Mike McCready Explains Full Album Shows

dimitrispearljam

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-guitarist-mike-mccready-explains-full-album-shows-20160504

About three hours before Pearl Jam took the stage at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, on April 18th, Eddie Vedder gave his bandmates a big surprise: He wanted to perform the group’s 1993 LP Vs. straight through. "He said, 'It's Record Store Day, so let’s do a record,'" guitarist Mike McCready tells Rolling Stone. "It was cool to see fans' eyes light up when they realized what was happening."


Eleven days later, Pearl Jam played Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center for the tenth time in their career, and they celebrated the occasion by opening the show with a complete performance of their 1991 debut LP Ten. They last played the album in sequence at a show in Munich, Germany on March 13th, 1992. They didn't play a full album again until September 19th, 2006 in Turin, Italy when they performed their self-titled LP, which came out earlier that year. On their 2014 tour, they did No Code during a show in Moline, Illinois and Yield at a Milwaukee gig. None of these were announced ahead of time.

McCready initially had mixed feelings about the Vs. show last month. "I was excited, but hesitant in a way," he says. "I feel sometimes when you do a whole record, not that we'd done it a lot, but you have to stay in formula about how the record is, and there's not a lot of spontaneity. But Vs. was really fun since there's a lot of upbeat songs. It had energy I didn't know it would have. I remember I struggled with No Code a couple of years ago, so I was happy that didn't happen again."

Pearl Jam has yet to play 1994's Vitalogy, 2000's Binaural, 2002's Riot Act, 2009's Backspacer and 2013's Lightning Bolt. "I'm sure all that's going to happen," says McCready. "That's kind of Ed's call, but we suggest stuff and I'd love to do that. I love surprising the fans. It's important to us to keep pushing ourselves and revisit our albums and play them straight through."

McCready saw Cheap Trick play their early albums during a 1998 residency at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, and he'd love to see Pearl Jam do something similar at some point down the line. "That's a fantasy of mine," he says. "We could do every record in a residency. It would be so cool. We could play the B-sides along with the album and get really creative with it."

Pearl Jam just wrapped up the first U.S. leg of their 2016 tour with a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden, where they performed with Sting and members of Cheap Trick. They head to Canada for shows in Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto. In June, the band will headline Bonnaroo before doing two nights at Chicago's Wrigley Field and Boston's Fenway Park in August.

BSully

This is great! Now it all makes sense!!!

100 Pacer

If we get Binaural front to back at the 1st Toronto show I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

If they get it at either the Quebec City or Ottawa shows I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

dimitrispearljam

100 Pacer said:

If we get Binaural front to back at the 1st Toronto show I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

If they get it at either the Quebec City or Ottawa shows I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

hahaha.i want to wish u good luck,,,buit i want that foir wrigley..,can u take vitalogy for toronto?

jessebasi

dimitrispearljam said:

100 Pacer said:

If we get Binaural front to back at the 1st Toronto show I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

If they get it at either the Quebec City or Ottawa shows I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

hahaha.i want to wish u good luck,,,buit i want that foir wrigley..,can u take vitalogy for toronto?

Gladly! Bring on the Bugs!

lexicondevil

That was a cool article. Thank you.

CapnBob

Pearl Jam has yet to play 1994's Vitalogy, 2000's Binaural, 2002's Riot Act, 2009's Backspacer and 2013's Lightning Bolt. "I'm sure all that's going to happen," says McCready. "That's kind of Ed's call, but we suggest stuff and I'd love to do that. I love surprising the fans. It's important to us to keep pushing ourselves and revisit our albums and play them straight through."

I didn't know they played Lost Dogs all the way through at a concert before... lol

shetellsherself

dimitrispearljam said:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-guitarist-mike-mccready-explains-full-album-shows-20160504


McCready saw Cheap Trick play their early albums during a 1998 residency at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, and he'd love to see Pearl Jam do something similar at some point down the line. "That's a fantasy of mine," he says. "We could do every record in a residency. It would be so cool. We could play the B-sides along with the album and get really creative with it."

Now that would be something

my2hands

Did I just read mike dreams of a residency playing all the albums including b-sides?

Funny, that's my dream too!!!

PJ_Soul

shetellsherself said:

dimitrispearljam said:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-guitarist-mike-mccready-explains-full-album-shows-20160504


McCready saw Cheap Trick play their early albums during a 1998 residency at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, and he'd love to see Pearl Jam do something similar at some point down the line. "That's a fantasy of mine," he says. "We could do every record in a residency. It would be so cool. We could play the B-sides along with the album and get really creative with it."

Now that would be something

Yeah it would.

chiwhitesox

great article! Thanks for the link.

Now, if we can just get Riot Act or Binaural at Wrigley...

HesCalledDyer

chiwhitesox said:

great article! Thanks for the link.

Now, if we can just get Riot Act or Binaural at Wrigley...

Oh man... pleeeeeeeeeaaaasssseee!!

HughFreakingDillon

no way they do an album in front of that many thousands at wrigley. you're getting a standard, yet long, setlist.

HughFreakingDillon

can you imagine the demand for tickets for a PJ residency playing full albums and b sides? they'd probably sell all the tickets at a ridiculous price with proceeds going to Vitalogy Foundation. Say hi to Sawyer for me!

dimitrispearljam

HughFreakingDillon said:

can you imagine the demand for tickets for a PJ residency playing full albums and b sides? they'd probably sell all the tickets at a ridiculous price with proceeds going to Vitalogy Foundation. Say hi to Sawyer for me!

say hi to sawyer...hahahah

moses562

Nice article! Not only do they want to keep us on our toes they want to keep themselves on theirs too. Great, great band!

SVRDhand13

my2hands said:

Did I just read mike dreams of a residency playing all the albums including b-sides?

Funny, that's my dream too!!!

That's my dream too. But it's one of those dreams you know is so far out of the realm of possibility that you are 100% sure it will never happen. And then the lead guitarist mentions he wants to do it and you almost faint .

Red Mosqito

I'm calling it now, there won't be anymore full albums played this tour. But I really do like the sound of the band doing a residency somewhere and playing all of their albums plus the B-sides!!!

Big Bank Hank

dimitrispearljam said:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-guitarist-mike-mccready-explains-full-album-shows-20160504

About three hours before Pearl Jam took the stage at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, on April 18th, Eddie Vedder gave his bandmates a big surprise: He wanted to perform the group’s 1993 LP Vs. straight through. "He said, 'It's Record Store Day, so let’s do a record,'" guitarist Mike McCready tells Rolling Stone. "It was cool to see fans' eyes light up when they realized what was happening."


Eleven days later, Pearl Jam played Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center for the tenth time in their career, and they celebrated the occasion by opening the show with a complete performance of their 1991 debut LP Ten. They last played the album in sequence at a show in Munich, Germany on March 13th, 1992. They didn't play a full album again until September 19th, 2006 in Turin, Italy when they performed their self-titled LP, which came out earlier that year. On their 2014 tour, they did No Code during a show in Moline, Illinois and Yield at a Milwaukee gig. None of these were announced ahead of time.

McCready initially had mixed feelings about the Vs. show last month. "I was excited, but hesitant in a way," he says. "I feel sometimes when you do a whole record, not that we'd done it a lot, but you have to stay in formula about how the record is, and there's not a lot of spontaneity. But Vs. was really fun since there's a lot of upbeat songs. It had energy I didn't know it would have. I remember I struggled with No Code a couple of years ago, so I was happy that didn't happen again."

Pearl Jam has yet to play 1994's Vitalogy, 2000's Binaural, 2002's Riot Act, 2009's Backspacer and 2013's Lightning Bolt. "I'm sure all that's going to happen," says McCready. "That's kind of Ed's call, but we suggest stuff and I'd love to do that. I love surprising the fans. It's important to us to keep pushing ourselves and revisit our albums and play them straight through."

McCready saw Cheap Trick play their early albums during a 1998 residency at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, and he'd love to see Pearl Jam do something similar at some point down the line. "That's a fantasy of mine," he says. "We could do every record in a residency. It would be so cool. We could play the B-sides along with the album and get really creative with it."

Pearl Jam just wrapped up the first U.S. leg of their 2016 tour with a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden, where they performed with Sting and members of Cheap Trick. They head to Canada for shows in Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto. In June, the band will headline Bonnaroo before doing two nights at Chicago's Wrigley Field and Boston's Fenway Park in August.

Thanks Dimi

manitouman

What if they sprinkled in all of Lost Dogs over the 2 days at Wrigley?

Red Mosqito

CapnBob said:

Pearl Jam has yet to play 1994's Vitalogy, 2000's Binaural, 2002's Riot Act, 2009's Backspacer and 2013's Lightning Bolt. "I'm sure all that's going to happen," says McCready. "That's kind of Ed's call, but we suggest stuff and I'd love to do that. I love surprising the fans. It's important to us to keep pushing ourselves and revisit our albums and play them straight through."

I didn't know they played Lost Dogs all the way through at a concert before... lol

I never really viewed LD as an official album. To me it's more of a collection of songs like a greatest hits album. Heck even the band has it listed under "other" in the music section.

SVRDhand13

manitouman said:

What if they sprinkled in all of Lost Dogs over the 2 days at Wrigley?

Then the crowd will be sleeping during Whale Song and Gremmie

nycrats

Great article.

I'm gonna be really bummed if I miss that binaural night!

Red Mosquito

With two days off before Greenville, they decided three hours before the show to play Vs.?! My God. That's fantastic.

BSully

chiwhitesox said:

great article! Thanks for the link.

Now, if we can just get Riot Act or Binaural at Wrigley...

Yes please!

Given2Fly-Fish

Red Mosquito said:

With two days off before Greenville, they decided three hours before the show to play Vs.?! My God. That's fantastic.

This!

SVRDhand13

4 stadium shows and no Vitalogy... I wonder when it happens and how they deal with the odd tracks.

mpedone

SVRDhand13 said:

4 stadium shows and no Vitalogy... I wonder when it happens and how they deal with the odd tracks.

I think it could work if they played the album in reverse. Use the background music from Stupid Mop as the intro music, lead off with Immortality, then just kind of jam on Aye Davanita and Pry, To.

TeSo

100 Pacer said:

If we get Binaural front to back at the 1st Toronto show I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

If they get it at either the Quebec City or Ottawa shows I'll actually lose my freakin' mind.

Just now I read this and said to myself "Lucky m#$%"#%#"$%"#$"

nycrats

nycrats said:

Great article.

I'm gonna be really bummed if I miss that binaural night!

holy crap, i was indeed there. thats as big of a win as i could ever hope for ever in the history of a live concert..

JojoRice

I was at Greenville and it was truly a special show and I will never forget it. Hope to be there whenever they decide to do Riot Act!