Live On 4 Legs: Pearl Jam Podcast

We've done extensive coverage of the 2003 Riot Act tour celebrating the 20th anniversary this year. Now it's time to celebrate the anniversary of another major tour in Pearl Jam history - 1998! We kick off a 3-episode Yield tour stretch with an outdoor festival show that took place in Barrie, right outside of Toronto. With Cheap Trick as the supporting act on tour at this time, there are multiple instances where the band gives a subtle nod to their rock heroes, including Mike using Rick Nielson's guitar for State Of Love And Trust. Our Patron Alex Sink joins us for this episode to tell his story of what went down that day. For a bootleg that had a tough time capturing the identity of the show and with no visual aides available, Alex is able to take us back to what that scene was like. A rowdy crowd of over 30,000 created dirt clouds and mud as the mosh pits were in full force on this one. And the band was clearly in a good mood after watching Cheap Trick on the side stage. Ed makes multiple mentions of how great this crowd was, and even addressed some of the craziest fans he had ever seen in the parking lot during an extended version of Leatherman. We also have the world debut of the Do The Evolution music video that happens at this show with the band performing while the images are shown on a screen behind them. If you love Matt Cameron, this may be the episode for you! Get ready for five moments that we've dubbed the 'filthy fills' that will be featured throughout this show! Our Gear Guru segments will featured Javier talking about the lack of overdrive pedal from this tour and how Mike would make adjustments on Even Flow and Yellow Ledbetter, and he'll also discuss Mike's using Rick Nielson's guitar during State Of Love And Trust. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Enter Our Raffle, Deadline is 9/2 - https://liveon4legs.com/product/door-prize-raffle-tickets/?fbclid=IwAR3Oacd-eI2fAgLow3hVg-5yU8dxW2Ga4ZxP1cvHNQnoTyCwf4tIdyQ4uDA Contact The Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate To The Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

16 Aug 20231h 37min

We are less than a month away from seeing Pearl Jam take the stage for nine shows in September, and there's possibly no bigger stage than the one set for Ed's hometown of Chicago. As Wrigley Field has dominated the tour runs for the last ten years, the band is finally returning to the United Center for the first time since 2009, which is the show we'll be digging into in this episode. It was right before the Backspacer record came out, and while not every song had been released yet, it was somewhat of a showcase for songs such as The Fixer, Got Some and Supersonic. With Randy in attendance for the night two of this back to back, he gives some insight as to what was going on this weekend and some of the buzz coming out of night one. As all Chicago shows are, this is a true homecoming for Ed where he will reference fond memories of his youth on multiple occasions. He ties it in nicely when classic Who songs Love Reign O'er Me and The Real Me are played due to spending lots of cold nights listening to them on his walkman waiting for the L train. He'll also tie in a story about some of his earliest loves of music coming in the form of listening to Motown and idolizing Michael Jackson, who had died that summer. There is a nice dedication to Michael during Ed's rendition of Needle and the Damage Done, and a version of Rats featuring a short intro tease of the Michael Jackson song that's referenced at the end, Ben. And of course, he'll give nod to the Bulls championship banners in the rafters. As Ed would deem this show to be an emotional ride from the very beginning, we'll get to hear those kind of songs such as Long Road, Come Back and Man Of The Hour utilized in this set. Many thanks to Patron Andy Lore who requested this show! Our Gear Guru segments this week will get into a buzzy Mike solo on Sad, how Given To Fly and other songs guitar tone on this tour felt flat, and how Stone's rigged strumming was the backbone for a fantastic version of Love Reign O'er Me. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Join up on our raffle raising funding for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - https://liveon4legs.com/product/door-prize-raffle-tickets/?fbclid=IwAR3Oacd-eI2fAgLow3hVg-5yU8dxW2Ga4ZxP1cvHNQnoTyCwf4tIdyQ4uDA Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

9 Aug 20231h 37min

Toga! Toga! We're heading to upstate New York to cover Pearl Jam's last show to date at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, aka SPAC. It's a widely popular venue, one in which jam bands such as Phish and Dave Matthews Band have frequented, and as Ed would mention in this show, it was an early Lollapalooza tour venue back in 1992 when they played alongside Soundgarden. Glad he kept the shirt. This show comes right off the heels of a major turning point from the Binaural tour - The Jones Beach shows. The legendary Daughter performance with the It's OK tag, forever enshrined on the Touring Band 2000 DVD, marked as a healing moment for the band during the toughest period in their history. This show getting off to a hot start was a sign that the band was starting to loosen up and learn how to have a little fun on stage again. Breakerfall, Whipping, Spin The Black Circle, Hail, Hail, Corduroy and In My Tree are the first six songs of the night, and they absolutely do not disappoint. Add in an experimental Rearviewmirror to close the main set and a combination of Black/Yellow Ledbetter to this night, there are a lot of signature moments that make this show stand out. Oh yeah, and the nudist lava lamp inventor... him too. We'll hear stories from our Patron, Andrew Famulare, as well as Patrick and Brian from Hallucinogenic Recipe who were both at this show in the same section, but didn't know each other at the time. They'll share their hilarious memory from this show from both perspectives. And our Gear Guru segments this week look into Stone's Rickenbacker impact on Breakerfall, an interesting octave change in the Spin The Black Circle chorus, and why the combo of Black and Ledbetter worked so well, including love for the Nobody's Fault But Mine Led Zepplin tag. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - Liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

2 Aug 20231h 38min

In this episode, Randy and John go where this podcast has (almost) never gone before... to the 2007 tour! While we covered Vic Theater in this podcast's infancy, we've never done the full dive into what's sort of a forgotten year in Pearl Jam history. Outside of the Vic and the Lollapalooza Chicago show, there were only 12 shows played on a European run that included mostly festival dates. The show we cover here happened in London, and was the first arena show there since 2000. Thank you to friend and Patreon, Simon Pountney, for requesting this! This show took place in the aftermath of a massive tour supporting the Self Titled record, featuring many songs from the album that don't get heard often today. We'll go in depth on Marker In The Sand, Parachutes, Comatose as some of the highlights from this night. We'll also address how in this era, the band turned up the RPMs and started playing many of their songs faster than usual. We'll talk about where it benefits and suffers inside this setlist. A show with a Ten Club heavy presence on the floor leads to a set chock full of fan favorites leaving songs like Even Flow, Black, Jeremy, Better Man, Daughter, Rearviewmirror and Corduroy off the setlist entirely. For our question of the week, we had something unique happen in this show where World Wide Suicide was played in the usual Alive spot. We asked you guys what other songs you thought would work well in that role before Rockin' In The Free World. And for the Gear Guru, it's time for some Javocado! Javier breaks down a trio of songs from the record including Comatose, Marker In The Sand and Inside Job. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact The Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate To The Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

26 Juli 20231h 34min

As we say goodbye to reliving the 20th anniversary of the Riot Act tour, there are so many other Pearl Jam anniversaries that need to be celebrated this year. Believe it or not, it's been a full decade since the 2013 Lightning Bolt tour, as well as the release of the record. In July of that year, the band revealed their plans for their 10th studio album release nearly days before the two big North American summer shows - Wrigley Field and London, Ontario. We all know how big of a deal that Wrigley show was. It was the first ballpark show of it's kind,  heavy storms caused a two and a half hour delay leading to a show that didn't end until 2 am, and Bugs was played. Because of the hype leading up to Wrigley, the London show that preceded it became a bit of an after thought. For those unfamiliar, we'll tackle why this show deserves more love and appreciation from this fanbase that may have forgotten about it in the wake of Wrigley. Like Wrigley, this is a show that was never released as an official bootleg. So most of the stories and moments that are relived come directly from the less than 10,000 fans who were there in attendance in this intimate venue. We're lucky to be joined by two in this episode as Patron, Tim Fortescue, hops on to discuss why he requested this show, and filling in for John this week is Hallucinogenic Recipe co-host, Patrick Boegel, who also has great memories from this. A lot of the discussion here will come from this being the true kickoff to the new era, with a brand new rig, stage and lighting set up, setlist structure and new takes on old songs. It was the beginning of the nightly three song slow burn openers that came off as a massive surprise when the rarely opened with Present Tense kicked off this night. It was also the start of the slowburn encore in a way too, which was the most anticipated part of the set featuring some of the rarest songs in the catalog, IE: Parachutes and Man Of The Hour at this show. We'll also get to talking about the live debut of Mind Your Manners, a London Calling tease, amazing transitions between songs such as Modern Girl into Black, Dundas hookers on crack and experimental takes on two fan favorites - one that worked in Corduroy, and one that didn't in Daughter. As a bonus, we'll also ponder why Canadian hotels only have Garfield cartoons featured on their TVs. Our Gear Guru segments this week focus on the brand new rig set-up for 2013, the defining sound of Mind Your Manners and Alone featuring Mike's usage of a slide pick. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

19 Juli 20231h 55min

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the big one. After two weeks of hype, we have now reached the third night of the Mansfield Experiment. Anybody who was there remembers it clearly - getting to the venue early for Pearl Jam to hit the stage around 5:30, witnessing them in the daylight, wanting to stand and cheer while the band eases in with an acoustic pre-set. It is almost inarguable that this show is the most important and celebrated within the history of this band, finishing a 3-night stand where a total of 97 unique songs were played. This show would feature 45 of those songs, the most that have ever been crammed into one Pearl Jam show to date. To accomplish this feet, they had to get creative due to strict curfews in the venue. so they decided to begin the night as their own opener to play a seated 12-song acoustic set to those lucky enough to arrive early. The set is one for the ages. Classic songs meant for the setting such as Long Road and Footsteps thrived and soared throughout the atmosphere, while extreme rarities such as All Those Yesterdays and Drifting are tossed in there to delight the collectors in the audience. While the opening set is the big story here, the band busted out 33 more songs on this night that included old songs, new songs, common and rare songs, songs being reintroduced and songs packaged together in clever fashion. We'll break down all of it in one of the longest episodes in the modern era of this podcast! Once again, thanks to everyone who sent in their stories, we'll share the final batch of them in this episode. Our Gear Guru segments this week will give you an overview of the acoustic set, discuss the strange tuning on Faithfull and break down a one of a kind version of Why Go featuring a riffy guitar intro. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

12 Juli 20232h 37min

Continuing onward with our big summer series, this episode focuses on the second night of Pearl Jam's Mansfield Experiment. With the first night under their belt and the crowd coming into the show aware of the premise, the excitement was at an all-time high. While night 1 was a great introduction to the idea, this show's crowd is up for all of the surprises and answers when called upon for the big call and response moments. While there may be no acoustic set like night 3, the energy at this show was palpable, even though Ed came off a bit grumpy due to a lack of sleep the night prior. Although there were a few rarities spliced in to the night before, this show featured a few songs that you almost never heard at Pearl Jam shows during that era. The most eye opening one was Low Light. Of course Low Light has become a common staple of Pearl Jam sets in recent history, but coming into this show it had only been played one other time at the 2001 Bridge School show. We'll spend time breaking down how this turned into a classic song over time, and some of the pieces that aren't found in recent versions. Other big performances that we'll dive into are Release, Animal, Insignificance, Love Boat Captain, Rival, Rearviewmirror and amazing crowd responses on both Alive and Baba O'Riley. Once again, thank you to everyone who sent in their stories. We'll read another batch of them in the episode. And our Gear Guru segments will focus on the emergence of Low Light, the 2003 rendition of I Am A Patriot and a Jeff Ament driven Rearviewmirror. Purchase the Tour Shirt! - http://liveon4legs.com/2023tour Visit The Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

5 Juli 20231h 46min

Ladies and gentlemen of the Pearl Jam universe, it's here! Since the beginning of the year, we've been teasing this 10-episode recap of the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Riot Act tour, featuring the ultimate finale - all three shows from the Mansfield Experiment! To anyone who has never heard of this before, The Experiment was the band's opportunity with three nights scheduled just outside Boston to play nearly every song they knew without repeating anything. This led to three monster sets with the unpredictability of a normal Pearl Jam set heightened to a new extreme. We're gonna focus on the first night's setlist in this episode and spend time talking about how the idea for the experiment all came to be. The challenge of playing 97 different songs in the span of three nights might seem exciting to all of us, but for the band, it was a herculean task that came with some uncertainty. While some of the big setlist staples are tossed into this show like Go, Save You, I Am Mine, Even Flow and Porch, they had to balance all of that out with the lesser played material with songs like Get Right, Help Help, Evacuation and for the time, Smile injected into the set. All three shows have different identities, but all of the excitement from the fans who had heard the rumors gives this show an air of something special that would eventually turn into one of the most legendary runs in the history of Pearl Jam. Thank you to everyone for writing in these past few weeks and sharing your stories. We'll tell a few of them in this episode and spread the rest throughout the following two. Three Gear Guru segments this week will dig into a chaotic ending on Go, the 2003 alternate rendition of In My Tree and the rarely played Evacuation. Purchase The Tour Shirt - http://liveon4legs.com/2023tour Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

28 Juni 20231h 53min