What an amazing experience!! What a fantastic film!!! What a weekend it has been... found out a friend had gotten us the Pearl Jam Twenty tix, when I thought there was no hope in hell after last weekends debacle with the TIFF website... and today, a good friend from toronto came by for a visit and surprised me with tickets for tomorrows concert!!!
I was at the APJ charity luncheon this morning before the PJ20 premiere. Ed performed three songs: Rise, Trouble, and City of Ruins. Not bad for $1250.00 per ticket. He was being rushed out after he finished his performance, but made time to sign some autographs and he signed my Benaroya Hall vinyl. He stayed for about an hour before heading over to the PJ20 premiere, which was apparently the hottest TIFF ticket. The line-up to get inside the theatre stretched down the street and around the block...even the band's crew and 10C staff lined up outside to get in.
The movie was very well-received by the entire crowd. The rare footage was definitely enjoyable, and the audio system in the theatre was upgraded for the premiere so the music sounded better than I expected. The band members' interviews in the movie were insightful and interesting, with Ed chocking up at one point. One really got a sense of how the dynamics in the band operated in the early days and how they evolved into their current form. The band left immediately after being introduced by Cameron Crowe. Cornell was mobbed for photographs immediately after taking his seat but obliged and seemed very friendly. I am hoping we get to see him join the band on stage for Hunger Strike, but could do without a TOTD reunion.
All in all, a very entertaining day.
To quote the 10C from Newsletter #8: "Please understand we have a lot of members and it is very hard to please everybody. If you are one of those unhappy people...please call 1-900-IDN-TCAR."
"Me knowing the truth, I can not concur."
1996: Toronto - 1998: Chicago, Montreal, Barrie - 2000: Montreal, Toronto - 2002: Seattle X2 (Key Arena) - 2003: Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle (Benaroya Hall) - 2004: Reading, Toledo, Grand Rapids - 2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City - 2006: Toronto X2, Albany, Hartford, Grand Rapids, Cleveland - 2007: Chicago (Vic Theatre) - 2008: NYC X2, Hartford, Mansfield X2 - 2009: Toronto, Chicago X2, Seattle X2, Philadelphia X4 - 2010: Columbus, Noblesville, Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford - 2011: Montreal, Toronto X2, Ottawa, Hamilton - 2012: Missoula - 2013: London, Chicago, Buffalo, Hartford - 2014: Detroit, Moline - 2015: NYC (Global Citizen Festival) - 2016: Greenville, Toronto X2, Chicago 1 - 2017: Brooklyn (RRHOF Induction) - 2018: Chicago 1, Boston 1 - 2022: Fresno, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, NYC, Camden - 2023: St. Paul X2, Austin X2 - 2024: Vancouver X2, Portland, Sacramento, Noblesville, Philadelphia X2, Baltimore
PEARL JAM TWENTY KICKS OFF WITH WORLD PREMIERE AT THE 2011 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
07.26.11
In celebration of their 20th Anniversary, Pearl Jam will debut Pearl Jam Twenty, a definitive portrait of the band as told by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and music journalist, Cameron Crowe, at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday September 10, 2011. Information on purchasing tickets, dates and times for the world premiere of Pearl Jam Twenty at the Toronto International Film festival, as well as two additional festival screenings of the film can be found at http://www.tiff.net.
Pearl Jam is set to release the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty worldwide on September 20th in select theaters for one night only, with a full week run of the film beginning Friday, September 23rd in key markets. The film will be shown at the highest caliber of theaters in select cities in the U.S. and internationally. For the latest update of theaters and cities showing Pearl Jam Twenty, visit http://www.PJ20.com.
In keeping with this unique theatrical release in select cities and theaters in September, Pearl Jam Twenty will then roll out in an accelerated fashion with the film’s U.S. television premiere Friday, October 21st at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), as part of the prestigious PBS “American Masters” series, airing during the first-ever PBS Arts Fall Festival. Following, the DVD of the film will be released worldwide by Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment October 25, 2011. Pearl Jam Twenty will also be available on Movies On Demand timed to the theatrical release.
The Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack, released by Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment, is currently available for pre-order at http://www.PJ20.com for its release date of September 20, 2011. Comprised of a selected track listing by Cameron Crowe—the album is a true companion piece to the film.
In addition, as part of their year-long celebration, Pearl Jam is releasing a Pearl Jam Twenty book on September 13, 2011. Published by Simon & Schuster in the U.S. and in Canada, and Atlantic Books in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the Pearl Jam Twenty book is an aesthetically stunning chronicle of the band’s past two decades. Compiled and written by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson, the book includes a foreword by Cameron Crowe (and material from all his own band interviews) as well as original interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl. The book is also available for pre-order now at http://www.PJ20.com.
The film, Pearl Jam Twenty, is told in big themes and bold colors with blistering sound, and chronicles the years leading up to the band’s formation, the chaos that ensued soon-after being catapulted into superstardom, their step back from the spotlight with the instinct of self-preservation, and the creation of a trusted circle that would surround them—giving way to a work culture that would sustain them. The film celebrates the freedom that allows the band to make music without losing themselves, their fans, or the music lovers they’d always been.
“We put so much into the film – moments, pieces of footage shot by band members, audio snippets, visual bursts, new and old interviews – many different formats, all meant to present an emotional scrapbook of what it felt like to be a member of the band on this twenty-year journey,” said Cameron Crowe. “The richness of the footage made our path very clear – just tell the story of the band and let the music guide us. It was a joy to make this film, and we’re thrilled share it with the fans.”
The captivating documentary gives fans and audiences an intimate first glimpse into Pearl Jam’s journey culled from more than 1,200 hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage, over 24 hours of recent interviews with the band, as well as live footage of their spellbinding concert performances.
Pearl Jam Twenty is a Vinyl Films production in association with Monkeywrench Inc. and Tremolo Productions. The film was produced by Cameron Crowe, Kelly Curtis, Morgan Neville, and Andy Fischer and executive produced by Michele Anthony.
Post edited by BOONE on
BOONE
PJ Toronto 1&2(2011), Ed Las Vegas 1&2(2012)
Congrats to all who where there. Sounds like an amazing time was had by all.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
I was so excited that I woke up really early today and went to the theatre. After having waited in the rush line for 5 hours, I got a ticket and I saw the movie today It was totally worth the wait! Go watch it if you can! I'm so pumped for the shows now ... Oh and Toronto is a fantastic city with very friendly inhabitants!
Please, Pearl Jam, consider a Benaroya Hall vinyl reissue!
wow...teared up a bit too...very emotional...got seats right up front and saw all the seats behind us for pj...strangely i was demystified yet still it's a very surreal experience watching a movie about my musical heros with them all watching it with us...i got to talk to chris cornell about a show i saw him in many moons ago when they opened for voivod...he was very cool and reached his hand out to shake mine...i was touched...i felt like i was talking to an old friend...
we are lucky to have such a geat band to enjoy...it's a good type of evolution...as they evolve as a band...we are evolving as fans...
You know how the saying goes, "save the best for last".
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Saturday premier, so I have my extra ticket for the Monday TIFF showing. If anyone is going to the ACC show tonight and is interested in the TIFF monday ticket please send me a pm. I will sell for cost.
Barrie 98, Toronto 00, Toronto 03, Buffalo 03, Toronto 05, Hamilton 05, Kitchener 05, Toronto 06 I II, Lolla 07, Vedder Toronto I II, Toronto 09, Philly Oct 30 & 31 2009, Buffalo 2010, Cleveland 2010, Toronto I II 2011, Hamilton 2011, Ottawa 2011, London 2013, Buffalo 2013, Pittsburgh 2013, FLL 2016, Miami 2016, Tor I & II 2016, Barcelona 2018, Toronto 2022, Ottawa 2022, Quebec City 2022, Hamilton 2022
just amazing - I still can't get over the video of spider-man, sorry Ed, scaling walls or whatever it is that you call what he was doing - there was one quick clip where he looked like the baby from trainspotting
bring kleenex because you don't really expect the emotion to hit you the way it does - they're telling their tale but you realize that through all of those years you were simultaneously having experiences relating to what was on the screen , like the days on Synergy after Roskilde, the media clips that you saw when they actually happened-what you were doing that day or who you were with, and you realize that this has all in some way also become a part of your life and your memories from a completely different place and perspective
I have a husband, 4 kids, a job, my own life but it hit me during the movie that hey I remember that or I was there or I watched that or I felt that and this is the other side of that experience and when there's that realization that this has become intertwined with the last 20 years of your life and the friends you've made and the places you've been the appreciation for the band and not just what they've given to you but also, hopefully, what you've given to them is overwhelming
just amazing - I still can't get over the video of spider-man, sorry Ed, scaling walls or whatever it is that you call what he was doing - there was one quick clip where he looked like the baby from trainspotting
bring kleenex because you don't really expect the emotion to hit you the way it does - they're telling their tale but you realize that through all of those years you were simultaneously having experiences relating to what was on the screen , like the days on Synergy after Roskilde, the media clips that you saw when they actually happened-what you were doing that day or who you were with, and you realize that this has all in some way also become a part of your life and your memories from a completely different place and perspective
I have a husband, 4 kids, a job, my own life but it hit me during the movie that hey I remember that or I was there or I watched that or I felt that and this is the other side of that experience and when there's that realization that this has become intertwined with the last 20 years of your life and the friends you've made and the places you've been the appreciation for the band and not just what they've given to you but also, hopefully, what you've given to them is overwhelming
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ ... 3920110910
Pearl Jam, Cameron Crowe: A Drunken Debacle Changed Our Career
Sat, Sep 10 2011
If it wasn't for a disastrous, drunken show they performed as a favor to their friend Cameron Crowe, Pearl Jam wouldn't be the band they are today.
That was one of the lessons learned on Saturday afternoon at the Toronto International Film Festival -- where "the hottest ticket at the festival," according to doc programmer Thom Powers, was to the premiere of a documentary about a rock 'n' roll band whose name does not include the letter U or the number 2.
Powers said the distinction belonged to "Pearl Jam Twenty," the Cameron Crowe-directed film that takes a 20-year emotional journey with the seminal Seattle band and its fans.
And an hour or so after the film premiered in front of a raucous audience at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Crowe and the members of Pearl Jam sat for a press conference in a nearby hotel – where the band members, who rarely speak to the media, said that "PJ20" showed them moments they'd forgotten about and provided a moving look at a band that has somehow managed to stay together and on track for two decades.
"Just trying to order pizza with five guys is hard to do," singer Eddie Vedder said, to big laughs. "To get five guys together and make music for this long is a miracle."
I moderated the panel, at which Crowe explained what he found fascinating about the band, with whom he's been friends since the mid-1980s.
"The story of Pearl Jam takes the usual rock story and turns it on its head," said Crowe. "Usually it starts out with a spark of brilliance, and then you have success, and tragedy cuts it short. Pearl Jam is tragedy surmounted, joy through survival."
Crowe and his three editors assembled the doc from hundreds of hours of concert film, home movies, backstage footage and interview segments – the Holy Grail of which, he said, was a widely-rumored but seldom-scene glimpse of Vedder and the late Kurt Cobain doing a brief but joyous slow dance together beneath the stage at the MTV Video Awards.
"The first time I saw that footage it was incredibly emotional," said Vedder, who explained that Cobain put his finger to his lips at the end of the dance, as if to shush Vedder, because they were beneath the stage where Eric Clapton was performing his ballad "Tears in Heaven."
"If he just could have pulled through," said Vedder wistfully of the Seattle icon with whom Pearl Jam had an occasionally contentious and occasionally friendly relationship. "It's a galvanizing moment, and something like that doesn't happen very often."
One of the key sequences in the movie, and one of the funniest of the press conference, had to do with a promotional party the band played for the 1991 release of Crowe's movie "Singles," in which the band appeared and which came out around the time that the Seattle music scene was having its commercial breakthrough.
Crowe begged the band to play the private release party in Los Angeles, which was to be filmed by MTV to give the film a commercial boost on its release. The request, he said, made him more uncomfortable than anything he'd ever asked the band to do – and Pearl Jam responded by agreeing to play the show, but then by getting drunk before going onstage.
The resulting show included Vedder repeatedly screaming "F--- MTV!" as he staggered about the stage, ripping down draperies and berating the assembled movie execs and guests. It was, the film says, "the birth of the no" – the point when Pearl Jam decided it was okay to stop doing everything that businesspeople wanted them to do.
I learned about that no firsthand: At the time of the "Singles" party, I'd just been assigned a Rolling Stone cover story on the band. I was in the audience watching the entire debacle – and within a day or two of the show, I got a phone call from my editor telling me that the band was canceling the story: they'd decided they didn't want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone after all.
(They did make the cover before too long, in a story written by … Cameron Crowe.)
"Over the years, we talked about everything," said Crowe at the press conference. "But we never talked about the 'Singles' party. I'm sure the band was thrilled when I asked them about it when we were doing interviews for this movie: 'Oh, now you finally bring it up, with the cameras rolling.'"
"Actually, I think we owe you an apology," Stone Gossard said to Crowe. "I figured you'd just say, 'those guy are such assholes,' and never want to have anything to do with us again."
Also at the press conference, Vedder talked passionately about his distaste for celebrity culture ("I don’t know how people do it these days – the paparazzi and all is something I can't even f---ing imagine for a second") and about his sense of wonder over the longevity the band has achieved, and the band it has formed with its audience.
"It's just music," he said. "To have it turn into this other thing, a monument, is something."
I asked him if in a way, that wasn't always the point – to move beyond making "just music," to something deeper.
"Yeah," he said, "but it's like catching a butterfly. You can't grab it too hard."
Let's say knowledge is a tree, yeah.
It's growing up just like me.
saw the film at the private press screening yesterday and i gotta say it was really well done, although i didn't like how they glossed over some things like the drummer story (they never got into why Dave A. was fired - unlike the Foo Fighters documentary where all the relevant parties got to have their say).
Overall, nice to see all the old footage and really enjoyed the soundtrack.
2003: Buffalo, Toronto
2004: Boston (x2), Toledo, Grand Rapids
2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
2006: Toronto (x2), Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit
2008: New York City (x2), Hartford, Boston II
2010: Buffalo, Newark, New York City (x2), Nijmegen, Berlin, Werchter
2011: Alpine Valley I, Alpine Valley II, Montreal, Toronto (x2), Ottawa, Hamilton
2012: Amsterdam (x2), Berlin (x2)
2013: London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Brooklyn (x2)
2014: Detroit
2016: Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto (x2), Chicago (x2) 2018: Amsterdam (x2), Padua, Rome, Prague, Krakow, Berlin, Barcelona 2022: San Diego, Los Angeles (x2), Oakland (x2), Fresno, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto 2023: Fort Worth (x2), Austin (x2)
honestly ... i would pay money just to hear these guys talk about this stuff ... not needing any archival footage ... just them talking about whatever ...
Just came back from this afternoon's screening. No Cameron Crowe or PJ, but Ed showed up during the Q and A yo yhank the editors once again. AND TO THANK NEIL FOR HAVING BEEN THERE TODAY AT THE SCREENING.
Yes, Neil Young himself was there this pm. Entered once the lights were out and left just before they went on again.
Montreal 98, 00, 03, 05, 11
Toronto 03, 06, 11
Ottawa 05, 11
Quebec 05; Saratoga 00; Boston 04; Toledo 04
Albany 06; Honolulu 06; Hartford 08
Costa Rica 11
London (Ont.), Hartford 13
Quebec, Fenway 1 + 2 16; London 18
EV Montreal (2), Berkeley II, Albany, Boston, London (UK)
just amazing - I still can't get over the video of spider-man, sorry Ed, scaling walls or whatever it is that you call what he was doing - there was one quick clip where he looked like the baby from trainspotting
bring kleenex because you don't really expect the emotion to hit you the way it does - they're telling their tale but you realize that through all of those years you were simultaneously having experiences relating to what was on the screen , like the days on Synergy after Roskilde, the media clips that you saw when they actually happened-what you were doing that day or who you were with, and you realize that this has all in some way also become a part of your life and your memories from a completely different place and perspective
I have a husband, 4 kids, a job, my own life but it hit me during the movie that hey I remember that or I was there or I watched that or I felt that and this is the other side of that experience and when there's that realization that this has become intertwined with the last 20 years of your life and the friends you've made and the places you've been the appreciation for the band and not just what they've given to you but also, hopefully, what you've given to them is overwhelming
it's simply honest, honestly, honest
Absolutely bang on...I was at the screening today and it was a good thing I was by myself as I was crying like a baby...it's meant for us, all of us...
Thanks for the great post...
My 22 shows:
1996 - Toronto
1998 - Montreal, Toronto
2000 - Montreal, Toronto
2003 - Toronto, Montreal
2004 - Boston I, Boston II
2005 - Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa
2011 - Toronto I, Toronto II, Ottawa
2013 - London, Seattle
2016 - Ottawa, Toronto I, Toronto II
A lovely security guard let us go say hi to Cameron Crowe last night. Told him we missed out on tix for today's PJ20 screening, but were looking forward to seeing it next week. Got online around 11am, tix are now available. Theater is just around the block from our hotel. Hustled over, made it to our seats. Lights go down, Neil Young comes up the aisle and sits like 6 rows ahead of us. Ed shows up at the Q&A. I love Toronto.
1996: Toronto, Buffalo 1998: Tibetan Freedom Concert, Barrie 2000: Saratoga Springs, Toronto 2003: Buffalo, State College, Camden 1 2004: Reading 2005: Ottawa, Toronto 2006: Toronto 1, Toronto 2 2008: Hartford 2009: Toronto, Philadelphia 4 2010: Buffalo, Hartford 2011: Toronto 1, Toronto 2, Hamilton 2013: Pittsburgh, Buffalo 2014: Detroit 2016: NYC 1, NYC 2, Toronto 1, Toronto 2 2018: Boston 1
Great movie. We went today, Eddie coming out at end was cool. He mentioned Neil Young was there, but we didn't see him. Well put together, funny scenes.
A lovely security guard let us go say hi to Cameron Crowe last night. Told him we missed out on tix for today's PJ20 screening, but were looking forward to seeing it next week. Got online around 11am, tix are now available. Theater is just around the block from our hotel. Hustled over, made it to our seats. Lights go down, Neil Young comes up the aisle and sits like 6 rows ahead of us. Ed shows up at the Q&A. I love Toronto.
Seeing the band and Cornell a few meters away from me on Saturday, being at that insane show last night, were both incredible events. Then, I'm walking to the box office today to pick up my tickets for today's PJ20 showing for some other fans... I walk past the Princess of Wales theatre, look to my right, and Neil Young is standing there with two security guards :shock:
I shook his hand and then got star struck and just said thank you so much for the music.
All in all, this has been a weekend I will never forget, and there's still another show tonight!
Never have I felt so lucky to live in this excellent city.
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
Comments
Wicked wicked awesome!
I feel so fortunate at the moment!
sam
pics: http://twitpic.com/photos/PearlJamOnLine
The movie was very well-received by the entire crowd. The rare footage was definitely enjoyable, and the audio system in the theatre was upgraded for the premiere so the music sounded better than I expected. The band members' interviews in the movie were insightful and interesting, with Ed chocking up at one point. One really got a sense of how the dynamics in the band operated in the early days and how they evolved into their current form. The band left immediately after being introduced by Cameron Crowe. Cornell was mobbed for photographs immediately after taking his seat but obliged and seemed very friendly. I am hoping we get to see him join the band on stage for Hunger Strike, but could do without a TOTD reunion.
All in all, a very entertaining day.
"Me knowing the truth, I can not concur."
1996: Toronto - 1998: Chicago, Montreal, Barrie - 2000: Montreal, Toronto - 2002: Seattle X2 (Key Arena) - 2003: Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle (Benaroya Hall) - 2004: Reading, Toledo, Grand Rapids - 2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City - 2006: Toronto X2, Albany, Hartford, Grand Rapids, Cleveland - 2007: Chicago (Vic Theatre) - 2008: NYC X2, Hartford, Mansfield X2 - 2009: Toronto, Chicago X2, Seattle X2, Philadelphia X4 - 2010: Columbus, Noblesville, Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford - 2011: Montreal, Toronto X2, Ottawa, Hamilton - 2012: Missoula - 2013: London, Chicago, Buffalo, Hartford - 2014: Detroit, Moline - 2015: NYC (Global Citizen Festival) - 2016: Greenville, Toronto X2, Chicago 1 - 2017: Brooklyn (RRHOF Induction) - 2018: Chicago 1, Boston 1 - 2022: Fresno, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, NYC, Camden - 2023: St. Paul X2, Austin X2 - 2024: Vancouver X2, Portland, Sacramento, Noblesville, Philadelphia X2, Baltimore
PJ Toronto 1&2(2011), Ed Las Vegas 1&2(2012)
PJ Toronto 1&2(2011), Ed Las Vegas 1&2(2012)
we are lucky to have such a geat band to enjoy...it's a good type of evolution...as they evolve as a band...we are evolving as fans...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTyy5MmDYw
like how they forgot to introduce mike
8/28/98- Camden, NJ
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly
You know how the saying goes, "save the best for last".
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
pm if interested. thanks
bring kleenex because you don't really expect the emotion to hit you the way it does - they're telling their tale but you realize that through all of those years you were simultaneously having experiences relating to what was on the screen , like the days on Synergy after Roskilde, the media clips that you saw when they actually happened-what you were doing that day or who you were with, and you realize that this has all in some way also become a part of your life and your memories from a completely different place and perspective
I have a husband, 4 kids, a job, my own life but it hit me during the movie that hey I remember that or I was there or I watched that or I felt that and this is the other side of that experience and when there's that realization that this has become intertwined with the last 20 years of your life and the friends you've made and the places you've been the appreciation for the band and not just what they've given to you but also, hopefully, what you've given to them is overwhelming
it's simply honest, honestly, honest
Thank you for your insight.
It was intensional?
Pearl Jam, Cameron Crowe: A Drunken Debacle Changed Our Career
Sat, Sep 10 2011
If it wasn't for a disastrous, drunken show they performed as a favor to their friend Cameron Crowe, Pearl Jam wouldn't be the band they are today.
That was one of the lessons learned on Saturday afternoon at the Toronto International Film Festival -- where "the hottest ticket at the festival," according to doc programmer Thom Powers, was to the premiere of a documentary about a rock 'n' roll band whose name does not include the letter U or the number 2.
Powers said the distinction belonged to "Pearl Jam Twenty," the Cameron Crowe-directed film that takes a 20-year emotional journey with the seminal Seattle band and its fans.
And an hour or so after the film premiered in front of a raucous audience at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Crowe and the members of Pearl Jam sat for a press conference in a nearby hotel – where the band members, who rarely speak to the media, said that "PJ20" showed them moments they'd forgotten about and provided a moving look at a band that has somehow managed to stay together and on track for two decades.
"Just trying to order pizza with five guys is hard to do," singer Eddie Vedder said, to big laughs. "To get five guys together and make music for this long is a miracle."
I moderated the panel, at which Crowe explained what he found fascinating about the band, with whom he's been friends since the mid-1980s.
"The story of Pearl Jam takes the usual rock story and turns it on its head," said Crowe. "Usually it starts out with a spark of brilliance, and then you have success, and tragedy cuts it short. Pearl Jam is tragedy surmounted, joy through survival."
Crowe and his three editors assembled the doc from hundreds of hours of concert film, home movies, backstage footage and interview segments – the Holy Grail of which, he said, was a widely-rumored but seldom-scene glimpse of Vedder and the late Kurt Cobain doing a brief but joyous slow dance together beneath the stage at the MTV Video Awards.
"The first time I saw that footage it was incredibly emotional," said Vedder, who explained that Cobain put his finger to his lips at the end of the dance, as if to shush Vedder, because they were beneath the stage where Eric Clapton was performing his ballad "Tears in Heaven."
"If he just could have pulled through," said Vedder wistfully of the Seattle icon with whom Pearl Jam had an occasionally contentious and occasionally friendly relationship. "It's a galvanizing moment, and something like that doesn't happen very often."
One of the key sequences in the movie, and one of the funniest of the press conference, had to do with a promotional party the band played for the 1991 release of Crowe's movie "Singles," in which the band appeared and which came out around the time that the Seattle music scene was having its commercial breakthrough.
Crowe begged the band to play the private release party in Los Angeles, which was to be filmed by MTV to give the film a commercial boost on its release. The request, he said, made him more uncomfortable than anything he'd ever asked the band to do – and Pearl Jam responded by agreeing to play the show, but then by getting drunk before going onstage.
The resulting show included Vedder repeatedly screaming "F--- MTV!" as he staggered about the stage, ripping down draperies and berating the assembled movie execs and guests. It was, the film says, "the birth of the no" – the point when Pearl Jam decided it was okay to stop doing everything that businesspeople wanted them to do.
I learned about that no firsthand: At the time of the "Singles" party, I'd just been assigned a Rolling Stone cover story on the band. I was in the audience watching the entire debacle – and within a day or two of the show, I got a phone call from my editor telling me that the band was canceling the story: they'd decided they didn't want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone after all.
(They did make the cover before too long, in a story written by … Cameron Crowe.)
"Over the years, we talked about everything," said Crowe at the press conference. "But we never talked about the 'Singles' party. I'm sure the band was thrilled when I asked them about it when we were doing interviews for this movie: 'Oh, now you finally bring it up, with the cameras rolling.'"
"Actually, I think we owe you an apology," Stone Gossard said to Crowe. "I figured you'd just say, 'those guy are such assholes,' and never want to have anything to do with us again."
Also at the press conference, Vedder talked passionately about his distaste for celebrity culture ("I don’t know how people do it these days – the paparazzi and all is something I can't even f---ing imagine for a second") and about his sense of wonder over the longevity the band has achieved, and the band it has formed with its audience.
"It's just music," he said. "To have it turn into this other thing, a monument, is something."
I asked him if in a way, that wasn't always the point – to move beyond making "just music," to something deeper.
"Yeah," he said, "but it's like catching a butterfly. You can't grab it too hard."
It's growing up just like me.
http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/tiff/2011/story.cfm?content=182617
the sound there was a-mazing!
And the rest:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/tiff/2 ... ent=182625
Overall, nice to see all the old footage and really enjoyed the soundtrack.
2004: Boston (x2), Toledo, Grand Rapids
2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
2006: Toronto (x2), Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit
2008: New York City (x2), Hartford, Boston II
2010: Buffalo, Newark, New York City (x2), Nijmegen, Berlin, Werchter
2011: Alpine Valley I, Alpine Valley II, Montreal, Toronto (x2), Ottawa, Hamilton
2012: Amsterdam (x2), Berlin (x2)
2013: London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Brooklyn (x2)
2014: Detroit
2016: Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto (x2), Chicago (x2)
2018: Amsterdam (x2), Padua, Rome, Prague, Krakow, Berlin, Barcelona
2022: San Diego, Los Angeles (x2), Oakland (x2), Fresno, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto
2023: Fort Worth (x2), Austin (x2)
honestly ... i would pay money just to hear these guys talk about this stuff ... not needing any archival footage ... just them talking about whatever ...
Yes, Neil Young himself was there this pm. Entered once the lights were out and left just before they went on again.
Montreal 98, 00, 03, 05, 11
Toronto 03, 06, 11
Ottawa 05, 11
Quebec 05; Saratoga 00; Boston 04; Toledo 04
Albany 06; Honolulu 06; Hartford 08
Costa Rica 11
London (Ont.), Hartford 13
Quebec, Fenway 1 + 2 16; London 18
EV Montreal (2), Berkeley II, Albany, Boston, London (UK)
Absolutely bang on...I was at the screening today and it was a good thing I was by myself as I was crying like a baby...it's meant for us, all of us...
Thanks for the great post...
1996 - Toronto
1998 - Montreal, Toronto
2000 - Montreal, Toronto
2003 - Toronto, Montreal
2004 - Boston I, Boston II
2005 - Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa
2011 - Toronto I, Toronto II, Ottawa
2013 - London, Seattle
2016 - Ottawa, Toronto I, Toronto II
I shook his hand and then got star struck and just said thank you so much for the music.
All in all, this has been a weekend I will never forget, and there's still another show tonight!
Never have I felt so lucky to live in this excellent city.
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1