149 comments

149 Comments

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  Hershey Pa. on the riot act tour after a slow opener, may have been love boat captain but i cant remember, they go into last exit and eddie yells “f**k this f**kin chocolate factory “and then tears into the song. Nothing life altering but something that always brings a smile to my face whenever i think of it

  Derek — March 4, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
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  “Last Exit” – 2:11 to 2:20
  In the language of concussions; brute, clobbering wallops of energy, Dave Abbruzzese actually articulates what it FEELS like to be IN THIS song. He bookends Eddie’s final “Let the ocean dissolve way my past” like a man about to pop, like infinity brimming over, bulldozing his way into the breakdown without stopping to pick up the mess. Most rewarding air-drumming ever.

  Andy — March 4, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
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  my favorite pearl jam moment in a song is the little spoken interjection by eddie right before the solo in ‘yellow ledbetter’

  Darren — March 4, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
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  So, I have this sort of Pearl Jam soul mate who I met in London in the fall of 2007 – Pearl Jam was the foundation for what now is a truly great friendship and its one that just enhances my adoration for PJ. After London, I visited him in Chicago w/ tickets in hand to Lollapalooza 2007, and I knew the weekend would be legendary….and of course, as those of you who were there know, it was. We didn’t make it into the Vic show, but we definitely tried and nearly were arrested doing so. The take-away from that weekend wasn’t the late nights and pursuit of everything PJ, but an innocuous purchase of the red Lolla Pearl Jam shirt (w/ “PJ” crest on front); little did I know how significant the shirt would be for me. When I got back from the trip, I found out that my wife was pregnant with our first baby. I always say that any time I see PJ shows, something amazing happens in my life. During the 00 shows, I got engaged around those shows. After the 03 MSG shows, I was married the next month. The list goes on. So, my greatest Pearl Jam memory was the day my daughter Lila was born. By no coincidence or mistake, I made sure I was wearing my red Pearl Jam tee shirt that day and I vowed that night to take her to as many PJ shows as I could. She turns 1 this month and if this fall tour happens, guess who will be there with ear covers on? God, I love this band.

  Dan S. — March 4, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
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  The last two minutes of Breath.
  Wish I could see it live some day.

  JK — March 4, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
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  And when I was talking about Porch above, I actually meant Corduroy. I am a dork…it was early and my brain wasn’t functioning yet…so to repeat, with corrections:

  I love the original version of CORDUROY from Ten, but the acoustic arrangement turns it into a whole different song. While it’s so hard to think of my favorite moment (there are so many!), one of my favorites comes from the above mentioned version of CORDUROY. I just love the way Ed sings, “Can’t be what you want because I’m…SUPPOSED to be just fine.” I love the emotion you can hear and feel in his voice with that line. Brilliant.

  Selena — March 4, 2009 @ 3:36 pm
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  My favorite Pearl Jam moment was the release of Riot Act. I am still amazed by that album. Hearing it for the first time took me back to the day after my nineteenth birthday when I bought Ten on cassette with my birthday money. I couldn’t believe how good Ten was and listened to it over and over for days. Riot Act was the SAME EXACT experience over a decade later. It cemented PJ as my favorite band beyond any shadow of a doubt!

  Jffry Wolfe — March 4, 2009 @ 3:45 pm
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  eddie vedder’s speech as he’s about to give dewey cox a lifetime achievement award in ‘walk hard’ pure class!

  although pretty much any of the xmas singles are worth mentioning….particularly history never repeats from 1995!!!!!!!

  greg thomas — March 4, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
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  ohhhh, this all makes me so happy.

  browneheather — March 4, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
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  jeremy video

  conor — March 4, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
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  “Don’t drive me, I’m a SUV” at the Pepsi Center 2003 and watching all the Ford Truckmen getting upset.

  Seriously though, “It’s OK” whenever Stone goes into a different chord progression. Goosebumps.

  The Knew — March 4, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
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  I can remember when I first discovered “alternative” music in 8th grade. I was skimming the radio and came across this voice that I could hardly understand. Underneath it was a deep, dark mass of music. I was entranced. I listened and then it hit: “I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life, I know you’ll be a star…” From that moment on, I was hooked.

  In a less pretentious memory, my college friends and I used to get very hammered and sing “Elderly Woman…” at the top of our lungs on a regular basis. Just awesome.

  Nathan — March 4, 2009 @ 8:45 pm
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  Seeing Pearl Jam as a teenager for the first time at Summerfest in Milwaukee, we got tickets in the very last row of the reserved seats. The light show during Evenflow was pretty spectacular I remember turning around slowly to take it all in and seeing a barrage of Miller cups flying down from the lawn seats. A full cup bounced of the heads of the couple in front of us who had been making out since Bad Religion took the stage, they paused for a second to figure out what hit them then dove right back into making out. I can’t hear Evenflow without thinking back on that.

  Brendan — March 4, 2009 @ 9:06 pm
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  well, shit. i sat here thinking for a moment, flipping through moments like polaroids in a photo album, and stopped here:

  solider field, chicago, july 1995. one of the hottest days of the summer. i was 14, the summer after eighth grade. it was, as you know, a long show filled with too many memorable and amazing moments to count. but the one that stays with me is “immortality.” it was full dark by then and heat lightning flashed over the lake. during mike’s solo i stopped squinting at the stage and looked up. watched the sky light up over the water in crazy pyrotechnics. the sound coming off the stage was channeled electricity. drums rushing in at the end like thunder. somehow leaving my head entirely.

  trapdoor in the sun.

  andrea — March 4, 2009 @ 10:44 pm
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  My wife and I met Eddie Vedder in the bleachers at Wrigley Field and spent an entire game sitting w/ him while no one around us realized who he was. Chris Chelios came by in the 4th or 5th inning to visit Eddie and the guys sitting in front of us were calling all their friends saying, “you won’t believe who’s sitting next to me right now…Chris Chelios!” They had no idea Eddie was there (Boom was there w/ his wife as well). It was a very memorable afternoon that I’ll remember forever. After the game Ed gave us a shirt he’d worn a few nights earlier at a show in Hartford (2006 tour). He thanked us for not blowing his cover as we’d recognized him before the game even started, but he was able to be annonymous for an entire afternoon and I think he really appreciated that.

  Dave — March 4, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
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  I remember watching Jeremy every moring on MTV while eating my coco puffs before school. I thought it was the best song ever written.

  Steven Dupree — March 5, 2009 @ 7:31 am
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  For me it is the song “Nothing As It Seems.” When my wife and I were trying to have our first child, it took us five years and as many miscarriages. During this time, I listened to this song everyday. It connected the struggle of or situation with the hope and love my wife and I had. “Saving up a sunny day. something maybe two tone.”

  We now have two amazing little rockers.

  Stephen Kimball — March 5, 2009 @ 8:04 am
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  Pearl Jam at Red Rocks on June 20, 1995. Enough said. The greatest show that I have ever seen. The best band in the world. The best venue in the world. The best night. The best weather. The wind in Eddie’s hair while he leaned over the edge of the stage, screaming “I’m still alive”. The most goosebumps that I have ever had. Incredible.

  Jennifer Kennedy — March 5, 2009 @ 9:21 am
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  1. Playing “Alive” while doing 90 in my not so bottom heavy Montero, bombing down I-70 after bursting into the sunlight that screams for you to get out of eisenhower tunnel and onto the mountain, any mountain. Always followed by T.P.’s “Running Down A Dream.” Always. Must have done that a 100 times or more back when. Good times.
  2. The making of bootlegs official. I haven’t, to my knowledge, actually heard one, but I respect the fact that their doing it.
  3. That Eddie Vedder. He walks sooo hard. So hard.

  garrett — March 5, 2009 @ 9:55 am
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  They’re. it’s early.

  garrett — March 5, 2009 @ 9:59 am
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  While my official answer for contest purposes will be the 2-night stand at MSG 2003 [in its entirety; the single greatest rock memory i have], there were 2 awesome moments forever cemented in my mind from the respective nights:
  night 1: after ben harper leaves the stage following his help on Daughter, and Ed talks passes the bottle around to Stone and Jeff, when jeff hit that first bass note of Crown of Thorns – i felt like i was the first person in that whole place to know what song it was and i lost…my…mind! It was an insane moment in a night full of insane moments.
  Night 2: “Alive” – when the lights punctuated each Yeah! and fistpump from every single soul in the Garden. That was nice. Man, what an awesome show. Thanks for the memories!

  ev — March 5, 2009 @ 11:43 am
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  My favorite Pearl-Jam-moment-in-a-song is in “I Got ID,” right after the first guitar solo, as the band goes back into the verse and Eddie whispers “those easy shells seem so easy to crack.” His voice cracks a little bit, and you can genuinely hear pain.

  I’ve heard the song a hundred thousand times, easy, and it still gives me chills. Actually, that whole song gives me chills…

  As for my favorite personal Pearl-Jam-in-the-world moment, it was in high school, when I stayed up ’til one AM recording the Monkeywrench Radio broadcast. I was a wreck the next day in class, but it was completely worth it.

  Years later, when I was in art school, I met a girl from my hometown who had stayed up doing the exact same thing, and I realized that there were fans all over the world who had listened to (and probably recorded) the same broadcast at the same moment I had been. It blew me away.

  A unifying moment for people all over the world, brought to you by Pearl Jam. Pretty neat.

  And thanks for this contest, Heather. Your blog is also pretty neat, and it’s a lot of fun to read other people’s Big Pearl Jam Moments. =)

  Sterling — March 5, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
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  Here are two moments out of a million — both from the “Touring Band 2000” DVD: (1) The woman in St. Louis dancing and signing for the deaf members in the audience during “Given To Fly” is absolutely mindblowing and (2) “Daughter/It’s Okay” from Jones Beach. “It’s Okay” moves me, exhilarates me, like nothing they’ve ever done every single time I hear it.

  Johnny — March 5, 2009 @ 9:06 pm
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  I have so many fave moments when it comes to Pearl Jam but I can boil it down to these.

  1. Being a young marine (long ago) and getting my “Alive” stickman tattoo and enjoying how much I would be taking the piss out of death when I rocked it in the casket.

  2. Naming my cat eddie after the one and only Mr. Vedder

  3. The way the hair on my neck still stands up when I hear the “we belong together” add-on lyric from the MTV Unplugged version of Black.

  4. Being able to pick myself out as one of the people cheering when the music drops out at about 1:57 into insignifigance from the 2000 detroit michigan show.

  5. The way that pearl jam was always a starting point when meeting new people especially in the corps..I would often hear the words..”I didn’t know black guys listened to pearl jam”. I would gush about how they saved my life.. but I think I would lose people when I told them about the Poison (the band) period..”I won’t forget you” was a killer song..lol

  Lastly I forgave Scott Weiland (he knows what he did)..”where you runnin to tommorrow” indeed.

  Curtis Reeves — March 5, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
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  I have had my share of great live experiences (Montreal 2000, Fargo 2003, Vancouver 2005 & The Gorge 2006), but I still have to go back to my very first listen to Ten to expound why any of those moments can mean anything to me now. As any teenager, I thought there was no-one who understood all of my (in hind-sight, irrelevant, mostly make-believe and adolescent) pain and frustration. The opening score of Master/Slave before Once spoke to me like nothing else had. From that first swell and the strained plead in EV’s voice buried in the mix, I became inseparable from my yellow Sony Walkman and that cassette. It was more than a security blanket, and although it’s become cliché to say this about anything, I’m sure it saved my life. I listened and re-listened to Ten until the tape was destroyed. I had to re-purchase that cassette 3 times before my first (but not last) Ten CD, and at 30 years old, I still own every copy, plus other random, used and unopened copies I find wherever I go.
  But that’s every Pearl Jam fan.
  OK, thanks for listening. I’m going back to Craigslist to see if I can afford any City and Colour tickets yet.

  Andrew Morton — March 6, 2009 @ 9:52 am
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  I don’t think I can pin it down to a single moment, but when I was in college me and my three best friends road tripped to Knoxville for a PJ show and it is one of my best memories. Ed commented on the “Patriot” sign my friend was holding up and apologized saying that he couldn’t do the song because he hadn’t played it in so long. They also played Hard to Imagine that night and it has been one of my favorites ever since.

  Dee — March 6, 2009 @ 10:06 am
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  “I miss you already…”

  5/25/06 – Boston – The show was winding down and then Eddie invited a young girl on stage and accepted her gift of flowers. In return, he offered to sing her request — Smile. During the song, Eddie carefully tossed her his harmonica.

  I’m not sure why this moment stuck in my head. Perhaps because she was young and cute, because it was an unusual request or because I wished I could go on stage and get a kiss & hug from Eddie too. And it was my first PJ show. When I read the forum & blogs after the show, other people mentioned this moment and fleshed out the story a bit more from their perspectives. The young girl was sitting in the first few rows with her (very cool) dad and held a sign with a smiley face to ask for her request. And she apparently rocked out in her seat and sang her heart out on all the songs she knew. Her dad even posted about this experience in a lead up to a Mansfield show in 2008.

  I loved looking around at the crowd that night and seeing everyone young and old — smiling, animated, dancing, singing along with Eddie at the top of our lungs. And catching the look on someone’s face when they recognized the opening chords of a special, favorite song that they’ve been hoping to hear. The special song I got to hear that night was a great version of Black but the song I’ll remember the most was Smile 🙂

  http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=pearl_jam___smile_live___at_fleetcenter_boston_ma_5_25_06.php&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#q=5%2F25%2F06+pearl+jam+boston+smile&hl=en&emb=0

  P.S. It’s my birthday today and since I can’t go to a PJ show anytime soon, the Ten reissue would be a wonderful present.

  Robin — March 6, 2009 @ 10:52 am
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  “It’s an art to live with pain
  Mix the light into gray
  Lost nine friends we’ll never know
  Two years ago today
  And if our lives became too long
  Would it add to our regret?”

  I think is the most honest thing we’ve ever heard from this band- not saying they are in the habit of dishonesty- and instantly hooked me into “Love Boat Captain” the first time I heard it. Just a beautiful, touching, heartbreaking verse.

  Brett — March 6, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
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  Without a doubt my best pearl jam song moment came the first time I heard and saw Evenflow on MTV. I was getting ready to go to elementary school, had MTV playing on the small TV in my bedroom and the song came on. I still vividly remember stopping what I was doing and staring at the TV until the video finished. All day long the song ran through my head with visions of Eddie climbing on the rafters and dropping into the audience. I saved my lunch money for the next two weeks in order to go out and buy Ten on cassette, the first album I had ever purchased. I still have the tape and the worn out album art that came with it. If I look around my parent’s house enough, I’m sure I’ll still find the VCR tape with the Evenflow video on it.

  Eric — March 6, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
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  Aiiight…

  Heather, quick props for the blog. Love reading yer stuff. Thanks for sharing. Found you from a link to one of your PJ posts.

  It’s been fun sifting through all of the PJ moments so here’s what I’ve whittled it down to (for now):

  Official submittal would have to be the 3/26/94 show in Murfreesboro, TN. It was Spring Break and my buddy, who’d bought tix thru the classifieds, and I drove up to see the gang play. Our tix were turned out to be in a section that that MTSU had allocated to the teachers. These teachers were a tame bunch that had the misfortune of two adrenalized, long-hairs joining their ranks. Anyhoo, it was a poignant and memorable moment when they brought Steve Cropper on stage and played ‘Dock of the Bay.’ My pops had played Otis Redding in the house growing up and it was special to have them surprisingly cover this song and inadvertantly link my Dad to my favorite band. During the song, in a very human moment, Eddie stumbled thru the whistling part and towards the end motioned for the crowd to join in. Shortly thereafter the band, all sporting grins, brought the song to its conclusion and I was left with an indelible memory. Their music was super relevant in my life then and remains even moreso today. Can’t wait for the new album and tour!

  “And he still gives his love, just gives it away. The love he receives is the love that is saved.”

  David Brush — March 6, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
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  I remember it well, April 3rd 1994 in was Easter and I was working at restaurant named Tom Foolery’s in Westborough, Ma. I titled this event in my life the night I fell in love with PJ. Up until them I had owned Ten and VS. but never thought of PJ to be any greater than any other band that emerged around that time. However, that night I couldn’t pull myself away from the radio carrying it around the kitchen everywhere I went. Luckily my roommate, unbeknownst to me, was taping the show back at home (on a cassette tape). From the opening ambience music that was played until the final note of Indifference I was memorized. The way they took studio songs and transformed them in live stories, added tags, and played unknown covers, and unreleased songs. It would take me almost 18 months to finally figure out all the song titles (pre Internet days). I don’t have those cassettes anymore after the 1,000th play (not kidding) they finally broke. Of course, now we have the convenience of just going to the Internet and find someone who posted the show and downloading it. It adds convenience but removes the magic behind the music. I remember getting my first PJ Xmas single and driving all over town trying to find someone who owned a record player. Now I can download the single before I even get my single in the mail. PJ had always been able to deliver magic even in a world where there seems to be none. Thanks for your blog it’s great. Ironically I found you blog a couple of years ago searching for PJ Xmas singles.

  Thanks JT

  JT — March 6, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
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  My favorite Pearl Jam song would have to be Daughter. Only for the fact of the little dots in between the lyrics that were written out in the booklet. The little dots separating the sentences…phrases…I wrote them…over and over…when I was a teenager…listening to this record…over and over in my room…rewriting the lyrics…and poring over the lyric sheets…i had them memorized…true.

  Deron — March 6, 2009 @ 9:29 pm
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  My favorite moment would have to be drinking from Eddie’s wine bottle during the “take a bottle drink it down pass it around” part in Crazy Mary, in San Bernardino on October 28, 2000. I know not written by them but still coolest moment ever.

  BTW… Great work on you blog. One of the few I always check back with.

  Dylan McLemore — March 7, 2009 @ 8:02 am
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  My favorite Pearl Jam moment was recently actually. A little more than a month ago I think it was, I went on Pearl Jam’s myspace page to see what was going on. I saw that they had some remixes from the reissue. I had already heard them, so I ignored them. I then saw “Brother” and momentarily became angry. I was annoyed that the band would be releasing ANOTHER version of Brother. I think it’s a great song… but it’s instrumental. I love Ed. Ed must be in the music for me. Regardless, I decided to click and see if anything had changed. I heard basically the same intro and sighed. I opened a new tab in my browser and started to go about being upset… but then… I hear Ed… he came in strong and powerfully. I said “Holy SHIT!”. I then went all over the net trying to find a download of this fantastic track (I would have just downloaded the myspace one, but it’s edited or something so that you hear a click in the middle of the song). No one seemed to have this version. Finally, I decided, “Hey, I’ve got 60 gigs of Pearl Jam, maybe I already have it in my library”. I searched “Brother” in itunes, and up came 5 versions, 3 instrumental, 1 live, and 1 studio with vocals!!!! It was on a rarities disc that you (Heather) gave me about 2 years ago. This made my day and I proceeded to tell all my friends the great news.

  Thomas — March 7, 2009 @ 9:35 am
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  My favorite Pearl Jam moment, for me, would come compliments of the Album “Yield,” but more specifically, the song “Given To Fly.” I have been such a fan of Pearl Jam since their beginnings, but this song and this album solidified them as one of my favorite bands of all time. The song “Given To Fly” reminds me of warm and cold currents sweeping across one’s body as they lay below the vast sky. There is one line, specifically, that is my favorite line in any Pearl Jam song. “But first he was stripped, and then he was stabbed by faceless men, well, fuckers, he still stands.” This is such a powerful and inspiring line I often recall when it feels the world is against me. Such an amazing band, such an amazing song.

  Jason — March 7, 2009 @ 11:04 am
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  There is just something magical about the word, fuck. I love the word used in Vedder’s lyrics, but my favorite is when he gets pissed on stage during this instance.

  “Hey, listen asshole! One more fucker throws a fuckin’ quarter out here, and we’re out of here. I’m telling ya. Fucker. What the fuck? You’re blowing it for fucking everybody. Hit me with a fuckin’ quarter again, and fuck it. I’m out of here. We’re all out of here. Fuck you. And if anyone sees someone throwing fucking change right next to ’em, you have my permission to personally beat the holly fucking shit out of ’em. Thank you very much. Fucking idiot.
  …ahh, that felt good. Thank you.”

  C Jensen — March 7, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
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  My favorite Pearl Jam moment has got to be the performance of “Porch” (intermingled with Sonic Youth’s “Androgynous Mind”) that the boys did at the Fox Theater in Atlanta in April 1994 … Show was broadcast over the radio, and of course, as an obsessive PJ nerd, I taped it off the air. Eventually, most of the set was released on CD as a 3-disc “Dissident” single box … That version of “Porch” still raises goosebumps on my arms every time I listen. From McCready’s “Voodoo Chile” licks that open the guitar solo to the AWESOME extended guitar interplay between Stone and Mike, the middle section of the song is just blistering. Eddie’s Sonic Youth vocal quips are powerful, but it feels like my heart’s been ripped out of my chest when he strays from those lyrics and goes off on his own, screaming out “I feel love / I give my blood / I give my flesh / I give it all to you,” as Stone’s guitar whirls around like a tornado and McCready’s lead notes stab like daggers through the soul …

  Geez, I just gave myself chills just typing about it. Damn.

  Gary B. — March 7, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
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  I’m gonna have to go with the transition in I Got ID where the tense bridge (I got memories, I got shit) melts into the sorrowful chorus.

  J-Ro — March 7, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
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  First of all, it is a beautiful thing to read the nearly 150 comments to this post.

  Here are some memorable moments for me:

  5. “I know you’ll be the star in somebody else’s sky/but why/whyyy/can’t it be mine. . .we, we belong, we belong together/together. . .” from the MTV Unplugged performance of Black. Captured all of the angst of a breakup that had to happen but that is also tearing your heart in two.

  4. Rocking in the Free World from Pinkpop 1992. A young band + Neil Young song about a “kindler gentler policeman’s hand” and 12 years of Reagan-Bush + the slow build-up at the beginning + the undulating crowd in the mist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUJGlI13KdE) = breaks your heart.

  3. It’s Okay at Jones Beach 2000 and captured on Touring Band. It was a moment of solidarity between the band and audience. I write about what it meant to me here: http://withtheleaves.blogspot.com/2007/07/its-okay.html.

  2. February 3, 1998, release of Yield. An immense billboard next to the freeway leading to the Bay Bridge in SF announced the release, a yield sign set against the backdrop of a road into the mountains (http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/photos/aabillboard.jpg). I bought it at a midnight sale at the Tower Records. Followed the band up the coast to Seattle later that year. It was one of those periods of time that holds deep meaning and feels formative: alone on the road in my Honda listening to Faithful, Wishlist, Low Light, Evolution, In Hiding.

  1. Better Man, Seattle, November 6, 2000. At 3:45 Ed shouts “I don’t want to leave/it’s hard to leave/I want to believe you. . .” and ends the coda with “. . .here I come/I’m coming home. . .it takes more strength/I know/I know/I gotta goooo-ohh. . . .” Nothingman follows. It’s short, I wasn’t there, and it doesn’t have personal resonance, but it makes me really feel something for the man.

  Special mention: Hawai’i ’78, discovered on I am Fuel and a moment best described by you, as the audience figures out what Ed is singing. Then found Brother Izzy’s version at a flea market at Aloha Stadium when I traveled to the islands. It’s a song of the land, a lament.

  lbc — March 8, 2009 @ 12:50 am
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  My favorite moment was in the song “Animal”, particularly the performance of it at the MTV Music Awards back in 1993. I was one of the many people who swarmed on top of Ten, but I also felt that I was among the people who was hearing something that millions of others weren’t hearing. I remember thinking that there was something very different in Pearl Jam, and it prompted me to seek out every B-side and bootlegged concert that I could. But I still wondered about that second album. I still wondered whether all of these newly discovered bands were as good as I thought they were. What would come after Facelift and Badmotorfinger.
  I watched the music awards with bated breath. I had spread the word to all my friends that Peal Jam would be performing that night, and that it would be a song off their new album. I was hoping that it would not sound like Ten, but that it would sound like the Pearl Jam that I had grown to love so much. I wanted viscera.
  When I heard the opening chords of “Animal”, a new song off a new album, I was at once enthralled. I realized then that I was enjoying a band who, as long as I wanted things that were honest and loud, would provide the soundtrack to many of my life’s moments for many years to come. Neil Young performing later on with them that night was the icing on the cake.

  Eric Penka — March 8, 2009 @ 7:42 am
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  Easy peasy.
  track: Dirty Frank
  line” “Where’s Mike McCready? BY GOD HE’s BEEN ATE!”

  Cracks me up every time, plus such a great song.

  mike — March 8, 2009 @ 9:38 am
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  THE FOLLOWING IS TRUE.
  ..why would I make this up?

  The first Pearl Jam concert I went to was in Indio, CA, my home.
  (Now home of the Coachella Music Fest…at the time NOBODY played here!)

  As the band rocked and the beers flowed, I moved towards the stage. Just 10ft away and we’re packed like sardines, involuntarily swaying to the rhythmic beats, yet, as fragile as the Little Pig’s house of sticks. Suddenly, our house ‘blew down’ —
  a girl buckled, under the immense pressure of the collective.

  As I laid on top of said girl, 3 others on top of me, it became silent and everything slowed way down. I couldn’t breathe, and though my mind was screaming ‘GET OFF OF ME’..not a word left my lips. Finally, my arm was yanked, as I was pulled from the pile..
  up, off that poor girl
  up, into the fresh air, that refilled my lungs..
  up, to hear Eddie’s voice break the silence with this lyric..

  Oh, I, oh, I’m still ALIVE
  Hey, I, oh, I’m still ALIVE…

  ..I stood off to the side, shook my head and laughed.

  Eric A — March 8, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
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  when mike had to run off stage to use the can before opening for the Rolling Stones. because it reminds me of myself.

  JumpinCat — March 11, 2009 @ 8:39 am
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  so many great entries, guys. i had SO MUCH FUN reading these. the winner is jrich! congrats dude.

  browneheather — March 11, 2009 @ 9:26 am
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  Hello Heather!

  Im writing you for the second time i think…

  Because i felt that it was my time to share, after i enjoyed yours for so long ago, and well, the prize helps too (despite the fact that i think it already ended…)!

  I have 2 huge moments.

  (Warning! This may be as long as boring, so another readers that Heather beware!)

  Lets begin with the second one:

  Back since High School (VS era) me and my best friend in the world always wondered how great could it be being on a Pearl Jam show, and it seemed quite impossible, since we were from Peru, south america. It was like just something to dream about, like a wish you could have only if we found Aladdin’s lamp. And that show MUST END with Indifference, such a powerful song. That was the perfect song for nearly any kind of ending. And it would be my life’s soundtrack final song too.

  But well, lots of years after (more than 10) he moved from Peru to US (New Jersey), where he lives now.

  Last year i decided to visit him, and we managed to put the trip dates in order to get to go to a Pearl Jam show.

  And we snatch a couple of tickets to the Garden first nite show, and it was a great show, and guess wich was the last song?

  Indifference

  So, it was a real dream come true, a very old one.

  The second one was the first, one that broke my heart:

  Around 2005 i broke up with my girlfriend, after nearly 6 years, it was bad and painful, but not tragic, i thought it was just a “break” not like the real end, did not saw it coming. But it was an endless downfall from there.

  Like 3 month later i found out she was engaged, so quick…, and so painful, you cant imagine how i fell, that nite, i understood the meaning of “Broken Hearted.”

  Try to got her back in so many ways, and failed.

  By that time i knew Pearl Jam was about to come to South America for teh fist time, and made all i could to go to the show in Argentina. Sold lots of stuff and memories i never thought i could get rid of, but well.

  I made it, made the trip, went to the show, the place was on a street that had her exactly last name, “Espinosa”, wicj is mega rare, because Espinosa is always written with a Z, not an S, what are the odds?

  Like some very bad energy was trying to know me down, but hell, i was about to see Pearl Jam, the best band in the world.

  The show was great first time seeing them, the crow rocked too, and suddenly, Black.

  “I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life
  I know you’ll be a sun
  In somebody else’s sky
  But why, Why can’t it be”

  Tears rolled down.

  How a guy i’ve never meet, can describe my own feelings in such a perfect song?

  Emepitri — March 11, 2009 @ 10:56 am
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  My favorite Pearl Jam moment was sitting 5th row at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and seeing them perform Jeremy. I was a UCLA student and we were given the best seats in the place. I also liked finding out later that they wanted to play Sonic Reducer and MTV wouldn’t let them. Made me like them more.

  Jason — March 11, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
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  My favorite moment was at the 2005 Gorge show where Ed forgot the first verse or so of Off he Goes and at the end says that he always thought that song was too long anyway… and besides they wanted to play Low Light to match the sunset…

  Cheech — March 12, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
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  Hey guys, I did indeed pick a random winner for this one — THANK YOU for all the amazing and heartfelt entries.

  browneheather — April 19, 2009 @ 8:19 am
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  I savor, cause I found exactly what I was having a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye

  perła — October 26, 2011 @ 4:01 am

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