Live On 4 Legs: Pearl Jam Podcast

Happy 30th anniversary week! On October, 22 1990, Pearl Jam played their first show as Mookie Blaylock at Seattle’s Off Ramp venue. To celebrate the monumental occasion, we’re going back two decades to the band’s ten year anniversary that took place in Vegas on the Binaural tour. Joining us for this episode for some crossover love is Branden Palomo from the Better Band Podcast. While the band came out to celebrate the moment, Ed did his best to try to downplay the situation (even after he thanked Stone and Jeff for “recognizing his great talent”) by telling stories of that first night at the Off Ramp and not even being able dream that they could be in the position they were in. The fans brought balloons to shower them with during the encore, but there is one moment that gets discussed from this show that holds precedent above all... This was the first moment that Pearl Jam ever played a song written by Mother Love Bone and they chose Crown of Thorns. While the death of Andy Wood had always been a part of their history, it was something that was never quite addressed publicly. It’s an important moment in their history for so many reasons in which we’ll discuss in full detail in the episode, but this was a major part of their healing process after the Roskilde tragedy. When Ed gave Jeff and Stone a hug, it was the bonding between two entities that were so intertwined, yet had never met until that moment. Mother Love Bone and the life of Andy Wood forever became part of Pearl Jam’s story. Special news for this week! For ONE DAY only, to celebrate the 30-year anniversary we will release our episode on the Off Ramp for FREE on our Patreon platform! Only available for 24 hours and then after that will be available to subscribers only. Head on over to check it out http://Patreon.com/liveon4legs

21 Loka 20201h 57min

We continue the month of October's politically charged Pearl Jam theme with a show that sets the standard for the band's dedication to encouraging their fans to vote. Originally dubbed as a retirement party for former NC Senator, the bigoted Jesse Helms, this show in Charlotte prior to the 1996 election was one where the music was secondary to the mission which was to get the young people in attendance registered to vote. Joining the band on this night was activist Gloria Steinem who made a poignant speech about the importance of voting that can be repeated 24 years later and still have the same importance. On many occasions Ed would repeat that sentiment, even at a point during Porch where he painted a picture of the America that we as people can build together where everyone regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation could live free of hatred and bigotry. It was a maturing moment for the band as they'd expressed their political beliefs in prior years, but took this time to be proactive in helping achieve their goal in signing up registered voters. Over 1,000 new voters were registered that night. And wouldn't you believe that the music was pretty good too? The band had to deal with a wild crowd that took to surfing and moshing right from the start of Long Road. Yeah, Long Road. On numerous occasions Ed has to calm the crowd down even invoking the two steps back practice to alleviate the rambunctiousness. Key highlights from this show include In My Tree, Immortality, Red Mosquito, Whipping and I Got Shit with the inclusion of Brendan O'Brien on bass. Do you like the show? Want more of the show? Want to contribute to make the show better? Help us out: http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

14 Loka 20201h 21min

Hey, won't you look at that? We've hit another milestone! This is our 100th (official) episode and what a way to celebrate then to kick off our month of political Pearl Jam shows. As you guys know, we have a major election in less than 30 days so we thought a great way to remind you guys to vote would be to share the best of the voter outreach shows. Toledo 2004 might be the most memorable of them all. We're joined this week by long-time listener Bradley Piasecki who was in attendance this night. He walks us through step-by-step what it was like to have no idea that Neil Young was set to take the stage and create an important moment in the band's history. The rumors swirled around prior to the start of the show when Neil joined them for a soundcheck and Ed teased the crowd that some magic was gonna go down. And boy did it ever. While PJ took the stage to play a shorter than usual 13-song main set, at the end of the first encore Neil joined Ed for Harvest Moon and that signified that Pearl Jam was merely the opening act of the night. The second encore featured tons of surprises including another guest appearance in the form of Peter Frampton and old favorites such as Act of Love and Cortez The Killer. Did you enter our giveaway for the new book last week? If you did, make sure you check out the show to see if you won yourself a free copy! Donate to the show (we badly need it right now, not kidding) - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

7 Loka 20201h 47min

This episode features a preview of the new Pearl Jam book coming out on October, 15 called Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense. It's our pleasure to invite the author of the book, Ronen Givony, on the show to discuss some of his ideas and research findings for the book and some of the topics that make this one of the best Pearl Jam publications you'll be able to find. There have been books written about the band before that have portrayed them in a negative light with more of an exploitative agenda. This book gives you an honest re-telling of the band's history through their live performances and how current events have impacted their significance on the music industry. You get to see the evolution of Eddie from budding anti-hero rockstar to philanthropist and revered song writer. You'll witness their rise to fame and rejection of it. You'll learn of their history with social justice and political awareness. Everything in this book will reassure you that your love and adoration of this band is shared by so many people around the world and their history is one worthy of celebration. With Ronen, we'll ask him about the topics mentioned above and attempt to narrow in on the important question: why it all went down the way it did? Contribute to the show: http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

1 Loka 20201h 14min

Continuing our trip through South America, this week we bring you to where it all began in 2005. This show from Santiago, Chile is the band's first ever in the continent, and while there was some hesitation and concern due to the crowd's size in the early onset, the boys found their comfort zone and fed off the energy of such a passionate group of fans. Joining us on this episode is our friend and patron Javier Hervas who gets to talk a little about his experience of living down in Chile and never getting a chance to see the band. He'll discuss the crowd and how early they were to get there, what it meant to hear the band kick off the show with Release and Corduroy as well as the influence that The Ramones had on South American fans and why their performance of I Believe In Miracles was so special from this night. We'll listen to some outstanding performances and crowd reactions throughout this night including a powerful Even Flow, an outstanding version of Save You and a rendition of Black that blew the crowd away. If you want more from Live On 4 Legs, come join our team on Patreon! For contributing, you'll receive extra bonus episode content (Bridge School shows, song Evolutions) monthly bootlegs of future shows we're covering and a chance to have your Pearl Jam show story told on the podcast! join here: http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

30 Syys 20201h 32min

We're finally here! Around The World has taken us to South America and what better way to start than in the biggest country Brazil! This week we're celebrating a Sao Paolo show from 2015 that had incredibly emotional ties to it being performed only one day after the Paris terrorist attacks. The band knows when they are in a position of power to bring people together in a time where its needed and right from the start, Ed makes sure that 60,000 in this crowd are part of a family. There are no lack of emotional moments in this show and that's always apparent whenever Long Road pops in as your opener. During Love Boat Captain he has the crowd in his full grasp capturing an incredible moment where he goes back n forth at the end repeating the word love. The emotion continues when the approach Come Back and then again in the encore for Imagine, Sirens, I Am Mine and Black. The healing power of all these songs are immeasurable and you can feel the crowd attaching themselves to every moment. Not only did they have to battle the state of the world, they also had to battle the weather conditions of the night. Ed even quips during Lightning Bolt by saying it's a clear night tonight just for the Gods of rock n roll to strike down upon the stage with rain and major windstorms. In a moment of turbulence, Ed calms the crowd with a beautiful rendition of Elderly Woman giving them a spotlight while the rest of the band takes safety precautions. The rain would continue to come down, most notably during Better Man where it looked as if bullets were dropping from the sky. And as always, the crowds are what make these Brazil shows so good. Getting amazing sing-alongs on Do The Evolution, Jeremy and RVM are the reasons why the band keeps going back down there for more. Thanks to Black Circle for joining us earlier this week, we included a byte from their episode that we saved for this one talking about some of their favorite Brazil show moments. And thanks to fan page Pearl Jam To Fly for selecting a great show for us to discuss! We are still taking donations for September for our fundraiser for runfreely.org. A charitable organization founded by ESPN's Kenny Mayne that donates its funds to manufacturing mobility braces for veterans with severe ligament damage. If you'd like to contribute, head to http://patreon.com/liveon4legs to support the cause!

25 Syys 20201h 57min

We're getting ready to feature out first episodes covering Pearl Jam's South American shows, and what better way to help us kick off that week than to welcome one of the best tribute band's to Pearl Jam that there is - straight out of Brazil, this episode we'll be talking to the boys in Black Circle! Their debut album of originals entitled Mercury will be out on October 5 and we'll be spinning the Black Circle on TWO of their songs during the show! Our conversation ranges from topics such as the importance of their presence during the unfortunate events of COVID-19 and how certain members of the band took notice, including Eddie who had some fantastic words of wisdom for lead singer Lenny Prado. We'll talk a little about their debut album and how while staying a tribute to Pearl Jam, they'd still like to branch out and push their original music. And we'll also talk about some of their favorite and least favorite PJ songs to play. We'll have more from Black Circle in our episode covering Sao Paolo 2015 later this week where the boys in the band will share their favorite moments from PJ shows in Brazil! Keep a look out for that! This month we're taking donations for runfreely.org, a non-profit organization that helps create knee braces for veterans with major ligament damage that provide comfortable mobility and prevents a possible amputation. If you'd like to contribute, please head over to our Patreon - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs and tribute any amount you see fit!

23 Syys 20201h 21min

We conclude the European portion of our Around The World series this week with a stop in Lisbon, Portugal that happened to be the final night of the No Code tour in 1996. The band and crowd brought their a-games and it made for an electrifying atmosphere with lots of chanting and hi-jinx abound. A big talking point from this show is centered around Mr. Stone Gossard who's parents were in attendance to witness the event. You can tell its a setlist curated to some of Stone's favorites because he's always been a proponent of getting the hits in the set - which is why we see a three headed combo of Even Flow, Jeremy and Daughter in a row. But they also take a few fan requests to play some rarely heard tracks, one of which wasn't played due to Stone forgetting the song enitrely. Other cool facets of this setlist include the OTOTO opener of Who You Are which would almost fade into oblivion after this tour, Not For You which features a classic Ed moment where he takes a second to rant about the meaning of the song, an Immortality that absolutely steals the show, and then of course Ed makes love to a push broom during Porch. How else is a tour supposed to end? If you enjoy the show and would like to contribute to keep it afloat, be involved in cool projects such as fan forums and setlist drafts, head to our Patreon and help us out - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

16 Syys 20201h 28min