Episode 178: Great Western Forum - 7/13/1998

It's our final episode for the 2023 season, and what better way to close out than finishing with a show from this tour year. In the last episode, we covered the night one show from Chicago, and this episode will take us to the second night at the United Center. This show had a lot to live up to in many people's eyes as night one was considered, at least by our panelists, as an instant classic show. The second night had to follow up on all of the stories, rarities and energy that made night one so special. And in ways it certainly did live up to it, but perhaps did it fail to capture the same magic as the show on September 5th did? We polled our social media followers and asked them what they thought the more impactful show was, and we'll share the result on the episode. There are a couple of big takeaways from this show. They involved the local sports teams into the night a little more and featured a version of Present Tense coming off the popularity of The Last Dance, and they also made an announcement that the Blackhawks would be retiring Chris Chelios' number. The rarities were once again in the mix as this crowd was treated to some of the more difficult songs to catch at a Pearl Jam show nowadays - Tremor Christ, Green Disease and Marker In The Sand. But there is a big elephant in the room to address that took a stranglehold over the second half of the show, and that is the contingent of Ten songs played. Compared to night one where Gigaton led the clubhouse with 4 songs off the album played, there were a whopping 8 songs from the Ten record on this night. Of course the majority of your crowd is going to love Ten, in this scenario the question needs to be asked - how much is enough? We're joined in this episode by our Gear Guru Javier Hervas, not just for a few sprinkled in segments, but for the entire episode! Javier and Randy sat with each other at this show and will share all of the stories of hanging out with friends, finding good records, taking shots of Malort, and of course, the performances. This includes a story about a nickname given to Randy by another fan at this show that a few people out there would probably not want to stick. All the answers will be found in the episode that we have made. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

20 Des 20232h 14min

Let's finish off the year strong by covering the two night stay from this year's Chicago shows! We'll talk extensively about night 1 in this episode and discuss why this was in fact a true instant classic in the Pearl Jam catalog. It had a perfect mix of everything you want from a Pearl Jam show - electric performances, great crowd connection, incredible storytelling and of course ones for the serious collectors. Randy was at this show, which means he'll do his own fair share of storytelling about the moments that made a profound impact on him, and a little of the journey that took him from Connecticut to Chicago. Including one horrifying story about a bathroom in a Chicago dive bar... Being in Chicago, the show is of course a homecoming party for Ed. But this was the first instance where they played a show outside of Wrigley Field since 2009. So now you have a much more intimate crowd, how does the night go down? Well for starters, Release is going to end up being your opener, because that's always what happens there. Then you'll get a Bulls or Cubs reference, a few stories about his days living there as a child and maybe some shout outs to friends. Those things happened, but the night wasn't about any of that. It was a night to pay homage to family. Having attended his Aunt Sandy's funeral the day prior, Ed was feeling nostalgic for going back on some of the memories he had of his grandmother's apartment growing up. The story that unfolded from revisiting the old stomping grounds was an emotional high point on a night where there were many. We also got a Rearviewmirror dedication for beloved community member Frans Von Franquemont who lost his battle with cancer earlier this year. The Gear Guru warms up for his big full episode appearance next week by gushing over a rare type of pedal that Mike McCready used for Retrograde that was heard in the song Higher Ground, and talking about the bag of tricks Mike doled out in this edition of Even Flow. Visit the Concertpedia and check out our Best of 2023 Moments list! - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

13 Des 20232h 15min

This episode is our fifth and final in our run of celebrating 30 years of the Vs. era. We've decided to go backwards a little bit and veer away from the November/December shows by covering one from Vancouver when they opened up for Neil Young back in September from that year. After five years, this is our first opportunity to discuss a show that emanated from the Seattle's neighbor to the north, so we'll take some time to dig into the history of shows from there and find something special about each of them. For this show in 1993, it's only 16 songs, and suffers a bit from really bad acoustics in a big football stadium that did not meet expectations of ticket sales. Although Pearl Jam and Ed seemed ripe to take a jab at the place every opportunity they got, they made the most of it and gave the crowd a preview of half the Vs. record which was still over a month away from being released. This show was also the follow up to the legendary performances of Animal and Rockin' In The Free World at the VMA's, so we'll talk a little about the immediate impact of those two moments. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

6 Des 20231h 19min

It's Groundhog Day... again! For the fifth time in seven episodes (and it'll be sixth in eight next week before getting to some 2023 shows) we're celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Vs. tour. The tour certainly had it's ups and downs, and while the last two episodes could be considered some of the down moments, this second night in Vegas is the follow up to a show that's pound for pound one of the best on this tour. The first night in Vegas featured a reunion of Green River, and the moment where Jeff and Stone joined Mark Arm and Steve Turner for the first time since 1987 seemed to re-energize the band. As they only had two more dates before ending the tour on a triple header back home in Seattle, you're able to tell that a little bit of the weight was lifted off their backs. It had been a year of growing pains, but on most nights they were able to put aside their struggle with fame to spend 90 minutes giving the crowd a show to remember. All of the positive energy was radiant on stage at this show with Jeff doing his signature zips and leaps across the stage and Ed's voice having that trademark ferocity for the era. We'll dig deep into songs like Go, Glorified G, Daughter, Garden, Blood, Porch and others that were the highlights from this night. We'll also react to the news announced by Matt Cameron that the new album is mixed and ready, and the Gear Guru segments this week will dig into an intro for Daughter that had a very 80s, Tears For Fears or Police sound to it, and will get into Mike's experimental, Sonic Youth inspired sound on the Porch solo. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

29 Nov 20231h 21min

Let's stick in 1993 for this episode and head over to Nacogdoches, Texas, a show that takes place only days after Ed's arrest in New Orleans that we talked about last week. This show yet again presents all of the trials and tribulations of being on tour in 1993. After playing nearly non-stop, and spending their off days working on and recording brand new music, the rigorous travel had finally gotten to the health of Dave Abbruzzese where he is needed to rush to the emergency room after the main set. This left for the band to improvise an encore without drums.  We invite one of the most knowledgeable Pearl Jam minds onto the show that wrote THE book chronicling the history and timeline of Pearl Jam in PJ20, Jonathan Cohen. Jonathan joins us to give a little bit of context to the era and why the band had a difficult time dealing with their skyrocketing popularity, and what they did to seek the advice of rock 'n' roll's elder statesmen to help guide them through. We'll also talk a little bit about Pearl Jam's 2024 plans and what you can expect from a new album year! We'll spend some time on some interesting setlist decisions from this show, including the choice to open with the Daughter/Glorified G combination, Sonic Reducer in the middle of the main set and of course the decisions made without Dave on hand. The Gear Guru segments will break down both Yellow Ledbetter and Footsteps that were performed without drums at this show. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

22 Nov 20231h 37min

As we continue our ode to the 30 years of the Vs. tour this November, we're stopping at a show that's known for both what happened during the concert, and then what happened in the aftermath. The show is an unforgettable night from this tour highlighted by a very early rendition of Crazy Mary in which original songwriter, Victoria Williams, joins them to play guitar and sing, and long-time Pearl Jam producer, Brendan O'Brien, is called upon to play the B3. It's a moment that's etched in history, but perhaps gets overshadowed by the events that took place the following night. After a dispute with a fan in a New Orleans bar, Eddie Vedder was arrested for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace after spitting in the man's face. We'll take the early portion of the episode to discuss about the incident as we'll invite the 1993 American League Cy Young award winner, Jack McDowell, onto the show, who was there during the occurrence. We'll talk to Jack about his relationship with Eddie and how they met through their ex-wives, how Pearl Jam got his band V.I.E.W. bumped off a gig at CBGB's, how he and Ed convinced TV reporters that Ed was a White Sox call-up, and of course the New Orleans situation. Get to hear what he thought of the whole ordeal and how his night ended up after getting into it with the friend of the agitator that Ed had to deal with. There was only so much time that we had to share of his interview in this episode, but check out Patreon this week for the director's cut of the interview featuring stories about his band's V.I.E.W. and stickfigure, Pearl Jam's relationship with baseball and his current frustrations with baseball analytics that he likes to write songs about. As for the show, there are excellent performances that we'll get to dig into from Why Go, Footsteps, Porch, Rats, Blood and of course, Crazy Mary. We'll also discuss Release being an OTOTO Daughter tag and a wild sequence that featured Ed singing lyrics from Michael Jackson song "Ben" into a fierce, unrelenting rendition of Blood. Our Gear Guru segments this week will focus on some of the slide guitar features of Rats, and of course, the contrast of this version of Crazy Mary compared to what we know of it now. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

15 Nov 20231h 40min

1993 could be considered as one of the most important years in the history of Pearl Jam. Vs. sold over a million copies in a week, their popularity was skyrocketing to unprecedented heights where mainstream news sources like TIME Magazine wanted in on the hype. Believe it or not, we haven't dabbled in many 1993 shows on this podcast. That's why this entire month is dedicated to the tour year where we'll talk about some great shows that may get overlooked next to the all-timers such as Indio, Mudfest and others. This episode will take us to Ed's hometown in San Diego for the second of a two night stint that displayed the power and authenticity of the band in their sophomore year. A lot of the conversation here will be about Dave A and how comfortable he felt behind the kit during this time period. His heavy, bombastic style brought even more power and ferocity to the songs that had already claimed that identity. But he also made a song such as Release feel like a triumphant, exhilarating live experience that elevated every band member to match his intensity. The big story of this show comes within one of the most polished improv performances they'd ever attempt with a song that is known as Hold Me. We'll get into a deep discussion on how locked in the band was at this time that they were able to make these improvs feel like well rehearsed songs that could've been confused as b-sides. Porch and Once are also major highlights of this show to tune in for. Our Gear Guru segments this week feature Javier getting into whether Stone is using a Fuzz Pedal on Jeremy, how electric guitar works for a song like Small Town and what made the improv come all together to feel complete. Javier has a brand new single out called La Distancia under the artist name Panamericana. You can find the song on Apple Music and Spotify streaming platforms. Please go check it out! Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

8 Nov 20231h 32min

One of the many reasons of how Pearl Jam has developed such a large following within their fanbase traveling near and far to their shows is that every single show is going to offer you something completely different than their last. Nearly everyone has a wish list of songs that they think they'll never hear live, but keep hope alive that some day they will finally be in the building on the night they play one. Those rarities are cherished by this community, and if you happen to be at the right show at the right time, you may see multiple rare tracks that they may not play on the rest of the tour. Charlottesville 2013 was that kind of show. With 3 dates left before the end of the east coast run that year, the band unloaded on songs from all different eras that automatically made this one of the most talked about shows of the year. The sets in 2013 were starting to grow longer without the appearance of an opener. Most shows pushed the 3-hour mark and delved into well beyond 30 songs played for each individual night. Charlottesville had a total of 35 songs that were played, and among the big talking points were songs like In My Tree, Grievance, Glorified G, Big Wave, Sad and the first appearance of Thumbing My Way since 2006. Those six performances alone created enough talking points for this to be recognized perhaps under the "instant classic" moniker. But there are many discussions to be had in this episode that could spell some of those pre-conceived notions. With 19 songs bunched in to a main set that lasted an hour and 25 minutes, there will be a lot of discussion here on how some of the flow and pacing felt a little bit off when attempting this enormous task. We'll discuss how that compares to the more recent era where there are less songs played, but more time to give each one it's moment to shine in a more methodical way. We'll hear from you guys on what type of Pearl Jam shows that you prefer to see, and we'll get three excellent segments from the Gear Guru this week - Stone's fingerpicking on Release, Mike using a monstrous Gretsch guitar on Glorified G, and he'll dig into why this version of Whipping desperately needed to be aborted towards the end. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

1 Nov 20231h 53min