Pearl Jam Cancels 4/20 Raleigh, NC Concert in Opposition to HB2; Official Band Statement

bluesuedeitzrad · May 2016

JP Losman said:
You all do realize the legislature has been in session and NO, they did not repeal the bill.

Yeah, this thing is unfortunately get drawn out. I had high hopes that a repeal would have happened yesterday, but McCrory instead wants to sue the Department of Justice ... and now they are suing NC. And that's my tax dollars being put to waste.

I am doing my best to help, but I am pretty embarrassed to live in NC at the moment. The discrimination in this state is bad enough, but this is now projected to affect federal funding for education. I know we joke about leaving the US if Trump becomes president, but for the first time ever, I am considering moving out of NC just to help secure a better future for my family.

JP Losman · May 2016

bluesuedeitzrad said:

JP Losman said:
You all do realize the legislature has been in session and NO, they did not repeal the bill.
Yeah, this thing is unfortunately get drawn out. I had high hopes that a repeal would have happened yesterday, but McCrory instead wants to sue the Department of Justice ... and now they are suing NC. And that's my tax dollars being put to waste.

I am doing my best to help, but I am pretty embarrassed to live in NC at the moment. The discrimination in this state is bad enough, but this is now projected to affect federal funding for education. I know we joke about leaving the US if Trump becomes president, but for the first time ever, I am considering moving out of NC just to help secure a better future for my family.

Don't be embarrassed that you live in NC. Its not like the majority of the residents agree with it. The representatives in rural areas are the ones that support the bill. The governor is a scrub. But the metropolitan areas and more populated areas are against it. Remember, Charlotte tried to the right thing by being pro-active and passing a progressive law protecting LGBT rights! Houston and other municipalities have shot down such bills. and there are bad laws all over the country. The state legislatures in many states have passed horrible laws (Indiana, Miss, Florida, GA), many more. This is not representative of NC or of our state.

DeLukin · May 2016

Not sure if anyone has posted this, but Mike talks boycott in a new RS interview:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jams-mike-mccready-talks-prince-north-carolina-boycott-20160510

ComeToTX · May 2016

A few posts up.

bootlegger10 · May 2016

ComeToTX said:
From Mike in RS:

But we did have to cancel that show in North Carolina. That was a thing we thought really hard about. As a band, we just don't tolerate any kind of abuse or intolerance of any kind of LGBT people by any kind of government. We felt we needed to support people that didn't have a voice.

It was a long, drawn-out meeting that we had over a period of days. "Should we do it? Should we not do it?" It turns out that [Bruce] Springsteen had kind of set the mark there. We felt these transgendered people are being discriminated against under this law, and there's just no room for that in my mind. We felt very, very sad that we had to not play. We wanted to play. But at the end of the day, we felt like we couldn't do it. It was a moral belief. We had to boycott the state.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jams-mike-mccready-talks-prince-north-carolina-boycott-20160510#ixzz48HGMMCwb
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Bruce...supports my theory and others' that if Bruce had not of canceled PJ would have played. Ed said at one of the shows they didn't want to cross the picket line (i.e., not follow Bruce's lead).

It is what it is though.

rssesq · May 2016

#stunningandbrave
#pcprincipal

PJ1973 · May 2016

My state tax dollars are being used to sue the federal government who's using my federal tax dollars to counter sue. This is the most fucked up insane situation I've encountered in a long fucking time. Also, I have no expectations that Pearl Jam will be back anytime soon.. They played NC one time in the past 13 years. It's not a market they can't live without.

JP Losman · May 2016

PJ1973 said:
My state tax dollars are being used to sue the federal government who's using my federal tax dollars to counter sue. This is the most fucked up insane situation I've encountered in a long fucking time. Also, I have no expectations that Pearl Jam will be back anytime soon.. They played NC one time in the past 13 years. It's not a market they can't live without.

which is yet another reason why many of us think they would not have cancelled if it was a different place, like nyc or boston or chicago.

bluesuedeitzrad · May 2016

There is zero doubt in my mind – they cancelled because Bruce did.

bootlegger10 · May 2016

Think about all of the wars the band has been against and yet they still play the US. They still played shows in Washington DC during the Bush years.

LukinFan · May 2016

PJ1973 said:
My state tax dollars are being used to sue the federal government who's using my federal tax dollars to counter sue. This is the most fucked up insane situation I've encountered in a long fucking time. Also, I have no expectations that Pearl Jam will be back anytime soon.. They played NC one time in the past 13 years. It's not a market they can't live without.

They'll be back and the makeup show will be incredible

Jason P · May 2016

LukinFan said:

PJ1973 said:
My state tax dollars are being used to sue the federal government who's using my federal tax dollars to counter sue. This is the most fucked up insane situation I've encountered in a long fucking time. Also, I have no expectations that Pearl Jam will be back anytime soon.. They played NC one time in the past 13 years. It's not a market they can't live without.
They'll be back and the makeup show will be incredible

You think so? How many times have they played there in the past? Do you think locals may have felt burned and may not be as receptive?

ComeToTX · May 2016

They rarely play the south so I seriously doubt they make a special trip down to make up a show that left a lot of people with a bad taste.

Also in Mike's talk with RS he said they go where the offers are. I'm not sure PNC Arena will want to offer PJ anytime soon.

lolobugg · May 2016

Fuck Bruce. Fuck McCrory. Fuck our Legislature.
that is all for now.

bluesuedeitzrad · May 2016

ComeToTX said:
They rarely play the south so I seriously doubt they make a special trip down to make up a show that left a lot of people with a bad taste.

Also in Mike's talk with RS he said they go where the offers are. I'm not sure PNC Arena will want to offer PJ anytime soon.

I think I am, along with most NC fans are, just feeling pretty jaded right now about the band and Bruce.

This hopefully will all be resolved in a few months, and then we can see what happens with them returning. It's a crapshoot for now, so I rather put my focus into McCrory getting impeached or pushing for whatever democratic candidate there is for governor this fall.

PJ_Soul · May 2016

bluesuedeitzrad said:
There is zero doubt in my mind – they cancelled because Bruce did.

Yes, they cancelled because Bruce started a movement that entailed cancelling. This is a fact, not a guess or an opinion. The band made it very clear that they were joining that process of protest that Bruce started. I think this is obvious and logical. I assume people who point this out are trying to say something about the band, but I don't think it makes much sense.

bluesuedeitzrad · May 2016

Thanks captain!

bootlegger10 · May 2016

PJ_Soul said:

bluesuedeitzrad said:
There is zero doubt in my mind – they cancelled because Bruce did.
Yes, they cancelled because Bruce started a movement that entailed cancelling. This is a fact, not a guess or an opinion. The band made it very clear that they were joining that process of protest that Bruce started. I think this is obvious and logical. I assume people who point this out are trying to say something about the band, but I don't think it makes much sense.

It makes sense. They had to make a decision. To play the show or not play the show. If they would have played the show if Bruce hadn't canceled (which a lot of us think is the case), then you have to ask why they did cancel (the law or not going against Bruce's boycott). As a fan with tickets, it would be frustrating to know that they would have been fine playing a show and making a statement at the show, but because their pal Bruce canceled they felt they had to cancel then. Because it really feels like they canceled moreso because of their relationship with Bruce than due to the actual law. I might have done the same thing as them though. Ed loves Bruce Springsteen. Ed would have hung his head in shame the next time he was in Bruce's company because Bruce took on a lot of heat for canceling and his buddy Ed didn't follow. I would not be surprised at all if Ed was thinking "I want to play the show but will Bruce still respect me if we do play".

I get where you are coming from too in that a movement was in place with Bruce and others so they felt like they had to support the movement.

At the end of the day, I think they would have played the show if it weren't for Bruce's cancelation, so if they would have been okay playing the show with the law on the books they should have played it.

PJ_Soul · May 2016

Well yeah, the point is that if Bruce hadn't cancelled there wouldn't have been that movement at all, so PJ would not have cancelled. I guess what I'm trying to say is just that the fact that Bruce cancelled, specifically, is more incidental than having something to do with him and PJ being pals. If it had been, say, Paul McCartney or U2 (but someone American, hahaha) or whoever else that happened to start the "wave" instead of Bruce, I think PJ probably would have cancelled for that as well. I'm just getting the feeling that people are "accusing" the band of just doing it because it's Bruce in particular. I don't think there is any reason to assume that.

EM194007 · May 2016

Read what Jimmy Buffett wrote and did. That's what should have happened, IMO.
http://blog.margaritaville.com/2016/04/north-carolina/#.VzUJFvkrJkh

Pearl Jam Cancels 4/20 Raleigh, NC Concert in Opposition to HB2; Official Band Statement

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