hill at KU in summer 1992 is still one of my favorite things I've ever attended. State of love and trust is still an all time banger.

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