Photo: Danny ClinchThe only Bonnaroo headliner I'm really interested in is the boys from Seattle. If there was any one band that got the most backlash from the early '90s grunge blow up, it is obviously
Pearl Jam. There are a lot of reasons for this. They didn't go in a cliche' direction and just keep churning out radio friendly rockers. They seem to be the only major band from that era that never broke up so they are the only one that stuck around long enough for all bandwagoners to get sick of them. They speak out on political issues and for some reason people don't like that. And probably worst of all, starting in the middle 90's and continuing even today, too many douchebags ripped
Eddie Vedder's vocal stylings resulting in bands ranging from "utterly terrible" to "oh my god, shoot me in the face".
While their relevance and influence on music today may seem fairly non-existent, that doesn't mean they haven't produced some amazing music and still do a hell of great live show. I'm the first to hate on stadium rock shows, but
Pearl Jam sure puts forth a convincing argument for them. The show I choose below starts off with a couple songs from their fourth full length,
No Code. While most will cite this as the point where they began to fall off, it is hard for me to think of a more underrated album. The relative lack of hard rocking audience pleasers certainly didn't make them more popular, but it did give them a chance to really dig into their capacity for songwriting, and the results were an album that I think has aged better than most from that genre. If you have any apprehensions about
Pearl Jam being a worthwhile act to see, pick up a copy of
No Code and listen to this show:
Pearl Jam
The Forum: Los Angeles, CA, USA
1998-07-13
Source: ALD > Unknown DAT
Transfer: Unknown DAT -> Unknown Transfer to CD -> EAC -> FLAC Frontend > .flac
FLAC generation done by John Reynolds (jr@twofeetthick.com)
Set:
SometimesCorduroyHail Hail Brain of J In HidingEven FlowGiven to FlyMFC Not for You Wishlist Jeremy Do the EvolutionDissident Present Tense Spin the Black Circle RearviewmirrorGo > encore breakEncore 1:
Elderly Woman Better Man DaughterAlive > encore breakEncore 2:
Baba O'RileyDownload Lossless Torrent HereLabels: live show, Pearl Jam