Someone explain to me: When did Pearl Jam become this popular?!

RoleModelsinBlood31

I don’t think they’re any more popular than they were 5 years ago, we’re all just insane and it’s all pj all the time so we’re all beyond psyched.  Folks in ny are freaking out because there’s only 1 show but it’s pretty much business as usual across the rest of the country.  We’ve seen a huge influx of new folks on the board so that adds to it, but it’s pretty much par for the course.

LYacky

KN219077 said:

mcgruff10 said:

LYacky said:

mcgruff10 said:

Who has the most dedicated/craziest fan base: dmb, phish or pj?

Hands down the Grateful Dead. One of my very first concerts at 13 with my friend's parents who were die-hard Dead Heads. First time I ever smelled (and saw) marijuana too. lol Phish would be the only other comparable act I can think of with that kind of decades long cult following although Jimmy Buffett has his extremely devoted "Parrotheads". Beyoncé & Taylor Swift tho? Please. Maybe in another few decades. 

What sets Grateful Dead fans apart from the rest? @LYacky

I’d say the fact that it’s a lifestyle as much as a fandom for many fans of GD, and maybe a lesser extent to Phish

YES!! Totally beat me to the punch there. As I said my friend's parents were Dead Heads, met each other at a concert in the early 70's and spent their first decade together actually following the band around the country. Their story is the story of literally thousands of other Dead Heads. These people weren't just "fans", these were people who literally based their entire lives around The Dead. It really was like a cult following in a lot of ways, minus the religious zealot aspect. Instead you got a lot of peace, love, patchouli oil, marijuana and of course, fantastic music. lol

foodboy

its like the eighties of the grateful dead. they started to play full football stadiums on a regular basis.  a much younger audience even kids of the original fans have caught on.its a renaissance of sorts. and this first leg you have 6 shows on the  northeastern part of the map and 4 of those are in the great white north. so only 2 shows in the u.s.a. near their biggest fan bases. i feel lucky to be able to get to the one show i can.(they booked the tour through my holiday time march break, can you believe it? the only time i have ever gone away at this time. why didn't they call me? ) in rock music today what is really left that is still viable? by  that they can still deliver and not over the hill. there are very few top notch acts left worth seeing capable of selling out arenas and stadiums. most of the rock stadium acts are usually a bundle to get you there. these guys sold out ballparks on their own(not a fan of ball park shows)

Zod

I think there's a few things going on.   First is people seem to be judging them by how quickly and how hard tickets are to get in some of the most densely populated areas of the United States.   Shows in less populated areas, weren't quite so hard to get tickets for (oakland).

I also think they've been fairly popular the whole time.  MSG is a tough nut to crack.  It's an arena sized venue in an area with 10+ million people.

They don't play many shows, so people travel.   If they did sizable tours announced in advance, less people would travel to other shows in order to see them.

The other one is age.  I think a bunch of people with kids had to stay home to look after the kids.   Whether or not they bring their kids is moot.  Kids might be old enough they can duck out and catch a show.

I guess I don't feel like PJ as anymore popular.  I think it's other circumstances causing the shows to sell out fast.

In my experience it's never been a walk in the park to get PJ tickets.  They've always sold out fairly quick in the 20+ years i've been going to PJ shows. 

Smarter_Than_U

josevolution said:

Smarter_Than_U said:

As a live act, they’ve been popular pretty much since 1992 Lollapalooza. My friends and I drove 7 hours from Long Island to Rochester to see them in ‘94 because getting tickets in NYC was impossible. Maybe it has ebbed and flowed over the years (what doesn’t), but demand for Pearl Jam live is not a new thing.

I had joined 10C the yr before so I was fortunate to get the letter offering me a chance for two tickets for the paramount show ..

Nice. How was it?

PB11041

Zod said:

I think there's a few things going on.   First is people seem to be judging them by how quickly and how hard tickets are to get in some of the most densely populated areas of the United States.   Shows in less populated areas, weren't quite so hard to get tickets for (oakland).

I also think they've been fairly popular the whole time.  MSG is a tough nut to crack.  It's an arena sized venue in an area with 10+ million people.

They don't play many shows, so people travel.   If they did sizable tours announced in advance, less people would travel to other shows in order to see them.

The other one is age.  I think a bunch of people with kids had to stay home to look after the kids.   Whether or not they bring their kids is moot.  Kids might be old enough they can duck out and catch a show.

I guess I don't feel like PJ as anymore popular.  I think it's other circumstances causing the shows to sell out fast.

In my experience it's never been a walk in the park to get PJ tickets.  They've always sold out fairly quick in the 20+ years i've been going to PJ shows. 

This is entirely true, and as fans depending what our tastes might be we paint those tastes as facts on certain eras.

The 1998 tour "sold out" quickly because it was fucking WORK to see PJ in 1995 and 1996.  You had to make a serious effort using pens and stamps and feet.

1998 also heavily re-introduced the scalper back into the scenario, assisting in creating not just real demand, but artificial demand.

When you do about 60ish shows in 1998, by 2000 those who mostly were fly by night fans as it were very likely were not as motivated, it was not haley's comet, it was oh, that Pearl Jam is touring again.  Repeat for 2003 and even 2006.  

After that touring being so sporadic changed the tickets dynamics alot.

2013 was a bit of an outlier, the last time they played 25 shows over a 2 month stretch was back on the 2006 tour when they did nearly 25 shows in slightly over a month in Europe and obviously the 2 north american legs, but even those were far less dense, early May through the end of July.

They are not playing a ton of shows, scarcity is a result.  

pledgeagrievance

I noticed a change in 2006. I would say that’s when the crowd got younger, PJ got cooler, and there were a lot more women (attractive women at that) at shows. A previous poster nailed it with 98 being tough because it was the first tour where it was easy access to tickets and venue. 2000 and 2003 were big tours and easy to get tickets. Crowds seemed to be just a lot of guys that had stuck with the band through everything, and dragging there wives and girlfriends to shows. Not any production to the shows, not a “fun” show but straight ahead purposeful, serious rock shows. 

Then, like I said, 2006 seemed a shift in the crowd to younger. I wouldn’t say they are more popular now but if fans hadn’t abandoned ship by 2003, they certainly weren’t going to. Then just keep adding fans from there. Add, scarcity of shows and a fan base with some disposal income and we have a ourselves what we have. 

Lastly, 2009 tour was popular but tickets could be had. 2013-until now seems like a tougher ticket but they have really scaled back here causing demand. 

josevolution

Smarter_Than_U said:

josevolution said:

Smarter_Than_U said:

As a live act, they’ve been popular pretty much since 1992 Lollapalooza. My friends and I drove 7 hours from Long Island to Rochester to see them in ‘94 because getting tickets in NYC was impossible. Maybe it has ebbed and flowed over the years (what doesn’t), but demand for Pearl Jam live is not a new thing.

I had joined 10C the yr before so I was fortunate to get the letter offering me a chance for two tickets for the paramount show ..

Nice. How was it?

I was looking at YouTube videos it brought back memories of how great the show was..It also shows what a difference all these yrs did to Ed’s voice man he could belt it out back then ..

Lerxst1992

Zod said:

I think there's a few things going on.   First is people seem to be judging them by how quickly and how hard tickets are to get in some of the most densely populated areas of the United States.   Shows in less populated areas, weren't quite so hard to get tickets for (oakland).

I also think they've been fairly popular the whole time.  MSG is a tough nut to crack.  It's an arena sized venue in an area with 10+ million people.

They don't play many shows, so people travel.   If they did sizable tours announced in advance, less people would travel to other shows in order to see them.

The other one is age.  I think a bunch of people with kids had to stay home to look after the kids.   Whether or not they bring their kids is moot.  Kids might be old enough they can duck out and catch a show.

I guess I don't feel like PJ as anymore popular.  I think it's other circumstances causing the shows to sell out fast.

In my experience it's never been a walk in the park to get PJ tickets.  They've always sold out fairly quick in the 20+ years i've been going to PJ shows. 

The Bay Area is a very large metropolitan region. The fact that two shows didn’t sell out instantly should be providing their management with valuable information about supply and demand. But it won’t.

they could have easily pulled  back on one Cali show and one other in Canada or central US and done 3 more in N.east. Or just do zero here, but ironically they had to play here due to Gigaton. The fall tour lottery starts at zero, everyone gets to put in. The way to give everyone a chance at tickets is exactly what they did out west  this time.  The biggest factor is to split the lottery up as much as possible. It’s been a very long time since the east had odds like the west did, if ever.

MG79478

D-Rod said:

mcgruff10 said:

I mean the entire US/Canadian tour is pretty much sold out except for behind the stage.  What gives?  When did PJ become this popular again?  Was PJ the best kept secret for years?  I'm at a loss....

Hey bro, just my opinion.  I really started to notice the difference after the PJ20 movie and tour in 2011.  After that it started to get more and more difficult to get tickets.  I believe that documentary was an eye opener for people that didn’t realize they were still around.  

That's about when they switched from F5 to a lottery.  A lottery is bad for many reason, but one of them is the "I'll just enter and see what happens" crowd.  Since people don't have to actually put forth any effort to get tickets, your chances are worse.

PJNB

Lerxst1992 said:

Zod said:

I think there's a few things going on.   First is people seem to be judging them by how quickly and how hard tickets are to get in some of the most densely populated areas of the United States.   Shows in less populated areas, weren't quite so hard to get tickets for (oakland).

I also think they've been fairly popular the whole time.  MSG is a tough nut to crack.  It's an arena sized venue in an area with 10+ million people.

They don't play many shows, so people travel.   If they did sizable tours announced in advance, less people would travel to other shows in order to see them.

The other one is age.  I think a bunch of people with kids had to stay home to look after the kids.   Whether or not they bring their kids is moot.  Kids might be old enough they can duck out and catch a show.

I guess I don't feel like PJ as anymore popular.  I think it's other circumstances causing the shows to sell out fast.

In my experience it's never been a walk in the park to get PJ tickets.  They've always sold out fairly quick in the 20+ years i've been going to PJ shows. 

The Bay Area is a very large metropolitan region. The fact that two shows didn’t sell out instantly should be providing their management with valuable information about supply and demand. But it won’t.

they could have easily pulled  back on one Cali show and one other in Canada or central US and done 3 more in N.east. Or just do zero here, but ironically they had to play here due to Gigaton. The fall tour lottery starts at zero, everyone gets to put in. The way to give everyone a chance at tickets is exactly what they did out west  this time.  The biggest factor is to split the lottery up as much as possible. It’s been a very long time since the east had odds like the west did, if ever.

Don't you dare take one of my Canadian shows! 

bbiggs

LYacky said:

mcgruff10 said:

Who has the most dedicated/craziest fan base: dmb, phish or pj?

Hands down the Grateful Dead. One of my very first concerts at 13 with my friend's parents who were die-hard Dead Heads. First time I ever smelled (and saw) marijuana too. lol Phish would be the only other comparable act I can think of with that kind of decades long cult following although Jimmy Buffett has his extremely devoted "Parrotheads". Beyoncé & Taylor Swift tho? Please. Maybe in another few decades. 

I went to a Buffett show once (maybe ‘03/04) , and you are correct. Crazy, die hard “Parrotheads.” I’ve never seen so many women over 50/60 years old lifting their shirts up on my life lol 

JimmyV

It's been this way for awhile. When the economy collapsed in 2008, Pearl Jam was the only act to sell out two nights in Mansfield that summer.

Get_Right

I agree with the comments about 2006 and the baseball shows. Was 2006 the year of the Target promotion? 

AlaG

MG79478 said:

D-Rod said:

mcgruff10 said:

I mean the entire US/Canadian tour is pretty much sold out except for behind the stage.  What gives?  When did PJ become this popular again?  Was PJ the best kept secret for years?  I'm at a loss....

Hey bro, just my opinion.  I really started to notice the difference after the PJ20 movie and tour in 2011.  After that it started to get more and more difficult to get tickets.  I believe that documentary was an eye opener for people that didn’t realize they were still around.  

That's about when they switched from F5 to a lottery.  A lottery is bad for many reason, but one of them is the "I'll just enter and see what happens" crowd.  Since people don't have to actually put forth any effort to get tickets, your chances are worse.

There are also people whose life circumstances make it really difficult for them to stay home just to get tickets to a concert.

shortstack

hype

bean8969

I was wondering about this in 2014. First time I saw them was in 98 at Fiddler’s Green in Denver. Didn’t come close to selling out but that’s a shitty venue. Next was 2003, first show of the North American leg of that tour at Pepsi Center. Not sold out. Then two shows with Petty in 2006, again at Pepsi Center. Neither sold out. When they finally came back to town in 2014, I was surprised they were playing Pepsi Center again. Sold out crazy fast. They could do a couple week residency at Red Rocks if they wanted to. I’m just happy they’re playing Denver again. 

Side note, I liked DMB until I saw them live. It was one long shitty song. 

darwinstheory

I think they really took off when Creed got big and Ed started trying to emulate the great Scott Stapp.

washed in black

Lerxst1992 said:

The Bay Area is a very large metropolitan region. The fact that two shows didn’t sell out instantly should be providing their management with valuable information about supply and demand. But it won’t.

they could have easily pulled  back on one Cali show and one other in Canada or central US and done 3 more in N.east. Or just do zero here, but ironically they had to play here due to Gigaton. The fall tour lottery starts at zero, everyone gets to put in. The way to give everyone a chance at tickets is exactly what they did out west  this time.  The biggest factor is to split the lottery up as much as possible. It’s been a very long time since the east had odds like the west did, if ever.

Agreed, but it appears that they had limited options in the Northeast dues to venue availability. Does this mean there won't be Cali shows on the next leg? Possibly. But I have no doubt that they will have some shows in Seattle and won't entirely neglect the west coast..

I had heard that Philly was so close to getting a Citizen's Bank Park show in 2018, but they just couldn't make it work, so the Home & Away  tour ended in Fenway. No doubt that there will be a Philly show(s) in the fall. Hopefully Boston / Hartford / NYC will get arena shows, but I won't be surprised if they do only do stadiums.

JimmyV

I think that 2018 Philly story was a myth, personally. But 2020 could be the year.