Anyone e;se notice how playing the song Present Tense right after Unemployable was not by random?
When Pearl Jam did VH1 Storytellers in 2006 (I think), they played the song Unemployable, and then spoke a bit about the next song. Ed said "In the last song, we said "scared alive, scared to die". This next song should be called "Scared to Die"." And then they broke into Present Tense.
If it wasn't Storytellers, it was probably some other concert footage that I saw. I can't find any good YouTube videos for Storytellers now, it must've gotten taken down, even though there is no other way to watch it. (Please correct me if I'm wrong).
Either way, I was very happy to hear both songs live, and also knowing the significance of why they were played back to back.
Here's the video to what I referred to if anyone was curious.
Correction, I guess "Present Tense" could be titled "Scared of Life". Anyways, interesting how there is a connection between those two songs that is not very known about.
That being said, I can't wait for the bootleg! It's been more than a month now.
Member Number: 437xxx
Pearl Jam:
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013
Eddie Vedder Solo:
Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
It's been a little more than a week and I feel like I have a little better perspective on this show.
First off, I really want to start out by saying THANK YOU to every Canadian I met and encountered on this trip! This is only the second time I've ever visited Canada and I have to say Canadians might quite possibly be the friendliest and most welcoming people on the planet. Seriously! I've never felt more welcome and at home in a strange place than in the few days I spent in Vancouver!
I came up from Phoenix, AZ, for this show. I had some business in Vancouver over the weekend and I thought I'd stay an extra day to watch the best band in the world play live. I'd only seen Pearl Jam twice before; would love to get to more shows. Last time I caught them they opened up for Tom Petty in Milwaukee in 2006 - was maybe the best concert-going experience I've ever had. Ever. And ever since that show I'd been chomping at the bit to catch them live again. Had a couple opportunities, but they were stretches and wouldn't have worked out in the long run. Five long years, man. So, as you might imagine, I was pretty worked up for this!
Even my flight up to BC didn't seem real. I'd been counting the days, and you know what happens when you do that - you're on extrasensory overload and time moves slow. I arrived at the Pacific Coliseum two hours early (wasn't really doing all that much anyhow). Sat around, snagged some merch (bought the poster... I'm not disappointed with it at all... Not only is it special to me because it commemorates the show - it's Ron English's first gigposter! Not too shabby! I told a couple Faithful hanging around I was gonna hang it up in my daughter's room - who saw it, by the way, and asked me if I could put it up in her room!!! LOL!! ), sat around some more, watched some relationship drama unfold, chatted with a few long-time 10-Clubbers who had 4th row seats (Stone side), sat around some more. Really didn't feel like I was there. I mean, waiting for this show since May and there I was... Felt strange...
Doors opened, grabbed a burger (real damn good burger!), saw the size of the beer cups (Dixie Cups would have held more) and forgot about that idea, then grabbed my seat. I was in Sec. Z... Nice straight-on look at the stage. I realized I'd forgotten my earplugs (I've been to waayyy too many concerts in my 32 years and my hearing has certainly paid the price... and thanks to Dinosaur Jr. at the Marquee in 2009, I've got a wicked case of tinnitus. So I wear earplugs to shows from now on to keep the hearing I have left), so I hopped downstairs and caught the attention of a first-aid guy who was off to the side of the stage. He begrudgingly handed me a pair of earplugs and said, "I'm not really supposed to hand these out, but I don't want you to be miserable the whole show, right?" (Like I said, Canadians = friendly/accommodating as hell!). Thanked him profusely, and got back to my seat in time for Mudhoney.
Man, Mudhoney was just such a pleasure to see. Freaking Mark Arm! Great energy. Then when Mike came out and played with them? Such a treat! Weren't too many folks in my section then... I was on an aisle so people were asking me, "What row is this?" and "Is this Section F?" You can kinda expect those interruptions during the opening band... Wish I could have paid more attention.
Then the main event... :shock:
So surreal! People were STILL looking for their seats when PJ launched into Small Town, but I was transfixed on the stage! Damn it was great to hear them live again. Highlights for me: Animal; Given to Fly and Pilate back to back; Eddie shining the back of the guitar on the crowd; losing my shit during Ole (don't care what anyone says, that's a damn fine jam) and then Eddie saying what he said about getting some people in the back to come up front; Chloe->Crown - uh, those aren't tears...I just had something in my eye ; Mark coming back out for Search and Destroy (I'd been listening to the Stooges a LOT over the last couple months...and that was just a treat); Bruce and Tim coming out for RITFW - damn that was awesome; and house lights up for much of the last encore - that was pretty amazing!
Then it ended. Why'd it have to end?!
I had such a great time at this show - it went by like a flash (as I figured it would - I was so worked up to see it).
I guess I could see how people thought the crowd was a little lethargic. There were a lot of guys and dolls my age who'd cop a squat every now and then for a few songs and then get up for Garden or Porch or Alive. The fans are getting older and there's nothing like a good sit when you can grab it. At least it wasn't like a Bruce Hornsby or Steely Dan or Sting show where everyone sits the whole time. There will be a day, mark it guys. There was a LOT of ganja being smoked in my section and I think that carried over into the "lethargy" of the crowd...or at least in my section.
It was such a pleasure to celebrate 20 years with Pearl Jam in Vancouver! I'd just finished "Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge" by Mark Yarm (I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who digs Pearl Jam or any of the music coming out of Seattle in the 90s) and I recently watched "Pearl Jam 20" on PPV... Incredible perspective and increased my respect and appreciation for Matt, Jeff, Stone, Mike, Boom and Eddie tenfold.
Thanks.
I've been meaning to quote and reply to your message for sometime.... so here it goes.
Born and raised on rock n roll and in and around this town, its great to hear that you had a wicked time!
Re-reading your recap of the show has take me back to that night and I too, am waiting for the bootleg. It is like waiting for the show all over again...
Your comment "I guess I could see how people thought the crowd was a little lethargic" umm ya! WTF was with that? I was standing rocking it out the entire night! Everyone on either side of me was fist pumping right along with me. The 2 dudes in front of me brought their ladies... ummm this wasn't a romantic comedy or an action film. This was a ROCK CONCERT for the GREATEST BAND OF OUR GENERATION! Stand up, rock out and give them your RESPECT - you're not that old! Two years back when I saw them at GM Place, it was completely different. Everyone was up on their feet rocking out! The smoke, the beer, the sing alongs and the two shirtless bandits in front of me rocked like they were seeing PJ at Lollapalooza for their first time. I held on to that night and brought all that energy with me this year when I saw them. Good on you for rockin' out!
Anyways, back to the hospitality you received while in my town. I met some Texan before the show at the Press Box Pub on Hastings Street and they were saying the same thing about this town. Super cool that you and they, flew up for a few days to see PJ. If you folks from Texas are reading this, I hope you enjoyed the show!
Hopefully PJ will announce a US Tour so that I can go to NYC to see them at the Garden.
That is my Wishlist for 2012.
Listening to the Vancouver boot for the first time right now.
So awesome!
Just noticed, during the second song of the night - "Hail Hail" - toward the end of the song (around 2:33), Eddie sings "Hail hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in front, yeah"
Those folks in the front row must've been doggin' it ALL damn night from the very start.
Too bad those fans had a bad night.
6/27/98 - East Troy, WI
6/29/06 - Milwaukee, WI
9/25/11 - Vancouver, BC
11/4/12 - (Eddie Vedder) Phoenix, AZ
11/1/13 - New Orleans, LA
11/19/13 - Phoenix, AZ
11/21/13 - San Diego, CA
10/12/14 - Austin, TX
10/22/14 - Denver, CO
8/22/16 - Chicago, IL (Wrigley 2) 5/9/22 - Glendale, AZ 5/18/24 - Las Vegas, NV
the boot is sounding better than I remember the concert.
of course, at home I don't have two drunk chicks trying to co-opt my seats. hey, just cuz you're kind of cute doesn't mean I want to squish together so you can get out of the aisle. I finally had to give 'em the boot.
If I had known then what I know now...
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
Imalive.. funny to see you say the bootleg is better than you remember the concert.. I thought the same thing! but the sound in that building wasn't so great, so I put it down to that.
Comments
Here's the video to what I referred to if anyone was curious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwamCGQU7_s
Correction, I guess "Present Tense" could be titled "Scared of Life". Anyways, interesting how there is a connection between those two songs that is not very known about.
That being said, I can't wait for the bootleg! It's been more than a month now.
Pearl Jam:
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013
Eddie Vedder Solo:
Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
I've been meaning to quote and reply to your message for sometime.... so here it goes.
Born and raised on rock n roll and in and around this town, its great to hear that you had a wicked time!
Re-reading your recap of the show has take me back to that night and I too, am waiting for the bootleg. It is like waiting for the show all over again...
Your comment "I guess I could see how people thought the crowd was a little lethargic" umm ya! WTF was with that? I was standing rocking it out the entire night! Everyone on either side of me was fist pumping right along with me. The 2 dudes in front of me brought their ladies... ummm this wasn't a romantic comedy or an action film. This was a ROCK CONCERT for the GREATEST BAND OF OUR GENERATION! Stand up, rock out and give them your RESPECT - you're not that old! Two years back when I saw them at GM Place, it was completely different. Everyone was up on their feet rocking out! The smoke, the beer, the sing alongs and the two shirtless bandits in front of me rocked like they were seeing PJ at Lollapalooza for their first time. I held on to that night and brought all that energy with me this year when I saw them. Good on you for rockin' out!
Anyways, back to the hospitality you received while in my town. I met some Texan before the show at the Press Box Pub on Hastings Street and they were saying the same thing about this town. Super cool that you and they, flew up for a few days to see PJ. If you folks from Texas are reading this, I hope you enjoyed the show!
Hopefully PJ will announce a US Tour so that I can go to NYC to see them at the Garden.
That is my Wishlist for 2012.
So awesome!
Just noticed, during the second song of the night - "Hail Hail" - toward the end of the song (around 2:33), Eddie sings "Hail hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in front, yeah"
Those folks in the front row must've been doggin' it ALL damn night from the very start.
Too bad those fans had a bad night.
6/29/06 - Milwaukee, WI
9/25/11 - Vancouver, BC
11/4/12 - (Eddie Vedder) Phoenix, AZ
11/1/13 - New Orleans, LA
11/19/13 - Phoenix, AZ
11/21/13 - San Diego, CA
10/12/14 - Austin, TX
10/22/14 - Denver, CO
8/22/16 - Chicago, IL (Wrigley 2)
5/9/22 - Glendale, AZ
5/18/24 - Las Vegas, NV
2010: 9/7/10 - Bilbao
2012: 26-27/6/12 - Amsterdam ~~ 29/6/12 - Werchter ~~ 4-5/7/12 - Berlin
2014: 25/6/14 - Vienna ~~ 26/6/14 - Berlin
Thank you PJ for doing this, I love you guys.
of course, at home I don't have two drunk chicks trying to co-opt my seats. hey, just cuz you're kind of cute doesn't mean I want to squish together so you can get out of the aisle. I finally had to give 'em the boot.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
So thankful to be able to buy these bootlegs!!