pearljamapalooza
i won't see a scene like this tomorrow. but i will listen to hours of live recordings i already own from alpine valley.
not much has changed with pearl jam, a former favorite band of mine, since i harangued them earlier this year for their bullshit maneuvers with the fan club. in fact, they’ve really only added fuel to the fire for me. it started with a great idea, though: the band decided to play one stateside show for their 20th anniversary. it was to be this very labor day weekend at alpine valley—a venue with some history for pearl jam (and a place they’ve always said they liked to play). bonus for me: it’s only a few hours drive from home. and it wasn’t just going to be “an evening with pearl jam”—they were inviting a bunch of their friends to play: john doe, liam finn, glen hansard, mudhoney, and many more. it was going to be a festival. sweet, said i. not so fast, said the business-formerly-known-as-pearl-jam (and henceforth described as “pj, inc.”).
rather than program a proper two-day festival for “pearl jam: destination weekend,” pj, inc. decided to ask everyone to play twice—once on saturday, once on sunday. kinda lame, but okay, said i. not so fast, said pj, inc. everyone wanting to purchase tickets to this “festival” through the fan club (and thus get the best seats) had to order pairs of tickets (i.e., one for saturday and one for sunday). fuck, man, said i, but alright—i’m sure the headliner at least will play different sets, and i know both will be great, because, after all, they are still a terrific live band if not also money-grubbing bastards. not so fast, said pj, inc. tickets for both days on the venue’s lawn (i.e., in the back), cost fan club members $252. tickets for one night in the good seats, one night in the lawn’s cheap seats cost $334. to see all the same bands play two days in a row. learning that was the precise moment when i knew for sure this was not for me.
but there’s still plenty of other reasons to like pj, inc. so allow me to give you a few by way of throwing a bunch of links and videos in your face:
- cameron crowe’s forthcoming documentary, pj 20, looks like a fan’s dream come true, loaded with live performances and behind-the-scenes footage culled from years and years of touring & recording. it’s even being broadcast for free on pbs, october 21 on american masters:
- pearl jam was about as influential as it got in the rise of grunge and alternative music in the 90s (a.k.a. the decade when i first really got into music, a.k.a one of those rare times when good tunes were also popular tunes). kexp did a lovely 10-part audio documentary series on grunge, including a pj segment.
- this is just a nice, career-spanning article on pj from the seattle times.
- their new youtube channel is packed with good videos, including this amazing/grammy-nominated animation of “do the evolution” by comic book legend todd mcfarlane:
- sadly, the free streaming audio for ed vedder’s new ukulele album isn’t available anymore—but you can still read about it on npr. and i do recommend tracking down a copy of the album. it’s actually pretty great.
- rolling stone has an image gallery of past pj gig posters from the ames bros., who published a nice book of said art and have a pretty cool pj concert poster gallery in their own right on an all-around kick ass site.
- wxrt has a slideshow of 50 things you might not know about pearl jam (unless you’re already a big fan—in which case, you can still learn maybe 15 things & enjoy the pictures).
- finally, i was hoping to upload to the interwebs a special mixtape i made (just for you!) of live & rare tracks handpicked from my considerable pj cd library. but The Man didn’t want that happening. so, instead, i’ll give you the playlist here, and if you want a cd mailed to you, just tell me where to send it in the comments section (and i am absolutely serious about this):
- “bleed for me” (dead kennedys cover), live at easy street
- “breakerfall,” east troy, wisconsin – october 8, 2000
- “everyday people/let my love open the door” (sly & the family stone/pete townshend covers), live at soldier field bootleg
- “man of the hour (demo),” man of the hour single
- “better man” (with “save it for later” tag) detroit, michigan – october 7, 2000
- “i got id” (with neil young), merkinball
- “master of war” (bob dylan cover/live at madison square garden 10/16/93), versus the world bootleg
- “i believe in miracles” (ramones cover), east troy, wisconsin – june 21, 2003
- “sonic reducer” (rocket from the tombs cover/studio outtake), versus the world bootleg
- “gimme some truth” (john lennon cover), noblesville, indiana – june 23, 2003
- “25 minutes to go” (shel silverstein song popularized by johnny cash), live at benaroya hall
- “throw your arms around me” (hunters & collectors song popularized by crowded house), indianapolis, indiana – august 18, 2000
- “baba o’riley” (the who cover), chicago, illinois – october 9, 2000
Heyo! Great post. Send that CD to Donaldson, 1358 W Carmen #1, Chicago, IL 60640
How you been? Long time, no me.
well, i’m unemployed & spending an inordinate amount of time on blog posts. but otherwise, doin’ alright. i’ll get your cd in mail soon.
I DO! I WANT THE MIX!
The Ten Club is so big now that they have to make all kinds of arrangements to get them tickets, so I’m not surprised that these were the requirements. However, they were doing TONS of giveaways all over the internet. (Yes, I filled out every single contest form available, because DAMN do I wish I were in Alpine Valley this weekend, instead of filling out applications for jobs I will never get.)
i guess part of my frustration with ten club is that if it is so big, and if they wanted to accommodate as many fans as possible, then they shouldn’t have forced fans to buy tickets to both days. in fact, they would’ve done the opposite: limit them to one day.
anyway, i don’t think i’ve got your street address saved anywhere, amanda. shoot me an e-mail or text & i’ll get it off to you.
[...] poking around the interwebs the other day for interesting pearl jam stuff to link to (from my bark post), i found xrt’s slideshow of 50 things i supposedly didn’t know about the band. but i [...]