1. Hail, Hail 2. Education 3. W.M.A. 4. Grievance 5. Dance of the Clairvoyants 6. Corduroy 7. Never Destination 8. Swallowed Whole 9. Unemployable 10. Immortality 11. Wishlist 12. Even Flow 13. Got to Give 14. Rats ------------ 15. Sleeping by Myself 16. Low Light 17. Of the Girl 18. Won't Tell 19. Nothingman 20. Thumbing My Way 21. Off He Goes ------------ 22. Can't Keep 23. Johnny Guitar 24. Mankind 25. Let the Records Play 26. Force of Nature 27. Come Back 28. Black 29. Yellow Ledbetter
Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1&2 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024 / New Orleans 2025
Cowboy Mouth is so good. Pumped they are playing weekend 2. If your going to Jazzfest to see PJ, do yourself a favor and make sure you catch the CM set
I don't know if you've noticed but, and even if you haven't, but the papers tell ya how I've taken to carrying a bottle around wherever I go.
And, I really take two, I take this one (wine bottle) and I take that one (water bottle) and maybe I'll take a drink of this one, and maybe I'll take a drink of that one.
Maybe I'll be sober.
Maybe I'll be fucked up.
So lets just take me out of this for a second.
What would you rather see me take a drink of?
This one? (water, cheers, lots of boo's some "NO'S")
Or this one? (wine, the crowd goes apeshit...)
Cheers..."
- Eddie Vedder to the UNO Lakefront Arena crowd on Night 2 11/17/1993 before "Even Flow"
If you thought Night 1 of the 3 night run was over the top, Night 2 took it to a completely different level.
It was as if the band went back to the studio that night and came back to the Lakefront Arena on November 17th a completely different being.
It was night and day. Ying and yang. Bi-polar even.
By Night 2, Eddie had dropped the "Mitch Hedberg meets Kurt Vonnegut" standup act between songs. In fact, he himself didn't seem to be all that present this night, as if the strenuous life he had built around him was finally catching up. The anger had become all encompassing. If Night 1 hadn't made it abundantly clear already, Eddie Vedder was a lit fuse waiting to pop.
According to some users on Youtube who went to this particular show, the whole building was completely GA, so who knows how many people were actually on the floor..
Thanks to the taper and bootleg community, we have video of N2 with multiple different camera angels and audio from different taper sources.
N2 started off slow, the same as the previous night's Release, with Oceans. This is fitting in NOLA history at this point, as this had been the 2nd time in 5 shows that Oceans opened a show, the first being the aforementioned Tipitina's show that had happened in Spring 1992.
Eddie then mumbles "alright, here we go..." followed by some inaudible mumbling. The band launches into "Why Go", the first repeat song of the 3 night run. Eddie then does his signature "hey, hey, hey" in the Why Go intro. Eddie says "hey" 52 times (i counted lol) while standing stoic behind the mic. The band isn't even sure when to come in as Eddie just angrily keeps the intro going.
As "Why Go" ends, Eddie says "We ain't going fucking nowhere.."
They then go into another 12-string bass song, "Jeremy," the second repeat song of the run. During the "how could I forget" lyric, Eddie changes it to "how am I supposed to forget?" confusing himself and causing him to immediately scream "DADDY DIDN'T GIVE AFFECTION" in a jumbled mess that clearly shows he was impaired already. He eventually found his way back to the correct lyrics. The outro of this version of Jeremy is actually sublime and shows how unified the band were through music, even though they were all going through something personally. Stone and Mike let their guitars ring out, while Dave builds up the drums through Eddies powerful voice. If you watch one song from this night, it should be this one.
With nothing to say, and while he seems to be messing with his jacket or hand, the band launches into State of Love and Trust, another repeat offender. Eddie comes to life, and when they reach the "and the barrel shakes...." part of the song, Eddie makes a finger gun again, points it at the crowd, then proceeds to put it in his mouth during the "trigger shakes, aimed right at my head" part and the proceeds to scream "HELP ME FROM MYSELF." When Mike goes into the solo, Eddie smugly turns around and heads towards his wine and takes a swig. He returns to the mic just before the scream and sprays wine all over the first few rows of fans, covering his eyes while doing it.
SoLAT is over, and Eddie is now hunched over and kicking at something. Stone comes over to see whats up. Eddie then tells Stone to give him a second and he proceeds to give the quote that opens this post to the crowd.
The band rips into an electric Even Flow and Eddie starts to come alive after being stoic for most of the night so far.
After "Even Flow," Eddie again raises the wine and water bottle to cheers from the crowd for the wine. Without saying anything, the band goes into Glorified G.
Nothing is said between Glorified G and Daughter either. Eddie actually keeps his hand in his pocket, or tied up in his shirt throughout most of the song. Eddie tags "Release" onto the end of Daughter, which i'm not sure has ever been done before. It's actually a really cool mashup. He ends the song with inaudible mumbling, but what can be made out is "get out of my life. You fucking cunt" which he continues to repeat until the band fades out.
The band jumps into "Go" with no comments from Ed. "Animal" is played with still no comments from ed. Two of the more aggressive tracks from Vs. that basically speak for themselves.
Footsteps is played for the first time on the run, but was common during this era of Vs. touring. On this night Ed says it's a "request" and something along the lines of "if you feel it(?)" and then mumbles something else before continuing to remain incredibly still and holding his arms around his chest for the duration of the performance.
The band goes into Alive with again no comments from Ed who hangs his head really low between songs.. At this point I can only imagine this man is drunk and tired. Ed does the "is something wrong she said?" without any added aggression on this night. Ed turns the fire on for the last "I'M STILL ALIVE" and might even be a confirmation for him in that exact moment as he spends the next 20 seconds head banging with Jeff while Mike does the outro solo.
The band then solemnly goes into "Garden." Mike adds a little flair on the guitar to end the song.
Next up, Eddie calmly says "take a bottle, drink it down. Pass it around." Probably jumping the gun for what was to come later in the set.
Eddie then gives us the best, most inspirational quote of the night before blasting into an exciting "Porch":
"Hate your parents. Hate your friends. Living here is the best revenge."
At one point during the solo, Ed walks over to stage right on Mikes side and starts playing with the mic cord, waving it back and forth as if he's fanning the flames of the band.
During the outro, Ed improvs what can only be taken as a warning for what would happen later in the night: "trust me... don't toss me around... trust me... it's not a good time right now.... FUCK with me? I'll fuck with you (???).... Believe me.... I'M TELLING YOU FIRST!"
The band ends the first "set" with Eddie wrapping the mic cable around his neck, acting as if he hung himself. A common theme throughout this 3 night run.
The band eventually makes their way back to the stage. Ed recognizes a fan in the crowd and tells someone else to "get that guy a beer. he was here last night..."
They then go into "Rats", the first time this song was unleashed on New Orleans. Eddie stay in the "Ben" by Michael Jackson tag for a good second during the outro. Mike trys to rip a massive solo and throws the band off at the end. He wanted to keep going.
Eddie then sings a few lines of the verses of Ben by MJ.
To end this tag, Ed says "Fuck that."
The band launches into "Blood" and Ed goes all out. The band ends the song with Eddie spinning around in circles, and then proceeds to spit all over the front row.
Eddie finally decides to go vocal by picking up the same bottle of wine previously mentioned.
"Jeff and I have decided that this is the best bottle of wine we've had this tour. So, uh, that means we're gunna stick around and play for a little bit longer."
Some crew members bring out a Hammond B3 organ, to which Ed turns around and says "Whats this?!" He then walks over in a drunken stupor to take a gander at it.
"You know what this means? This must mean our friend Brendan O' Brian is in town.. and he's gunna play, uh, this is called a B3 Organ, hes gunna play uh.... So who was here last night? Anybody? I recognize you, i saw you, oh you weren't here last night. Whos coming tomorrow? If you need tickets I got some extra."
The whole band gets behind the organ to help Brendan get settled. Ed even wraps him in a shawl while drunkinly hugging on him.
Something happens with the organ and Eddie says "The Machine is not working...."
"People always want advice for young bands... don't ever have a keyboard player...." I wonder what Boom and Josh think of this?
Mike then grabs the mic and says "Yeah... but how bout that Cape though? It's killer...."
Victoria Williams eventually enters the stage after the technical difficulties. Blackie Onnases (RIP), drummer for Urge Overkill, also joins Dave on drums for this one.
"we've only played this song one other time... Victoria wrote this song and its called Crazy Mary"
The band then goes into Crazy Mary with some very special guests for only the second time in their history. The 1st was about 3 weeks before this in Portland. Eddie and Victoria share verses with Eddie taking the first and Victoria taking the second.
The band goes into Indifference, still with BoB on Organ, possibly the first time this might have been done.
Eddie tells the crowd to "take care."
But the band comes out for a second encore, unloading "Leash" on the crowd. "Alright, one more. Let's do this. Are y'all ready?"
It would be after this show that Eddie and reining American League Cy Young award winning pitcher "Black" Jack McDowell would visit Bourbon street and get themselves into quite the mess.
Eddie was arrested at 4:25am on misdemeanor charges of public drunkenness and disturbing the peace after getting into a fight with one Jack Goreman. This is REALLY hard to do on Bourbon street, haha.
According to Jack McDowell while being interviewed on the "Live on 4 Legs Podcast", "We went into this place... I was sitting off to the side, and then all of a sudden this guy is in Ed's face, getting all over him and he walked away, but this guy kept following him around and yelling at him and getting in his face... and we just kept walking away from the dude."
Jack goes into more detail from what he remembers of the night:
"I don't even know what the anger issues were, and why the guy was all over him yelling at him and stuff. After 20 minutes of this going on, we're like lets get out of here. We walk out of the place and the guy that was all over Ed comes out after him and starts to swing to try and hit him in the face. I got up to him and got him in the face good, But then a dude who worked at the place came up and smoked me in the back of the head and I fell into this car. We didn't even know what was going on, it was super weird stuff. The dude that hit me ended up getting arrested down the road. He tried to sue Eddie for what happened. He went to court and they immediately arrested him because he had done some other crime and hadn't shown up to court for it."
Ed would spend the night in Jail and make national headlines, only furthering his aura of the "drunken grunge guy."
Pearl Jam would take the next night off from performing, only to take the stage yet again in New Orleans on the 19th.
Pearl Jam would cement their reputation in the city of New Orleans with this one event that is still talked about to this day, even by Ed himself who would reference it multiple times at shows in NOLA after the fact.
SandyRavage said: Victoria Williams eventually enters the stage after the technical difficulties. Blackie Onnases (RIP), drummer for Urge Overkill, also joins Dave on drums for this one.
"we've only played this song one other time... Victoria wrote this song and its called Crazy Mary"
The band then goes into Crazy Mary with some very special guests for only the second time in their history. The 1st was about 3 weeks before this in Portland. Eddie and Victoria share verses with Eddie taking the first and Victoria taking the second.
How awesome would that be?! To reunite on stage with Victoria after all these years Thank you for sharing all those great stories!
Post edited by Pap on
Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1&2 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024 / New Orleans 2025
"Aye, before we go, will you guys do me something?
I'm asking a lot, I know. But you know what? I wanna show... What I want you to do, I want you to spit on me. Just spit on my face.
I wanna show you how a man takes a good spit right in the face.
Come on! This is how you take it! Come on, MORE! SPIT!
A real man can take spit in the face....
....And good guys where black."
- Eddie Vedder to the UNO Lakefront Arena crowd before "Porch" the night after he was arrested 11/19/1993.
"Hey. Quit it! I've been hit with enough shit this week!
We actually thought, for about 5 minutes we actually thought about cancelling this show, just like fuck, 'fuck that guy, fuck these people.'
But, uh, we knew he wasn't a representative of you. So, uh, alright let's do it.
- Eddie to the UNO Lakefront crowd before the encore
November 19th brought an added edge to an already explosive 3 night run in NOLA.
The band had spent the day off on the 18th, probably writing and recording more parts of Vitalogy. But come the night of the 19th, I think Ed and the band were ready to put on an amazing show, and then get as far away from New Orleans as they could.
The previously mentioned Jack McDowell attended this show as well and recalls the interesting way in which the band decided to make their first public appearance since Eddies arrest, a little under 18 hours before.
Speaking to LiveOn4Legs podcast, Mcdowell said:
"When he (Ed) came out, everyone kinda knew already that he had been arrested and he might not be able to make the show and all this, and they put him on a lay down thing and rolled him out like he was dead or something. I was like 'oh that's crazy' and then he got up and started singing..."
Eddie would later dedicate a song to Jack during the show.
While unfortunately there isn't video of this show, (or maybe there is and we just haven't found it yet...) there is a fan recorded audio bootleg to accompany the other 2 nights of this show.
The band walks out to massive rounds of applause. I can only assume from the way they rolled Eddie out. Eddie casually and in a very drunken accent says "Lets do this..."
The band breaks into a FAST and ANGRY rendition of "Go," going extremely left of the previous 2 nights openers of "Release" and "Oceans." You can only imagine the energy in the room at that moment. Dave sounds like he's going to smash though his drum kit.
Eddie mumbles something really quickly, but it's inaudible to me. He sounds like he asks someone to get the light off, but i'm not certain. It sounds like "get that light off me...."
The band goes into "Animal" with Eddie truly almost blowing his voice out during the "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HURT ME?" part. The first of many subtle references of the previous night.
The band goes into "Once" with Eddie giving a pretty feral scream during the intro that isn't present on the recorded version. 3 very angsty tracks back to back to back. The breakdown gets am amazing jammy section after the solo that I honestly have never heard PJ recreate. It almost sounds Alice in Chains-y or even like a metal band breakdown. Eddie takes this moment to start singing "W.M.A." No-doubt in reference to what had happened the previous night. "W.M.A." up until this point had only been tagged onto "Daughter" or "Porch" or played as a full song, but never on "Once." The band finds their way back into "Once" and end it with Eddie yet again almost blowing his voice out.
Eddie introduces the next song: "This song is called Dissident" and the band launches into the song with no further comments from Ed.
Next comes "Jeremy." Eddie's last "OHHHHH" towards the end of the song is MASSIVE.
The band then cuts into "Deep" which was common at the time as they both use 12-string bass. Ed's vocal performance on this one is yet again stellar as he goes all out. "Deep" fades out with an interesting cacophony as one of the guitars almost sounds like its a bird.
By this point in the setlist, all songs are coming one after the other with absolutely zero talking or mention of what had happened the previous night. Eddie breaks that silence with yet another quotable phrase, this time one that might be giving insight into the "love" that he has for performing:
"anybody thinks that love is easy? Fuck you. You're wrong. Anybody thinks that love is worth it? Congratulations, you're right. this is 'State of Love & Trust.'"
SoLAT is played and boy is it a barn-burner.
Eddie takes a second after SoLAT then sings the first few lines of the final verse of "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel:
"A bottle of Red, a bottle of White, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight"
The band then rip into "Glorified G." Another stellar performance from Ed.
Daughter is played next, and on this night receives an "Across The Universe" tag from the Beatles, but not before a little interesting vocalizing from Eddie. On this night, Eddie even adds the "Jah Guru Deva Om" prayer from the song at the beginning, but on his last "nothing's gonna change my world," he decides to give a list of the things that aren't going to change him:
"Not my boss. Not my mom. Not my friends. Not my enemies. Not my lord. Not my self. Not my anything.
Nothings gonna change my world.
Nothing."
Ed then sings some inaudible lines of a song, which brings the band into "Even Flow." The middle section of the song is very interesting and different.
Ed then gets a little more vocal about the night before while introducing the song "Rats."
"This song, this next one, it's a good song for New Orleans I think. It's called 'Rats.' I know you got 'em here! I even met a couple...."
"Rats" gets screamy at the end as it usually did around this time.
Before "Blood" Ed says: "this song is dedicated to me..."
Mike continues playing at the end, almost like he doesn't want the song to end.
Ed finally decides to wax poetically from the front of the stage:
"So, uh. We appreciate you letting us hang out in New Orleans for awhile. Nice place. Nice place. About 99% of you have all been really, really cool. I don't usually do this, but this is the first shows we've played with this band, Urge Overkill, we wanna give them a big hand will ya? From Chicago! And uh, from this show, from whenever, whenever we play New Orleans, this song is gonna be for my friend Jack.."
The band then jumps into "Alive."
Ed belts out a massive "YEAH!" to start the song. He also brings back the aggression he had on Night 1:
"Is something wrong she said?
Of course there is you fucking CUCK!"
A curse word i've never heard Ed use before! The band lets their instruments ring out and leave the stage.
They return to a raucous crowd as they break into "Why Go." Eddie is more reserve this night, only doing the signature "Hey" in the intro 37 times instead of the previous nights 52.
To introduce the next song, Eddie gives the classic "drop the leash, drop the leash, get outta my fuckin' face" and then proceeds to unleash one of the most INSANE screams i've ever heard from him.
"Leash" ends and Ed asks Keith to turn the lights down, and to potentially bring him something? Eddie says "this is for you guys." then proceeds to play "Black." This would be the first and only time on this 3 night run that "Black" would be played, and NOLA's first "Black" since the Tipitina's show in Spring of 1992, or a 3 "NOLA show" gap. "We belong together...." helps PJ fade out of "Black."
"Rearviewmirror" is played next. Eddie changes some of the lyrics in the second verse, but it's hard to make out what he actually says.
After RVM on this night, Eddie again references Victoria Williams: "take a bottle, drink it down. Pass it around."
He then gives the quote that introduces this post, before ripping into a MASSIVE "Porch" and if you were to listen to one song from this night, I think it should be this one, just given the pure intensity level by the band. The solo mike gives is absolutely insane. The band keeps building and building and it sounds like they're never gonna come down, while Ed just screams his ass off. Porch gets a "Tearing" tag, no doubt again referencing the night before. Ed also adds another tag of a song i'm not familiar with:
"How could you. How could I care. How could I fight for you, when you don't care? How could I love you, when you don't care? How could I fight for you, when you don't care?"
Eddie ends the song screaming his lungs out yet again while the band becomes one big noise. The band walks off the stage again as Mikes guitar feeds back.
The band eventually returns to the stage, but theres a tape cut in the bootleg when Ed addresses the crowd, so it's hard to tell what he said.
What can be made out is the second quote that introduces this post.
The band rip into "Baba O' Riley" by the Who for the 3rd time in NOLA history.
The band leave the stage, and eventually come back for yet another audible of "Indifference." A complete difference in setlists from the previous nights as the show started crazy and ended rather calm.
"You guys take care of yourselves. See you around."
Over the 3 nights, all songs from Vs. and Ten were played in some capacity, except "Elderly Women."
Pearl Jam would not return to New Orleans for almost 2 years, and when they finally did, they would be at odd's with corporate titan Ticketmaster. They would also remember the studio Daniel Lanois rented to them, as they were in the writing phase of "No Code" by that point...
"You guys deserve this. This is the best 4th of July we've had in a long time.
This place being outdoors and having your own... this is nice, it's nice, a huge party.
It's nice to be here.
Fuck, last time i was here, I was in jail, ya know?
(pointing to someone in the crowd) And I just remembered thats where I recognize you from!
Whoever you are, this song is for Sister Helen Prejean who works downtown..."
-Eddie to the Tad Gormley crowd before "Better Man" on 9/17/1995
Pearl Jam would next appear in Nola after a few cancellations:
Touring for most of 1994 was cancelled after PJ decided to go after Ticketmaster by going so far as to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. Vitaology was finally released on November 22nd, 1994 and the songs that were recorded in New Orleans by that point almost 14 months previously, were included.
Pearl Jam eventually returned to the road, almost full time in 1995 with a tour of Australia and Asia. They would tour the U.S. in the spring and early summer months with legendary shows at Red Rocks and Solider Field, and the thinking was simple: play any venue where Ticketmaster was not.
It would be during a period between a show at Golden Gate State Park on June 28th, 1995, where Eddie came down with something and was unable to perform the full show, and the show on July 8th, 1995 where 6 shows ended up being postponed.
Pearl Jam at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans on the 4th of July, 1995 was the 6th and final show to get the cut. Bad Religion would have opened up these shows.
PJ would eventually make up 4 of those cancelled dates later in the year in September.
While Ed took a break from the band, the remaining members of Pearl Jam were asked by Neil Young to basically play as his backing band for his 1995 tour of Europe.
Having been off the road for a little over 2 months by this point, Ed was fresh to take the stage for this mini run, but also throughly warmed up after 3 killer shows.
The openers PJ chose to have on this little make-up jaunt? the Ramones.
If anyone was sad about missing Bad Religion, I think their fears were immediately assuaged.
Pearl Jam eventually took the stage at Tad Gormley stadium 1 year and 10 months to the day since they'd last been in the city of New Orleans: September 17th, 1995.
Austin, Denton, and NOLA would be the only 3 southern shows the band had announced for the foreseeable future, attracting many non-Texas southern PJ fans to the New Orleans show. With Tad Gormley having a capacity of almost 50,000 in concert form, tickets were to be had. And the people, they came.
According to the PJ "Twenty" book, the estimated attendance at this show was 42,000.
On the back-end of this date, the band would spend the rest of the week in New Orleans at Daniel Lanios' Kingsway studio. While not much is known about this early "No Code" session, the band (or possibly just Eddie) were drawn to that particular studio down on Esplande in New Orleans.
So how does Tad Gormley Stadium fit into the "Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster" scenario? By this point in 1995, the DOJ had ended their probe of Ticketmaster after only a year and basically did nothing. PJ continued their crusade.
Tad Gormley is a proven relic of a bygone era of public works that proves that if a culture needs something, the people can build it. Built in 1937, then known as City Park Stadium, Tad Gormley was second only to Tulane Stadium as the biggest venue to hold public sporting events in New Orleans before the Superdome opened in the 1970's.
Being a big outdoor stadium in operation for 30 years by the 1960's, an open aired venue like Tad Gormley was the perfect place to hold concerts that would attract young concert goers. This was smack dab in the middle of the British invasion and into the summer of love. This place saw a lot!
Two of the more well known and continuously brought up events that have happened at this very stadium were The Beatles on 9/16/64. PJ's show was almost on the 31st year anniversary to the DAY of that Beatles show.
the Jimi Hendrix Experience would also play a show here on 8/1/68. This is important for later when we talk about PJ's setlist.
By the 90's Tad Gormley had become a venue mostly used for high school football and not hyped up entertainment or concerts, as the UNO Lakefront Arena (where PJ had already called home) had opened across town, and by the end of the decade the Smoothie King Center (formerly New Orleans Arena, and where PJ would eventually call home) would break ground. Festivals were held at Tad Gormley in the mid 80's, and Jimmy Buffett (who probably gave PJ's bookers the idea to play this venue) played here in 1993.
People give PJ credit for finding the land for Coachella, but I think they also found the land for Voodoo Festival, as 4 years after the success of this show, Voodoo would spend it's first year in the same configuration as the PJ concert inside of the stadium, before moving to the grounds outside and surrounding Tad Gormley. Pearl Jam would later play Voodoo Festival some 18 years after this show.
Pearl Jam would be the last band to headline one singular show at Tad Gormley, even to this day.
If you were looking to view this beautiful stadium, you might be able to catch a glimpse from the plane if you're flying in from Florida. The stadium itself is usually closed to the public if there are no high school soccer or football games happening, and if there are, its usually less than $10 to get in. There are no guided tours as the venue is still in operation to this day. If you drive down Stadium Drive, you'd be able to catch a glimpse through the fence of the stadium, but thats about all you'll get.
If you look at this old ebay listing, you'll see an original map for the show that was sent out with tickets by 10C:
Much of the day leading up to the show was pretty dire, as rain had moved into the area and was drenching everything. A common weather pattern in New Orleans, as we usually get rain once a day in those late summer August and September days.
"Holy shit...this was my first real concert when I was 13! I remember it was raining almost the whole time and at one point we were using a big rubber mat area as a slip n slide lol. Was awesome seeing Pearl Jam, despite shivering from being completely drenched."
another said:
@sethro9389 said: "I was seventeen when I went to this show. I still have the tickets from the cancelled show. It rained and the ground was covered with some kind of mat. They made everyone sit down before the show started. Everyone's pants were wet from sitting in water. I remember being caught in a mosh pit during the Ramones. On the way home to Florida I wrecked my car. Good times."
After the Ramones blistering set, Pearl Jam finally took the stage.
Again, thanks to the Taper and bootleg community, we have not only video of this night, but pretty high definition audio for the time. Apparently PJ had attracted quite a few tapers by this point in their careers. I must warn you though, the video is prettttty shaky for some of the songs, so if you have motion sickness, maybe don't give it watch:
Eddie and the band come out, with Eddie wearing a white bucket hat. He promptly take its it off and throws it on the ground halfway through opening song "Animal." This would be the first time "Animal" would open a show in New Orleans.
The band would then go into "Go", flip-floping their previous show at UNO N3 that started "Go" -> "Animal."
PJ would then go into the final form of "Last Exit" as when they had previously played it in New Orleans, they had only just written it and it sounded extremely bare bones. Eddie would grab at his stomach and arm during the "shed my skin at last" lyric.
PJ would next finally debut a song that was written AND recorded the last last time they were in New Orleans, but wasn't played: "Tremor Christ." This would also be the first new Vitalogy music that would be fresh to New Orleans ears.
During "Tremor Christ" Eddie stops the show during the second verse as he sees somebody pass out or fall down in the front of the crowd. The situation is under control, and the band jump back in. Keep in mind, we're only 10 minutes into a 2 hour show here.
The band would then rip into a killer version of "Even Flow" with Jack Iron's providing the funky beat for that fun middle section. This was obviously Jack's first New Orleans show with the band.
"Corduroy" would then make it's New Orleans debut, with Ed messing up some of the lyrics. The ending is extended out and Mike rips an incredible guitar solo.
The band would then go into the only "Vs." song they didn't play during their 3 night run at UNO in 1993: "Elderly Woman."
Ed finally stops to address the crowd after nearly 30 minutes of continuous play.
"That was just a little diddy. How you guys doing? Good party!"
As Eddie is talking, people in the crowd start throwing clothing at him.
"I just wanna tell you, thank you! (Ed catches a piece of clothing) Thanks again! I just wanna tell ya, these guys up front are some tough sons a bitches. (Ed catches another piece of clothing) Oh, I've got enough of these things.
Hey, thats enough I'm trying to think up here!"
Ed would then go on to make the first of many post 1993 comments about his New Orleans arrest:
"This songs about getting your ass kicked. I would know! Called 'Whipping.'"
The band would then rip into 2 more Vitalogy tracks that had yet to be unleashed on New Orleans: "Whipping" and "Not For You."
"Not For You" would also include an extended outro with another fun solo.
"Why Go" would be next up, and would start and end with Ed walking around in circles in the center of the stage.
"Deep" made it's debut on this run, and got an insane breakdown outro that included crazy guitars, Ed screaming, and Jack Irons beating the hell out of the drum kit. This would all eventually fade out into the first notes of "Jeremy." I've honestly never heard this done by the band before, so I'm not sure if this is a one of or if this is how they were doing it at the time. Ed seems completely out of it.
"Dissident" is next and gets a lot of excited cheers from the audience. After the song, Eddie mumbles something inaudibly, but sounds like "Yeah, I wanna grow with(?) you!
I wouldn't mind growing up if it was the kids making the rules.
See, what I think, growing up, when you're little, when everyones little you're all the same, then you grow up and things start changing: people are taller, some people are more handsome, some people are richer. Then theres those few that will take(?) someone elses cut(?). They try to fuck those other people by doing something like controlling them, abusing them mentally, implying(?) and treating them like shit.
Grown-ups are weird.
So it's up to you to remember all the ideals you have. As an idealistic kid, write them down, hang on to them. Live them."
"Daughter" is played next and receives a super extended outro and an "I Believe In Miracles" tag, which is a call back to the Ramones who had just played the song during their set. Eddie also adds a bit of "Pulled Up" by the Talking Heads into the tag as well.
"Rats" would also be played for the first time since March of 1995, a 13 show (24 if you count the PJ/Neil Young dates) gap. This would be only the second time Jack Irons would take a stab at "Rats." The intro and the outro of the song were extended.
Eddie walks off stage after the song, to which Stone says "We're just gonna jam for a second."
The band minus Ed proceed to play a weird combination of what sounds like a Temple of the Dog/Mad Season type song, but Mike steps up to the mic and starts singing "Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix. I truly wonder if someone had told him the lore of Hendrix playing there in 1968 before the show.
The improv jam lasts about 6 minutes and is completed by Ed making his way to the stage with guitar in his hands. The band then rip into another Vitalogy song yet to be unleashed on NOLA: "Immortality"
"This is where we all get a second wind. You guys ready?"
"Rearviewmirror" is played and also receives a bit of an extended outro.
The band then rip into "Alive" with Ed running up to the mic, throwing a bottle of water and spitting all over the crowd. I wonder if Ed remembered his friend Jack in this moment?
To cap off the main set, the band play "Blood" which would get a bit of extended middle section.
"Blood" ends with Eddie destroying his mic stand and Mike destroying the guitar he was playing and then throwing the neck into the crowd.
The band comes back to the stage for an encore and Ed greats the crowd:
"Thank you New Orleans, you guys have been the best."
Referencing the original cancelled date of the show, Ed adds the quote that opens this post before going into another Vitalogy song that had yet to be unleashed on NOLA, but was almost recorded there: "Better Man"
Brendan O'Brian, who is in town to help the band record, joins on organ for "Better Man." With this song, this would become the longest show by number of songs in PJ/New Orleans history.
Ed grabs the mic before the next song.
"Just to remind ya, the best band ever produced played tonight, and we're gunna welcome back the irrefutable, heavy-weight champion of punk rock and all: Joey Ramone! From the Ramones! And this song is called 'Sonic Reducer'"
Joey Ramone would join the band on stage for the first and only time. RIP Joey Ramone!
Pearl Jam would record this and quickly turn it around for their 1995 Christmas single. I sure hope this whole show was recorded and we get it as a Vault release one day!
To close out the first encore, PJ play "Rockin' In The Free World" for the first time in New Orleans since their Spring 92 show at Tipitinas having completely avoided it during their 3 night run at UNO in 1993.
Eddie would end this encore addressing (and lying...) to the crowd:
"Thank you New Orleans. You know what to do! See you next year..."
The band would then call an audible and return to the stage for a second encore.
"This could be our last show, so we figured we'd play another 20, into tomorrow. But we won't forget about tonight, again, I mean that I'm not just saying that.
I'm sure you go through a lot of shit being a fan of our band and all the tickets and everything, thanks for sticking in there with us. Thanks.
On the way out we have a traveling radio station, it's on 91.1 if you wanna check it out, maybe we'll do some interviews and play some songs you haven't heard. We're gonna play one more for ya, but you guys get home safe and we'll see ya next time.
Thanks again, I can't believe it."
The band would then unleash "Yellow Ledbetter" to New Orleans for the first time.
It would be nearly 5 years, 3 albums, a hundred shows give or take, before Pearl Jam would return to New Orleans. But this show would solidify an already strong relationship the band had already formed with the city.
The only Vitalogy songs that weren't played were "Spin The Black Circle" which was on the setlist, "Nothingman" which was recorded in New Orleans, and "Satan's Bed." "Habit" and "I Got ID" were on the setlist, but not played either.
I personally believe this show might rival Solider Field as one of the greatest shows of the bands career. It should be listed as #2 for the year 1995 alone. The set structure. 24 songs. The guest filled encore. The Ledbetter audible. 2 hours straight of music. You surely got your moneys worth at this show.
PJ would spend the next week at Esplanade studios, but to this day we're still unclear what may have been recorded there. By this point in time, "Lukin", "Habit", "Who You Are" and "In My Tree" were in the writing process for PJ's 1996 album "No Code."
Eddie claims "Off He Goes" and "Around The Bend" were written "in the same dark sullen corner." with Stone also claiming "Off He Goes" was written and recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. I think it's safe to assume an early version of "Off He Goes" was recorded in New Orleans.
PJ wouldn't return to the road for another month and a half with dates on the west coast. "No Code" wouldn't be released for another 11 months. It would take PJ another 5 years before returning to the New Orleans area, and by then everything would be different....
The band would then call an audible and return to the stage for a second encore.
"This could be our last show, so we figured we'd play another 20, into tomorrow. But we won't forget about tonight, again, I mean that I'm not just saying that.
I'm sure you go through a lot of shit being a fan of our band and all the tickets and everything, thanks for sticking in there with us. Thanks.
On the way out we have a traveling radio station, it's on 91.1 if you wanna check it out, maybe we'll do some interviews and play some songs you haven't heard. We're gonna play one more for ya, but you guys get home safe and we'll see ya next time.
Thanks again, I can't believe it."
The band would then unleash "Yellow Ledbetter" to New Orleans for the first time.
It would be nearly 5 years, 3 albums, a hundred shows give or take, before Pearl Jam would return to New Orleans. But this show would solidify an already strong relationship the band had already formed with the city.
The only Vitalogy songs that weren't played were "Spin The Black Circle" which was on the setlist, "Nothingman" which was recorded in New Orleans, and "Satan's Bed." "Habit" and "I Got ID" were on the setlist, but not played either.
I personally believe this show might rival Solider Field as one of the greatest shows of the bands career. It should be listed as #2 for the year 1995 alone. The set structure. 24 songs. The guest filled encore. The Ledbetter audible. 2 hours straight of music. You surely got your moneys worth at this show.
PJ would spend the next week at Esplanade studios, but to this day we're still unclear what may have been recorded there. By this point in time, "Lukin", "Habit", "Who You Are" and "In My Tree" were in the writing process for PJ's 1996 album "No Code."
Eddie claims "Off He Goes" and "Around The Bend" were written "in the same dark sullen corner." with Stone also claiming "Off He Goes" was written and recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. I think it's safe to assume an early version of "Off He Goes" was recorded in New Orleans.
PJ wouldn't return to the road for another month and a half with dates on the west coast. "No Code" wouldn't be released for another 11 months. It would take PJ another 5 years before returning to the New Orleans area, and by then everything would be different....
SandyRavage said: PJ would next finally debut a song that was written AND recorded the last last time they were in New Orleans, but wasn't played: "Tremor Christ." This would also be the first new Vitalogy music that would be fresh to New Orleans ears.
Thank you so much! I wouldn't mind if they play TC at this year's Jazz Fest We make me feel so pumped about the show
Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1&2 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024 / New Orleans 2025
Got 2 new ones i've never heard before: LBC and Tremor Christ, both back to back which is interesting.
Eddie was very vocal for a festival set. They ended 9 minutes early, and scratched 2 songs from the set.
Eddie mentioned Tipitinas, "all the way back to Tipitinas in the early 90's...." but seemingly forgot they opened for RHCP about 4 months before that in NOLA. I guess he didn't read this thread
He also didn't mention his previous arrest. I guess time does heal all wounds.
Steve Gleason got a shout out!
Merch situation was blah and very stupid. I'd love to own the license plate and/or skate deck, but i'm sure people bought them just to keep them in their collection who didn't even go to the show. Lucky them.
Got 2 new ones i've never heard before: LBC and Tremor Christ, both back to back which is interesting.
Eddie was very vocal for a festival set. They ended 9 minutes early, and scratched 2 songs from the set.
Eddie mentioned Tipitinas, "all the way back to Tipitinas in the early 90's...." but seemingly forgot they opened for RHCP about 4 months before that in NOLA. I guess he didn't read this thread
He also didn't mention his previous arrest. I guess time does heal all wounds.
Steve Gleason got a shout out!
Merch situation was blah and very stupid. I'd love to own the license plate and/or skate deck, but i'm sure people bought them just to keep them in their collection who didn't even go to the show. Lucky them.
It did seem odd that the merch went up for sale at the most inconvenient time for people who actually attended the show
Prob the most hits set ive had, but the vibe, as always, was great. Hits are hits for a reason, and the energy of a casual fan hearing Evenflow for the first time is pretty infectious, unless you’re not paying attention.
great show in my opinion. Tons of fun. Merch is just more junk, thanks for the memories Jazz Fest, and thanks for all the energy in this thread. Let’s do it again real soon!
1998-06-30 Minneapolis
2003-06-16 St. Paul
2006-06-26 St. Paul
2007-08-05 Chicago
2009-08-23 Chicago
2009-08-28 San Francisco
2010-05-01 NOLA (Jazz Fest)
2011-07-02 EV Minneapolis
2011-09-03 PJ20
2011-09-04 PJ20
2011-09-17 Winnipeg
2012-06-26 Amsterdam
2012-06-27 Amsterdam
2013-07-19 Wrigley
2013-11-21 San Diego
2013-11-23 Los Angeles
2013-11-24 Los Angeles
2014-07-08 Leeds, UK
2014-07-11 Milton Keynes, UK
2014-10-09 Lincoln
2014-10-19 St. Paul
2014-10-20 Milwaukee
2016-08-20 Wrigley 1
2016-08-22 Wrigley 2 2018-06-18 London 1 2018-08-18 Wrigley 1 2018-08-20 Wrigley 2 2022-09-16 Nashville 2023-08-31 St. Paul 2023-09-02 St. Paul 2023-09-05 Chicago 1 2024-08-31 Wrigley 2 2024-09-15 Fenway 1 2024-09-27 Ohana 1 2024-09-29 Ohana 2
It did seem odd that the merch went up for sale at the most inconvenient time for people who actually attended the show
My excuse was I was working the previous night till about 4 in the morning. Didn't wake up until around 11am. By then I was 2 hours late. I'm sure some people here will say quite literally "you snooze, you lose" but it would be even more awesome if 10C could communicate onsale times and, gee, I don't know, how about don't make everything so limited????
I saw someone else in another thread trying to pawn off a NOLA Skate Deck as trade fodder ALREADY and you know damn well they probably haven't even received a shipping confirmation yet.
What will really grind my gears is if we get a "mystery box" in the next few years and some NOLA Jazzfest 2025 stuff is included.
Comments
1. Hail, Hail
2. Education
3. W.M.A.
4. Grievance
5. Dance of the Clairvoyants
6. Corduroy
7. Never Destination
8. Swallowed Whole
9. Unemployable
10. Immortality
11. Wishlist
12. Even Flow
13. Got to Give
14. Rats
------------
15. Sleeping by Myself
16. Low Light
17. Of the Girl
18. Won't Tell
19. Nothingman
20. Thumbing My Way
21. Off He Goes
------------
22. Can't Keep
23. Johnny Guitar
24. Mankind
25. Let the Records Play
26. Force of Nature
27. Come Back
28. Black
29. Yellow Ledbetter
Shaindli1 said: @SandyRavage I'm still waiting for the rest of the history lesson!
"I don't know... shushhhhh shusshhhhhhh
I don't know if you've noticed but, and even if you haven't, but the papers tell ya how I've taken to carrying a bottle around wherever I go.
And, I really take two, I take this one (wine bottle) and I take that one (water bottle) and maybe I'll take a drink of this one, and maybe I'll take a drink of that one.
Maybe I'll be sober.
Maybe I'll be fucked up.
So lets just take me out of this for a second.
What would you rather see me take a drink of?
This one? (water, cheers, lots of boo's some "NO'S")
Or this one? (wine, the crowd goes apeshit...)
Cheers..."
- Eddie Vedder to the UNO Lakefront Arena crowd on Night 2 11/17/1993 before "Even Flow"If you thought Night 1 of the 3 night run was over the top, Night 2 took it to a completely different level.
It was as if the band went back to the studio that night and came back to the Lakefront Arena on November 17th a completely different being.
It was night and day.
Ying and yang.
Bi-polar even.
By Night 2, Eddie had dropped the "Mitch Hedberg meets Kurt Vonnegut" standup act between songs. In fact, he himself didn't seem to be all that present this night, as if the strenuous life he had built around him was finally catching up. The anger had become all encompassing. If Night 1 hadn't made it abundantly clear already, Eddie Vedder was a lit fuse waiting to pop.
According to some users on Youtube who went to this particular show, the whole building was completely GA, so who knows how many people were actually on the floor..
Thanks to the taper and bootleg community, we have video of N2 with multiple different camera angels and audio from different taper sources.
N2 started off slow, the same as the previous night's Release, with Oceans. This is fitting in NOLA history at this point, as this had been the 2nd time in 5 shows that Oceans opened a show, the first being the aforementioned Tipitina's show that had happened in Spring 1992.
Eddie then mumbles "alright, here we go..." followed by some inaudible mumbling. The band launches into "Why Go", the first repeat song of the 3 night run. Eddie then does his signature "hey, hey, hey" in the Why Go intro. Eddie says "hey" 52 times (i counted lol) while standing stoic behind the mic. The band isn't even sure when to come in as Eddie just angrily keeps the intro going.
As "Why Go" ends, Eddie says "We ain't going fucking nowhere.."
They then go into another 12-string bass song, "Jeremy," the second repeat song of the run. During the "how could I forget" lyric, Eddie changes it to "how am I supposed to forget?" confusing himself and causing him to immediately scream "DADDY DIDN'T GIVE AFFECTION" in a jumbled mess that clearly shows he was impaired already. He eventually found his way back to the correct lyrics. The outro of this version of Jeremy is actually sublime and shows how unified the band were through music, even though they were all going through something personally. Stone and Mike let their guitars ring out, while Dave builds up the drums through Eddies powerful voice. If you watch one song from this night, it should be this one.
With nothing to say, and while he seems to be messing with his jacket or hand, the band launches into State of Love and Trust, another repeat offender. Eddie comes to life, and when they reach the "and the barrel shakes...." part of the song, Eddie makes a finger gun again, points it at the crowd, then proceeds to put it in his mouth during the "trigger shakes, aimed right at my head" part and the proceeds to scream "HELP ME FROM MYSELF." When Mike goes into the solo, Eddie smugly turns around and heads towards his wine and takes a swig. He returns to the mic just before the scream and sprays wine all over the first few rows of fans, covering his eyes while doing it.
SoLAT is over, and Eddie is now hunched over and kicking at something. Stone comes over to see whats up. Eddie then tells Stone to give him a second and he proceeds to give the quote that opens this post to the crowd.
The band rips into an electric Even Flow and Eddie starts to come alive after being stoic for most of the night so far.
After "Even Flow," Eddie again raises the wine and water bottle to cheers from the crowd for the wine. Without saying anything, the band goes into Glorified G.
Nothing is said between Glorified G and Daughter either. Eddie actually keeps his hand in his pocket, or tied up in his shirt throughout most of the song. Eddie tags "Release" onto the end of Daughter, which i'm not sure has ever been done before. It's actually a really cool mashup. He ends the song with inaudible mumbling, but what can be made out is "get out of my life. You fucking cunt" which he continues to repeat until the band fades out.
The band jumps into "Go" with no comments from Ed. "Animal" is played with still no comments from ed. Two of the more aggressive tracks from Vs. that basically speak for themselves.
Footsteps is played for the first time on the run, but was common during this era of Vs. touring. On this night Ed says it's a "request" and something along the lines of "if you feel it(?)" and then mumbles something else before continuing to remain incredibly still and holding his arms around his chest for the duration of the performance.
The band goes into Alive with again no comments from Ed who hangs his head really low between songs.. At this point I can only imagine this man is drunk and tired. Ed does the "is something wrong she said?" without any added aggression on this night. Ed turns the fire on for the last "I'M STILL ALIVE" and might even be a confirmation for him in that exact moment as he spends the next 20 seconds head banging with Jeff while Mike does the outro solo.
The band then solemnly goes into "Garden." Mike adds a little flair on the guitar to end the song.
Next up, Eddie calmly says "take a bottle, drink it down. Pass it around." Probably jumping the gun for what was to come later in the set.
Eddie then gives us the best, most inspirational quote of the night before blasting into an exciting "Porch":
"Hate your parents. Hate your friends. Living here is the best revenge."
At one point during the solo, Ed walks over to stage right on Mikes side and starts playing with the mic cord, waving it back and forth as if he's fanning the flames of the band.
During the outro, Ed improvs what can only be taken as a warning for what would happen later in the night: "trust me... don't toss me around... trust me... it's not a good time right now.... FUCK with me? I'll fuck with you (???).... Believe me.... I'M TELLING YOU FIRST!"
The band ends the first "set" with Eddie wrapping the mic cable around his neck, acting as if he hung himself. A common theme throughout this 3 night run.
The band eventually makes their way back to the stage. Ed recognizes a fan in the crowd and tells someone else to "get that guy a beer. he was here last night..."
They then go into "Rats", the first time this song was unleashed on New Orleans. Eddie stay in the "Ben" by Michael Jackson tag for a good second during the outro. Mike trys to rip a massive solo and throws the band off at the end. He wanted to keep going.
Eddie then sings a few lines of the verses of Ben by MJ.
To end this tag, Ed says "Fuck that."
The band launches into "Blood" and Ed goes all out. The band ends the song with Eddie spinning around in circles, and then proceeds to spit all over the front row.
Eddie finally decides to go vocal by picking up the same bottle of wine previously mentioned.
"Jeff and I have decided that this is the best bottle of wine we've had this tour. So, uh, that means we're gunna stick around and play for a little bit longer."
Some crew members bring out a Hammond B3 organ, to which Ed turns around and says "Whats this?!" He then walks over in a drunken stupor to take a gander at it.
"You know what this means? This must mean our friend Brendan O' Brian is in town.. and he's gunna play, uh, this is called a B3 Organ, hes gunna play uh.... So who was here last night? Anybody? I recognize you, i saw you, oh you weren't here last night. Whos coming tomorrow? If you need tickets I got some extra."
The whole band gets behind the organ to help Brendan get settled. Ed even wraps him in a shawl while drunkinly hugging on him.
Something happens with the organ and Eddie says "The Machine is not working...."
"People always want advice for young bands... don't ever have a keyboard player...." I wonder what Boom and Josh think of this?
Mike then grabs the mic and says "Yeah... but how bout that Cape though? It's killer...."
Victoria Williams eventually enters the stage after the technical difficulties. Blackie Onnases (RIP), drummer for Urge Overkill, also joins Dave on drums for this one.
"we've only played this song one other time... Victoria wrote this song and its called Crazy Mary"
The band then goes into Crazy Mary with some very special guests for only the second time in their history. The 1st was about 3 weeks before this in Portland. Eddie and Victoria share verses with Eddie taking the first and Victoria taking the second.
The band goes into Indifference, still with BoB on Organ, possibly the first time this might have been done.
Eddie tells the crowd to "take care."
But the band comes out for a second encore, unloading "Leash" on the crowd. "Alright, one more. Let's do this. Are y'all ready?"
Eddie goes feral.
"See you guys around. Thanks for having us..."
The band leaves the stage and the video cuts.
It would be after this show that Eddie and reining American League Cy Young award winning pitcher "Black" Jack McDowell would visit Bourbon street and get themselves into quite the mess.
Eddie was arrested at 4:25am on misdemeanor charges of public drunkenness and disturbing the peace after getting into a fight with one Jack Goreman. This is REALLY hard to do on Bourbon street, haha.
According to Jack McDowell while being interviewed on the "Live on 4 Legs Podcast", "We went into this place... I was sitting off to the side, and then all of a sudden this guy is in Ed's face, getting all over him and he walked away, but this guy kept following him around and yelling at him and getting in his face... and we just kept walking away from the dude."
Jack goes into more detail from what he remembers of the night:
"I don't even know what the anger issues were, and why the guy was all over him yelling at him and stuff. After 20 minutes of this going on, we're like lets get out of here. We walk out of the place and the guy that was all over Ed comes out after him and starts to swing to try and hit him in the face. I got up to him and got him in the face good, But then a dude who worked at the place came up and smoked me in the back of the head and I fell into this car. We didn't even know what was going on, it was super weird stuff. The dude that hit me ended up getting arrested down the road. He tried to sue Eddie for what happened. He went to court and they immediately arrested him because he had done some other crime and hadn't shown up to court for it."
Ed would spend the night in Jail and make national headlines, only furthering his aura of the "drunken grunge guy."
Pearl Jam would take the next night off from performing, only to take the stage yet again in New Orleans on the 19th.
Pearl Jam would cement their reputation in the city of New Orleans with this one event that is still talked about to this day, even by Ed himself who would reference it multiple times at shows in NOLA after the fact.
"Aye, before we go, will you guys do me something?
I'm asking a lot, I know. But you know what? I wanna show... What I want you to do, I want you to spit on me. Just spit on my face.
I wanna show you how a man takes a good spit right in the face.
Come on! This is how you take it! Come on, MORE! SPIT!
A real man can take spit in the face....
....And good guys where black."
- Eddie Vedder to the UNO Lakefront Arena crowd before "Porch" the night after he was arrested 11/19/1993."Hey. Quit it! I've been hit with enough shit this week!
We actually thought, for about 5 minutes we actually thought about cancelling this show, just like fuck, 'fuck that guy, fuck these people.'
- Eddie to the UNO Lakefront crowd before the encoreBut, uh, we knew he wasn't a representative of you. So, uh, alright let's do it.
November 19th brought an added edge to an already explosive 3 night run in NOLA.
The band had spent the day off on the 18th, probably writing and recording more parts of Vitalogy. But come the night of the 19th, I think Ed and the band were ready to put on an amazing show, and then get as far away from New Orleans as they could.
The previously mentioned Jack McDowell attended this show as well and recalls the interesting way in which the band decided to make their first public appearance since Eddies arrest, a little under 18 hours before.
Speaking to LiveOn4Legs podcast, Mcdowell said:
"When he (Ed) came out, everyone kinda knew already that he had been arrested and he might not be able to make the show and all this, and they put him on a lay down thing and rolled him out like he was dead or something. I was like 'oh that's crazy' and then he got up and started singing..."
Eddie would later dedicate a song to Jack during the show.
While unfortunately there isn't video of this show, (or maybe there is and we just haven't found it yet...) there is a fan recorded audio bootleg to accompany the other 2 nights of this show.
The band walks out to massive rounds of applause. I can only assume from the way they rolled Eddie out. Eddie casually and in a very drunken accent says "Lets do this..."
The band breaks into a FAST and ANGRY rendition of "Go," going extremely left of the previous 2 nights openers of "Release" and "Oceans." You can only imagine the energy in the room at that moment. Dave sounds like he's going to smash though his drum kit.
Eddie mumbles something really quickly, but it's inaudible to me. He sounds like he asks someone to get the light off, but i'm not certain. It sounds like "get that light off me...."
The band goes into "Animal" with Eddie truly almost blowing his voice out during the "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HURT ME?" part. The first of many subtle references of the previous night.
The band goes into "Once" with Eddie giving a pretty feral scream during the intro that isn't present on the recorded version. 3 very angsty tracks back to back to back. The breakdown gets am amazing jammy section after the solo that I honestly have never heard PJ recreate. It almost sounds Alice in Chains-y or even like a metal band breakdown. Eddie takes this moment to start singing "W.M.A." No-doubt in reference to what had happened the previous night. "W.M.A." up until this point had only been tagged onto "Daughter" or "Porch" or played as a full song, but never on "Once." The band finds their way back into "Once" and end it with Eddie yet again almost blowing his voice out.
Eddie introduces the next song: "This song is called Dissident" and the band launches into the song with no further comments from Ed.
Next comes "Jeremy." Eddie's last "OHHHHH" towards the end of the song is MASSIVE.
The band then cuts into "Deep" which was common at the time as they both use 12-string bass. Ed's vocal performance on this one is yet again stellar as he goes all out. "Deep" fades out with an interesting cacophony as one of the guitars almost sounds like its a bird.
By this point in the setlist, all songs are coming one after the other with absolutely zero talking or mention of what had happened the previous night. Eddie breaks that silence with yet another quotable phrase, this time one that might be giving insight into the "love" that he has for performing:
"anybody thinks that love is easy? Fuck you. You're wrong. Anybody thinks that love is worth it? Congratulations, you're right. this is 'State of Love & Trust.'"
SoLAT is played and boy is it a barn-burner.
Eddie takes a second after SoLAT then sings the first few lines of the final verse of "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel:
"A bottle of Red, a bottle of White, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight"
The band then rip into "Glorified G." Another stellar performance from Ed.
Daughter is played next, and on this night receives an "Across The Universe" tag from the Beatles, but not before a little interesting vocalizing from Eddie. On this night, Eddie even adds the "Jah Guru Deva Om" prayer from the song at the beginning, but on his last "nothing's gonna change my world," he decides to give a list of the things that aren't going to change him:
"Not my boss.
Not my mom.
Not my friends.
Not my enemies.
Not my lord.
Not my self.
Not my anything.
Nothings gonna change my world.
Nothing."
Ed then sings some inaudible lines of a song, which brings the band into "Even Flow." The middle section of the song is very interesting and different.
Ed then gets a little more vocal about the night before while introducing the song "Rats."
"This song, this next one, it's a good song for New Orleans I think. It's called 'Rats.' I know you got 'em here! I even met a couple...."
"Rats" gets screamy at the end as it usually did around this time.
Before "Blood" Ed says: "this song is dedicated to me..."
Mike continues playing at the end, almost like he doesn't want the song to end.
Ed finally decides to wax poetically from the front of the stage:
"So, uh. We appreciate you letting us hang out in New Orleans for awhile. Nice place. Nice place. About 99% of you have all been really, really cool. I don't usually do this, but this is the first shows we've played with this band, Urge Overkill, we wanna give them a big hand will ya? From Chicago! And uh, from this show, from whenever, whenever we play New Orleans, this song is gonna be for my friend Jack.."
The band then jumps into "Alive."
Ed belts out a massive "YEAH!" to start the song. He also brings back the aggression he had on Night 1:
"Is something wrong she said?
Of course there is you fucking CUCK!"
A curse word i've never heard Ed use before! The band lets their instruments ring out and leave the stage.
They return to a raucous crowd as they break into "Why Go." Eddie is more reserve this night, only doing the signature "Hey" in the intro 37 times instead of the previous nights 52.
To introduce the next song, Eddie gives the classic "drop the leash, drop the leash, get outta my fuckin' face" and then proceeds to unleash one of the most INSANE screams i've ever heard from him.
"Leash" ends and Ed asks Keith to turn the lights down, and to potentially bring him something? Eddie says "this is for you guys." then proceeds to play "Black." This would be the first and only time on this 3 night run that "Black" would be played, and NOLA's first "Black" since the Tipitina's show in Spring of 1992, or a 3 "NOLA show" gap. "We belong together...." helps PJ fade out of "Black."
"Rearviewmirror" is played next. Eddie changes some of the lyrics in the second verse, but it's hard to make out what he actually says.
After RVM on this night, Eddie again references Victoria Williams: "take a bottle, drink it down. Pass it around."
He then gives the quote that introduces this post, before ripping into a MASSIVE "Porch" and if you were to listen to one song from this night, I think it should be this one, just given the pure intensity level by the band. The solo mike gives is absolutely insane. The band keeps building and building and it sounds like they're never gonna come down, while Ed just screams his ass off. Porch gets a "Tearing" tag, no doubt again referencing the night before. Ed also adds another tag of a song i'm not familiar with:
"How could you. How could I care. How could I fight for you, when you don't care? How could I love you, when you don't care? How could I fight for you, when you don't care?"
Eddie ends the song screaming his lungs out yet again while the band becomes one big noise. The band walks off the stage again as Mikes guitar feeds back.
The band eventually returns to the stage, but theres a tape cut in the bootleg when Ed addresses the crowd, so it's hard to tell what he said.
What can be made out is the second quote that introduces this post.
The band rip into "Baba O' Riley" by the Who for the 3rd time in NOLA history.
The band leave the stage, and eventually come back for yet another audible of "Indifference." A complete difference in setlists from the previous nights as the show started crazy and ended rather calm.
"You guys take care of yourselves. See you around."
Over the 3 nights, all songs from Vs. and Ten were played in some capacity, except "Elderly Women."
Pearl Jam would not return to New Orleans for almost 2 years, and when they finally did, they would be at odd's with corporate titan Ticketmaster. They would also remember the studio Daniel Lanois rented to them, as they were in the writing phase of "No Code" by that point...
But that is a story for another time....
"You guys deserve this. This is the best 4th of July we've had in a long time.
This place being outdoors and having your own... this is nice, it's nice, a huge party.
It's nice to be here.
Fuck, last time i was here, I was in jail, ya know?
(pointing to someone in the crowd) And I just remembered thats where I recognize you from!
Whoever you are, this song is for Sister Helen Prejean who works downtown..."
-Eddie to the Tad Gormley crowd before "Better Man" on 9/17/1995
Pearl Jam would next appear in Nola after a few cancellations:
Touring for most of 1994 was cancelled after PJ decided to go after Ticketmaster by going so far as to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. Vitaology was finally released on November 22nd, 1994 and the songs that were recorded in New Orleans by that point almost 14 months previously, were included.
Pearl Jam eventually returned to the road, almost full time in 1995 with a tour of Australia and Asia. They would tour the U.S. in the spring and early summer months with legendary shows at Red Rocks and Solider Field, and the thinking was simple: play any venue where Ticketmaster was not.
It would be during a period between a show at Golden Gate State Park on June 28th, 1995, where Eddie came down with something and was unable to perform the full show, and the show on July 8th, 1995 where 6 shows ended up being postponed.
Pearl Jam at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans on the 4th of July, 1995 was the 6th and final show to get the cut. Bad Religion would have opened up these shows.
PJ would eventually make up 4 of those cancelled dates later in the year in September.
While Ed took a break from the band, the remaining members of Pearl Jam were asked by Neil Young to basically play as his backing band for his 1995 tour of Europe.
Having been off the road for a little over 2 months by this point, Ed was fresh to take the stage for this mini run, but also throughly warmed up after 3 killer shows.
The openers PJ chose to have on this little make-up jaunt? the Ramones.
If anyone was sad about missing Bad Religion, I think their fears were immediately assuaged.
The Ramones setlist was as followed:
Durango 95 Teenage Lobotomy Psycho Therapy Blitzkrieg Bop Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? I Believe in Miracles Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment Rock 'n' Roll High School I Wanna Be Sedated Spider-Man (Bob Harris & Paul Francis Webster cover) The KKK Took My Baby Away Sheena Is a Punk Rocker Rockaway Beach Pet Sematary Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman cover) Wart Hog Cretin Hop R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (Motörhead cover) Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World Pinhead
Pearl Jam eventually took the stage at Tad Gormley stadium 1 year and 10 months to the day since they'd last been in the city of New Orleans: September 17th, 1995.Austin, Denton, and NOLA would be the only 3 southern shows the band had announced for the foreseeable future, attracting many non-Texas southern PJ fans to the New Orleans show. With Tad Gormley having a capacity of almost 50,000 in concert form, tickets were to be had. And the people, they came.
According to the PJ "Twenty" book, the estimated attendance at this show was 42,000.
On the back-end of this date, the band would spend the rest of the week in New Orleans at Daniel Lanios' Kingsway studio. While not much is known about this early "No Code" session, the band (or possibly just Eddie) were drawn to that particular studio down on Esplande in New Orleans.
So how does Tad Gormley Stadium fit into the "Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster" scenario? By this point in 1995, the DOJ had ended their probe of Ticketmaster after only a year and basically did nothing. PJ continued their crusade.
Tad Gormley is a proven relic of a bygone era of public works that proves that if a culture needs something, the people can build it. Built in 1937, then known as City Park Stadium, Tad Gormley was second only to Tulane Stadium as the biggest venue to hold public sporting events in New Orleans before the Superdome opened in the 1970's.
Being a big outdoor stadium in operation for 30 years by the 1960's, an open aired venue like Tad Gormley was the perfect place to hold concerts that would attract young concert goers. This was smack dab in the middle of the British invasion and into the summer of love. This place saw a lot!
Two of the more well known and continuously brought up events that have happened at this very stadium were The Beatles on 9/16/64. PJ's show was almost on the 31st year anniversary to the DAY of that Beatles show.
the Jimi Hendrix Experience would also play a show here on 8/1/68. This is important for later when we talk about PJ's setlist.
By the 90's Tad Gormley had become a venue mostly used for high school football and not hyped up entertainment or concerts, as the UNO Lakefront Arena (where PJ had already called home) had opened across town, and by the end of the decade the Smoothie King Center (formerly New Orleans Arena, and where PJ would eventually call home) would break ground. Festivals were held at Tad Gormley in the mid 80's, and Jimmy Buffett (who probably gave PJ's bookers the idea to play this venue) played here in 1993.
People give PJ credit for finding the land for Coachella, but I think they also found the land for Voodoo Festival, as 4 years after the success of this show, Voodoo would spend it's first year in the same configuration as the PJ concert inside of the stadium, before moving to the grounds outside and surrounding Tad Gormley. Pearl Jam would later play Voodoo Festival some 18 years after this show.
Pearl Jam would be the last band to headline one singular show at Tad Gormley, even to this day.
If you were looking to view this beautiful stadium, you might be able to catch a glimpse from the plane if you're flying in from Florida. The stadium itself is usually closed to the public if there are no high school soccer or football games happening, and if there are, its usually less than $10 to get in. There are no guided tours as the venue is still in operation to this day. If you drive down Stadium Drive, you'd be able to catch a glimpse through the fence of the stadium, but thats about all you'll get.
If you look at this old ebay listing, you'll see an original map for the show that was sent out with tickets by 10C:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195498208703
Much of the day leading up to the show was pretty dire, as rain had moved into the area and was drenching everything. A common weather pattern in New Orleans, as we usually get rain once a day in those late summer August and September days.
One youtube user recalls the scene:
another said:
@sethro9389 said:
"I was seventeen when I went to this show. I still have the tickets from the cancelled show. It rained and the ground was covered with some kind of mat. They made everyone sit down before the show started. Everyone's pants were wet from sitting in water. I remember being caught in a mosh pit during the Ramones. On the way home to Florida I wrecked my car. Good times."
After the Ramones blistering set, Pearl Jam finally took the stage.
Again, thanks to the Taper and bootleg community, we have not only video of this night, but pretty high definition audio for the time. Apparently PJ had attracted quite a few tapers by this point in their careers. I must warn you though, the video is prettttty shaky for some of the songs, so if you have motion sickness, maybe don't give it watch:
Eddie and the band come out, with Eddie wearing a white bucket hat. He promptly take its it off and throws it on the ground halfway through opening song "Animal." This would be the first time "Animal" would open a show in New Orleans.
The band would then go into "Go", flip-floping their previous show at UNO N3 that started "Go" -> "Animal."
PJ would then go into the final form of "Last Exit" as when they had previously played it in New Orleans, they had only just written it and it sounded extremely bare bones. Eddie would grab at his stomach and arm during the "shed my skin at last" lyric.
PJ would next finally debut a song that was written AND recorded the last last time they were in New Orleans, but wasn't played: "Tremor Christ." This would also be the first new Vitalogy music that would be fresh to New Orleans ears.
During "Tremor Christ" Eddie stops the show during the second verse as he sees somebody pass out or fall down in the front of the crowd. The situation is under control, and the band jump back in. Keep in mind, we're only 10 minutes into a 2 hour show here.
The band would then rip into a killer version of "Even Flow" with Jack Iron's providing the funky beat for that fun middle section. This was obviously Jack's first New Orleans show with the band.
"Corduroy" would then make it's New Orleans debut, with Ed messing up some of the lyrics. The ending is extended out and Mike rips an incredible guitar solo.
The band would then go into the only "Vs." song they didn't play during their 3 night run at UNO in 1993: "Elderly Woman."
Ed finally stops to address the crowd after nearly 30 minutes of continuous play.
"That was just a little diddy. How you guys doing? Good party!"
As Eddie is talking, people in the crowd start throwing clothing at him.
"I just wanna tell you, thank you! (Ed catches a piece of clothing) Thanks again!
I just wanna tell ya, these guys up front are some tough sons a bitches.
(Ed catches another piece of clothing) Oh, I've got enough of these things.
Hey, thats enough I'm trying to think up here!"
Ed would then go on to make the first of many post 1993 comments about his New Orleans arrest:
"This songs about getting your ass kicked. I would know!
Called 'Whipping.'"
The band would then rip into 2 more Vitalogy tracks that had yet to be unleashed on New Orleans: "Whipping" and "Not For You."
"Not For You" would also include an extended outro with another fun solo.
"Why Go" would be next up, and would start and end with Ed walking around in circles in the center of the stage.
"Deep" made it's debut on this run, and got an insane breakdown outro that included crazy guitars, Ed screaming, and Jack Irons beating the hell out of the drum kit. This would all eventually fade out into the first notes of "Jeremy." I've honestly never heard this done by the band before, so I'm not sure if this is a one of or if this is how they were doing it at the time. Ed seems completely out of it.
"Dissident" is next and gets a lot of excited cheers from the audience. After the song, Eddie mumbles something inaudibly, but sounds like "Yeah, I wanna grow with(?) you!
I wouldn't mind growing up if it was the kids making the rules.
See, what I think, growing up, when you're little, when everyones little you're all the same, then you grow up and things start changing: people are taller, some people are more handsome, some people are richer. Then theres those few that will take(?) someone elses cut(?). They try to fuck those other people by doing something like controlling them, abusing them mentally, implying(?) and treating them like shit.
Grown-ups are weird.
So it's up to you to remember all the ideals you have. As an idealistic kid, write them down, hang on to them. Live them."
"Daughter" is played next and receives a super extended outro and an "I Believe In Miracles" tag, which is a call back to the Ramones who had just played the song during their set. Eddie also adds a bit of "Pulled Up" by the Talking Heads into the tag as well.
"Rats" would also be played for the first time since March of 1995, a 13 show (24 if you count the PJ/Neil Young dates) gap. This would be only the second time Jack Irons would take a stab at "Rats." The intro and the outro of the song were extended.
Eddie walks off stage after the song, to which Stone says "We're just gonna jam for a second."
The band minus Ed proceed to play a weird combination of what sounds like a Temple of the Dog/Mad Season type song, but Mike steps up to the mic and starts singing "Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix. I truly wonder if someone had told him the lore of Hendrix playing there in 1968 before the show.
The improv jam lasts about 6 minutes and is completed by Ed making his way to the stage with guitar in his hands. The band then rip into another Vitalogy song yet to be unleashed on NOLA: "Immortality"
"This is where we all get a second wind. You guys ready?"
"Rearviewmirror" is played and also receives a bit of an extended outro.
The band then rip into "Alive" with Ed running up to the mic, throwing a bottle of water and spitting all over the crowd. I wonder if Ed remembered his friend Jack in this moment?
To cap off the main set, the band play "Blood" which would get a bit of extended middle section.
"Blood" ends with Eddie destroying his mic stand and Mike destroying the guitar he was playing and then throwing the neck into the crowd.
The band comes back to the stage for an encore and Ed greats the crowd:
"Thank you New Orleans, you guys have been the best."
Referencing the original cancelled date of the show, Ed adds the quote that opens this post before going into another Vitalogy song that had yet to be unleashed on NOLA, but was almost recorded there: "Better Man"
Brendan O'Brian, who is in town to help the band record, joins on organ for "Better Man." With this song, this would become the longest show by number of songs in PJ/New Orleans history.
Ed grabs the mic before the next song.
"Just to remind ya, the best band ever produced played tonight, and we're gunna welcome back the irrefutable, heavy-weight champion of punk rock and all: Joey Ramone! From the Ramones! And this song is called 'Sonic Reducer'"
Joey Ramone would join the band on stage for the first and only time. RIP Joey Ramone!
Pearl Jam would record this and quickly turn it around for their 1995 Christmas single. I sure hope this whole show was recorded and we get it as a Vault release one day!
To close out the first encore, PJ play "Rockin' In The Free World" for the first time in New Orleans since their Spring 92 show at Tipitinas having completely avoided it during their 3 night run at UNO in 1993.
Eddie would end this encore addressing (and lying...) to the crowd:
"Thank you New Orleans. You know what to do! See you next year..."
The band would then call an audible and return to the stage for a second encore.
"This could be our last show, so we figured we'd play another 20, into tomorrow. But we won't forget about tonight, again, I mean that I'm not just saying that.
I'm sure you go through a lot of shit being a fan of our band and all the tickets and everything, thanks for sticking in there with us. Thanks.
On the way out we have a traveling radio station, it's on 91.1 if you wanna check it out, maybe we'll do some interviews and play some songs you haven't heard. We're gonna play one more for ya, but you guys get home safe and we'll see ya next time.
Thanks again, I can't believe it."
The band would then unleash "Yellow Ledbetter" to New Orleans for the first time.
It would be nearly 5 years, 3 albums, a hundred shows give or take, before Pearl Jam would return to New Orleans. But this show would solidify an already strong relationship the band had already formed with the city.
The only Vitalogy songs that weren't played were "Spin The Black Circle" which was on the setlist, "Nothingman" which was recorded in New Orleans, and "Satan's Bed." "Habit" and "I Got ID" were on the setlist, but not played either.
I personally believe this show might rival Solider Field as one of the greatest shows of the bands career. It should be listed as #2 for the year 1995 alone. The set structure. 24 songs. The guest filled encore. The Ledbetter audible. 2 hours straight of music. You surely got your moneys worth at this show.
PJ would spend the next week at Esplanade studios, but to this day we're still unclear what may have been recorded there. By this point in time, "Lukin", "Habit", "Who You Are" and "In My Tree" were in the writing process for PJ's 1996 album "No Code."
Eddie claims "Off He Goes" and "Around The Bend" were written "in the same dark sullen corner." with Stone also claiming "Off He Goes" was written and recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. I think it's safe to assume an early version of "Off He Goes" was recorded in New Orleans.
PJ wouldn't return to the road for another month and a half with dates on the west coast. "No Code" wouldn't be released for another 11 months. It would take PJ another 5 years before returning to the New Orleans area, and by then everything would be different....
1998 Va. Beach \\ 2000 Va. Beach ~~ Columbia, Md. \\ 2003 Bristow, Va. \\ 2006 DC \\ 2008 Va. Beach ~~ DC \\ 2010 Bristow, Va. \\
2013 Charlottesville, Va. \\ 2016 Hampton, Va. ~~ Fenway 1 & 2 ~~ Wrigley 1 & 2 \\ 2022 Nashville ~~ St. Louis ~~ Oklahoma City \\
2023 St. Paul 1 & 2 ~~ Austin 1 & 2 \\ 2024 Vegas 1 & 2 ~~ Indianapolis ~~ Wrigley 2 ~~ MSG 1 & 2 ~~ Philly 1 & 2 ~~ Fenway 1 & 2 \\
2025 Atlanta 1 & 2 ~~ New Orleans (Jazz Fest) ~~
Mostly hits setlist.
Got 2 new ones i've never heard before: LBC and Tremor Christ, both back to back which is interesting.
Eddie was very vocal for a festival set. They ended 9 minutes early, and scratched 2 songs from the set.
Eddie mentioned Tipitinas, "all the way back to Tipitinas in the early 90's...." but seemingly forgot they opened for RHCP about 4 months before that in NOLA. I guess he didn't read this thread
He also didn't mention his previous arrest. I guess time does heal all wounds.
Steve Gleason got a shout out!
Merch situation was blah and very stupid. I'd love to own the license plate and/or skate deck, but i'm sure people bought them just to keep them in their collection who didn't even go to the show. Lucky them.
great show in my opinion. Tons of fun. Merch is just more junk, thanks for the memories Jazz Fest, and thanks for all the energy in this thread. Let’s do it again real soon!
2003-06-16 St. Paul
2006-06-26 St. Paul
2007-08-05 Chicago
2009-08-23 Chicago
2009-08-28 San Francisco
2010-05-01 NOLA (Jazz Fest)
2011-07-02 EV Minneapolis
2011-09-03 PJ20
2011-09-04 PJ20
2011-09-17 Winnipeg
2012-06-26 Amsterdam
2012-06-27 Amsterdam
2013-07-19 Wrigley
2013-11-21 San Diego
2013-11-23 Los Angeles
2013-11-24 Los Angeles
2014-07-08 Leeds, UK
2014-07-11 Milton Keynes, UK
2014-10-09 Lincoln
2014-10-19 St. Paul
2014-10-20 Milwaukee
2016-08-20 Wrigley 1
2016-08-22 Wrigley 2
2018-06-18 London 1
2018-08-18 Wrigley 1
2018-08-20 Wrigley 2
2022-09-16 Nashville
2023-08-31 St. Paul
2023-09-02 St. Paul
2023-09-05 Chicago 1
2024-08-31 Wrigley 2
2024-09-15 Fenway 1
2024-09-27 Ohana 1
2024-09-29 Ohana 2
I saw someone else in another thread trying to pawn off a NOLA Skate Deck as trade fodder ALREADY and you know damn well they probably haven't even received a shipping confirmation yet.
What will really grind my gears is if we get a "mystery box" in the next few years and some NOLA Jazzfest 2025 stuff is included.
Everyone loves to hoard, from 10C down.