Skip to main content

December 25, 2019: Top 10 Must See Live Songs

Hi Jessi,

Merry Christmas to you and I hope you are enjoying Wyoming!  I finally took the time to listen to your solo episode last night on your top 10 must see live songs.  I hope the guys tour again in 2020 so you can see them live.  It is a life-changing experience, which I can say from my own experience and I'm sure a lot of other fans can say the same.  If they go through Wrigley next year, I hope to make it myself and I hope that I get to see you and Kate there.
Once I saw the title of your solo episode, I started thinking about what 10 songs I have not seen live that I would like to.  I also did my best to rank them and am going to include my inspiration for each one.  I'm going to go in reverse order and I apologize in advance for the long email.

10. In My Tree
  • This is a bit of a pipe dream, because i would only want to hear this live with Jack playing (no disrespect to Matt).  I listened to some boots from 1996 and one that stood out was their performance in Berlin.  I just love Jeff and Jack so much on this song and I can't blame you for having it as your #1.  Last time I broke out my top 10 studio albums, I had it at #9.
9. You Are
  • I drastically changed my opinion on this song after seeing it on the "Live at the Garden" DVD.  It sounds awesome live and the lyrics have become sentimental for me.
8. Hard to Imagine
  • This would make me pretty emotional if I heard it at a show live.  I've heard it live on a few boots, namely the Tampa show that Bill Castrovince brought up.  However, the version that really pops to me is the AOL Sessions.  It would be impossible to get a sound similar to the AOL sessions in a stadium concert, but regardless this song has a lot of connotations for me at the moment.
7. Man of the Hour
6. W.M.A.
  • This is another pipe dream in some ways, however in 2008 they spun W.M.A. in such a way where it does not rely so much on the drums.  The ultimate for me would be for Dave A. to perform this live, however there is a version out there with Matt that I would love to see as well.
5. Severed Hand
  • If I had an ideal opener for my dream set list, it would be Severed Hand.  The main reason is from the Live at the Gorge box set they released in the mid-2000's, where they open a set list with it.  The intro to the song is so awesome to me to start of a show, where they can drag it out a bit longer to get the crowd fired up.  I guess I might be in the minority for not wanting a slow burn as an opener.
4. State of Love and Trust
  • My favorite performance from the Unplugged set was State of Love and Trust.  It's unlikely I'll be able to get the acoustic sound in a stadium setting, but it is incredible to me in a smaller intimate, acoustic setting.  This song is a hidden classic of theirs and I hope to see it live someday.
3. Immortality
  • This is such a sneaky great song of theirs.  When I hear it live on bootlegs, it really shines.  My favorite performance is from the Shoreline Amplitheatre in 1994.  It translates so well in either a small intimate venue or larger stadium concert.  What I would love is to see them jam band it toward the end behind Stone.  This is one of Stone's best performances.
2. Indifference
  • My ideal closer for a set list.  When I saw their performance on "Live at the Garden" with Ben Harper, I was sold that I want to see this song live and I want it to end the night.  I would love to sing at the top of my lungs when Ed gets to "I'll swallow poison, until I grow immune.  I will scream my lungs out, until I fill this room." That's one of my favorite Pearl Jam lyrics ever.
1. Present Tense
  • This is my "Seinfeld, Desperado" song.  I don't care where this song is played in a set list, it's in my top 3 songs and I love the two major phases in the song where Ed is singing and then the band is jamming.  The Letterman performance is priceless to me.  I love how the song starts with only Ed and Mike being shown and then the rest of the band gets brought into the view.  I honestly could listen to the jam session for an hour.  I love this song so much and am surprised it hasn't been played live more frequently.
Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 17, 2010: RIP Mozart for Guitar

Hi Brad and Brad, I first want to mention that I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did while listening to you two and Clint Wells go on about spoonfuls of flour and uncooked spaghetti.  I almost had to pull my car over as I was driving home during that part of the episode!   Since Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6th, I've been listening to a lot of Van Halen.  I didn't really get into them until 10-15 years ago, but I consider them to be one of my favorite bands of all-time.  Eddie was truly an innovator on shredding guitar solos and may be my favorite lead guitarist ever.  I saw Mike's comment on Pearl Jam's Twitter feed referencing how he began playing guitar shortly after their first record came out.  He goes so far to say "it sounded like Eddie was from another planet" and "Eddie was like Mozart for guitar.  Changed everything and he played with Soul." I know the guys have covered Van Halen here-and-there and I looked
Post a Comment
Read more

December 26, 2020: Someday at Christmas

Hi Brad and Brad, First, I hope you guys have had a Happy Holidays.  Secondly, I really enjoy your solo episodes.  They have a deejay format to them which also feels personable in getting to know each of your lives and what has influenced you to be who you are now. I hadn't taken the time to get to know Someday at Christmas until after listening to BradB's recent episode.  Pearl Jam does a great job in covering the song, and I prefer Stevie Wonder's version over the Jackson 5.  Especially, after reading the lyrics and reading some interpretations of the song.  At the time the song was released, the Vietnam War was still underway.  The lyrics seem to voice opposition to the war itself, but also express the hope for racial and economic equality.  Unfortunately, that message still resonates strongly.   Stevie Wonder was one of the artists that shaped my musical interests when I was a teenager.  I'm very glad the guys chose to cover this song for a Christmas single and have
Post a Comment
Read more

December 31, 2020: Low Light

Hi Jessi and Kate, I have been way behind on my podcasts the last several weeks.  The main reason is because myself and a friend started our own podcast!  It's not Pearl Jam themed , however it's consumed a decent amount of my week preparing for each recording.  So we now have a hit on the Dink-O-Meter for both of you.  First Jessi and now Kate!  I can't remember if I have proposed the Dink-O-Meter to you yet, but I have it as a three-tiered system: Dinky: Just your average dinky, will only skip if streaming Rinky-Dinky: Automatic skipper, even when listening to vinyl Stinky-Dinky: It's like nails on a chalkboard to you Based on Jessi's response to Parachutes, I have that somewhere between Rinky-Dinky and Stinky-Dinky.  I would have to let Jessi be the final judge on that.  For Kate's remarks to Low Light, I have it somewhere between Dinky and Rinky-Dinky, however I'm inclined to believe it's closer to Dinky because I wasn't able to note as many hot
Post a Comment
Read more