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March 25, 2019: Pearl Jam Story (Read on SPT Episode 86)

Hi Guys,

Here's my Pearl Jam story:


My first memorable music experience can be traced back to Wayne’s World.  Remember when McDonalds sold VHS tapes?  That’s how I got my first experience of Bohemian Rhapsody.  While I can’t find a strong link between Queen or Wayne’s World with Pearl Jam (however I can with Temple of the Dog, “All Night Thing” is played through the scene in Benjamin’s loft), I watched and listened to the scene of Wayne, Garth, Terry, Neil and eventually Phil sing and hang bang to an abbreviated version of this song. 

 
I wore it out so much, it drove my mom nuts and prompted her to get me a cassette tape of “Classic Queen.” If you follow this timeline, this would have been after Ten was released.  That’s right I completely missed out on the rise of Pearl Jam.  Not only did I miss out on the days of Ten, but also the rest of the 90’s.  My taste in music was coming to form in middle school and high school.  I did listen to some alternative, but I discovered the Beatles and Led Zeppelin in my teens and immersed myself in a lot of music from the 60s and 70s.  It wasn’t until just after Riot Act was released that I opened myself up to Pearl Jam.  

My friend Brian, who I was working with over the summer started playing me some of Pearl Jam and I started to get hooked.  This is a common theme throughout my life.  I’m late to the party on a band or artist, discover them years after they’ve gotten big and make up for lost time by obtaining every studio recording they’ve come out with and wear it out.  No band have I worn out more than Pearl Jam.  There are plenty of bands I have binged and collected every studio album of, however Pearl Jam is the only band I’ve gone to the length of buying deep cuts and live shows (bootlegs) to this extent and it’s not even close how much my collection of their music compares to anything else.  I made up for lost time over the 2000’s, became a Ten Club member, was there on the first day Avocado, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt were released and still wear out their records more than any other band I have ever listened to.  

I’ve had a handful of chances to see him live.  Namely in 2010, in Kansas City, I missed out for a very good reason.  My soon to be wife and I were planning to get married at the end of that month.  Also in 2011, I missed out on their performance in East Troy, WI, while we lived in Chicago.  It wasn’t until 2014, during the Lightning Bolt tour, that I bought tickets on my phone during a work trip to see them on October 20, 2014 in Milwaukee.  My wife, Morgan, and I had been living in Milwaukee for almost 3 years at that point and there was no way I was going to let another chance pass.  Now if the date and city sound familiar, stop me now, but otherwise I’m going to continue on as if there is an exciting twist to a Jordan Peele movie coming up.  The show starts in with 5 songs ranging from Pendulum to Baba O’Riley.  Already a lot to take in within the first 20 minutes.  Then they start in on Brain of J.  Afterward, Faithfull.  I was stoked by this, because I have always considered those two songs to run together perfectly like Sometimes and Hail, Hail.  After that, No Way.  I looked at Morgan and said “I think they’re going to play out the whole Yield album.  This is my favorite album of theirs!” Sure enough, he dedicates Given to Fly to Aaron Rodgers (disclosure I am not a Packers fan) and they finish out Yield while skipping over Red Dot, which they actually started off the show with in the background when they entered the stage.  My friend Ben, told me the next day that they had not played Yield front-to-back before and it was only the second time they played any album in it’s entirety (No Code a few days before in Moline).  If there’s one thing I hope to do before my time’s up on this earth, it’s to see them one more time with Morgan.  There isn’t anyone who I’d rather go to a Pearl Jam show with than her.

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

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