Episode 143: Boston, MA - 5/17/2010

Our Around The World series takes us to France this week as we talk about one of the best shows from the 2006 Avocado tour. Joining us to talk about it are some old friends of the show making a long awaited return, our old co-host Matt Helbig is back and right alongside him is his brother Steve Maytan who gets to share his experience being at this show and doing a small portion of the European tour that year. The show starts off hot with a version of Long Road that on paper would seem a part of the slowburn openers but in turn gives this show the much needed engine start up that pushes them through an extraordinary 6-song kick off to this show. Matt Cameron is the key player on this night and his performance shines through on Corduroy and Even Flow especially. Also on this night you get a handful for the serious collectors. Fatal would be busted out live for only the third time ever, Satan's Bed was thrown in the mix as well as Leash which was in the midst of a resurgence in 2006. But the one talking point from this show that everyone walks away with is the incredibly rare appearance of Dirty Frank. Don't worry, we have a LOT to say about Frank and it's popularity with the fans. We try to both make sense of it and celebrate its presence by breaking down why the band never wants to play it even though its one of the most requested songs from the fanbase. Help support the show! Head on over to patreon.com/liveon4legs to donate and keep us going. We'll have a new Bridge School episode up this week featuring coverage from 1996's night 2 show.

27 Maj 20201h 56min

Mansfield, Massachusetts is an important place in the history of Pearl Jam as over the course of three shows there in 2003, the band attempted to play everything in their catalog without a repeat (with one small exception). This episode, however, takes us to five years after the experiment shows on a night that ended a short east coast leg of the 2008 tour. End of tour shows and night 2 shows in general are usually a little bit unpredictable, which is why the setlist had a few seldom heard songs slotted in. Education, Satan's Bed, Bee Girl and an opener of Wash were just a few rare ones they busted out for the Boston adjacent crowd. We'll also get knee deep into versions of Last Exit, Even Flow, Who You Are, Garden and Rockin' In The Free World on this episode. Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear a sneak preview of an episode of our monthly setlist draft that we feature on Patreon! Thanks to our Patron Jason Corbin for selecting this episode as part of his Patreon membership! If you wish to donate to the show and unlock exclusive episode content, head on over to patreon.com/liveon4legs. You'll also get an opportunity to select a show for us to cover in the future as well as get a free bootleg of a show we'll talk about on an episode once a month!

20 Maj 20201h 33min

On the heels of the 20th anniversary of the release of the Binaural record, we take our Around The World series to a fun Prague show from the middle of that tour. In the episode we'll get to look back on how Binaural was kind of the oddball of Pearl Jam records and why it doesn't connect as well with the casual fan base. Considering there aren't many songs from this album that get consistently played live nowadays, it was a nice change going back and reliving some of the tracks when they were brand new. Speaking of Binaural songs from this show, there were only 5 played which could be considered a low total for a promotion tour. This show featured the live debut of Sleight Of Hand, a nasty Mike McCready opening the show on fire with Of The Girl, Grievance, Insignificance and Light Years. Aside from that, the set list was quite balanced with all 6 albums getting more than one song played. The reason to listen to this show was Mike McCready and how untouchable he was this night. He shined best on tracks like Animal, Red Mosquito, Even Flow and Black - all which are featured within this episode. We have some cool little announcements in this episode so make sure you stay tuned until the end to find our what we have in store for the next few months. Also, new episode featuring Vienna 1992 is available on Patreon - subscribe at patreon.com/liveon4legs to get exclusive access to this and much more!

13 Maj 20201h 27min

This week's episode focuses on one of the most well known shows from the No Code era. The Berlin 1996 performance is remembered fondly because it was one of their shows that was broadcast live on radio stations throughout the world in the same way that Atlanta 94 and Soldier Field were both showcased. This was a completely different era in the band's history though as the trials and tribulations from No Code's reception knocked the band off their perch as the biggest in the world. While their fame dwindled a bit, it allowed the band to present a looser live act with less scrutiny on them and all of the eyeballs paying attention belonging to those in for the long haul. Those who stuck with them were treated to a hell of a show that had one of the best first half main sets of any show in history. Kicking off with Long Road, their stretch from Last Exit, Animal, Hail Hail, Go and Red Mosquito and rounding out with Mankind and a Hunger Strike tease was a statement as to how powerful a live act they still were during a turbulent time period. Other main highlights that we'll feature on this show include excellent versions of Sometimes, Immortality, Blood and a unique encore that wouldn't quite fit in with today's repertoire. Keep staying safe during this difficult time! For anyone who would like to contribute to the show and attain access to exclusive content, head on over to patreon.com/liveon4legs and subscribe. New content posted weekly, including this week where we'll come up with our fantasy Pearl Jam Rock Band game setlist.

6 Maj 20201h 31min

We're back to Europe this week as our Around The World series continues with a stop in Copenhagen, Denmark from 2012. It was the end of a 13-show summer European tour in a year where the band wouldn't tour much outside of those dates and a few late summer US festivals. It would also mark the end of the Backspacer era leading way to new music a year later from Lightning Bolt. It is pretty much a guarantee on the last night of a tour that the band is gonna be in a good mood and leave everything they have on the stage. The Monday crowd brought their A-game too as they showed their chops on versions of Elderly Woman, Do The Evolution, Love Boat Captain, Even Flow and Better Man. The band looked to sprint through the first set (that ended at approx 67 minutes) to get the crowd to sweat inside a very hot building. If you enjoyed this episode and are looking for more, check out the many episodes we have in our archive. If you want even more content including an episode featuring the Bridge School 96 Night 1 show, head on over to our Patreon at patreon.com/liveon4legs to donate and help the show to get access to more exclusive content!

29 Apr 20201h 29min

This episode will take us to the 1998 Yield Tour. It was a time where the band started to familiarize themselves with their brand new drummer Matt Cameron, so setlists weren't as diverse as we'd see in later years, especially for the album that Yield followed up in No Code that only had one song represented on this night. 1998 was really the first year since 1994 that tickets were becoming more accessible to fans due to the band's refusal to play Ticketmaster venues. As mentioned in this show, 98 was really one of the first years that fans began to travel along with the band from location to location. Our Patron Patrick Boegel joins us as a guest on this episode and talks about the stretch of shows he traveled for during this late August time period. This is a great show where the classics were on full display. Incredible and possibly overlooked versions of Alive, Black, Daughter, Wishlist and Immortality were the big moments where the band were truly at the top of their game. If you'd like to support the show, head on over to patreon.com/liveon4legs to donate and subscribe for access to more exclusive episodes featuring live song evolutions and the Bridge School Series.

22 Apr 20201h 20min

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. We'll also get you uptodate on news happening in the Pearl Jam universe as we'll discuss the postponement of the 2020 European Tour, the 2017 and 2018 Christmas Singles, and a few highlights from Mike and Stone's Reddit AMA that we were lucky enough to get a question answered from. This week on Patreon we'll have a brand new episode breaking down the live evolution of In My Tree. If you love the song and want to hear us discuss the live history of it, head on over to Patreon.com/liveon4legs to subscribe and check it out! Pledge tiers are at $1 and $5 per month, but all tiers get access to exclusive episodes such as this and many more song evolution, Bridge School and Setlist Draft shows!

15 Apr 20201h 33min

On the 26-year anniversary of the day that Kurt Cobain was found dead, this week we look back to the Fairfax 1994 show that Pearl Jam took the stage for just hours after hearing the news. On what was an emotional night, especially for Eddie, the band makes the best of a bad situation and puts together a passionate, spirited performance among the grieving fans. We'll discuss in this episode the band's reaction to his death and how it would impact their decisions moving forward as they would be looked upon to fill the void that Kurt left behind. The generation that mourned his death naturally drifted towards Eddie for answers, ones that he wasn't necessarily ready to provide. We'll also get a visit from a fellow Pearl Jam podcaster. Roche from Jamily Matters will join us to talk a little bit about being at this Fairfax show which was the first one he attended. He'll capture the atmosphere and uncertainty in the building from the crowd during this incredibly challenging day. Also a big thank you goes out to Jed Garfunkel who requested this episode, we'll be telling his story on the show as well. If you'd like us to take a request, sign up to our Patreon at patreon.com/liveon4legs where we have weekly exclusive episodes and extra content, as well as some fun and games for those who choose to participate!

8 Apr 20201h 35min