Remembering Pearl Jam at Randall's Island, September 29, 1996

So, I went off on yesterday's blog in a torrent of criticism for what passes for the standard bearer of patriotism here in the United States far too often, which is a prejudices and narrow minded assumption of superiority over the rest of the world. I wanted to tone it down a bit today, and talk about another "greatest" label that perhaps actually can apply: concerts.

You see, the term "greatest" perhaps can be fairly applied to certain things. I'm thinking of sports, for example, because there, the goal is clearly defined: to win. Generally speaking, in sports, you are remembered (or not) based upon the measurable standard of whether you actually won or not. The more you win, the greater you tend to be, especially when it comes to championships. The more championships, or the more dominant you are in campaigns for individual championships, and the more applicable the term "greatest" becomes. To my mind's eye, for example, the 1985 Chicago Bears were the greatest and most dominant sports franchise that I have ever seen, from beginning to end, because they basically started out dominating the season, and ended up possibly even more dominant than ever, blowing out and shutting out consecutive playoff opponents to get to the Super Bowl, where they beat the New England Patriots, 46-10. They accomplished more memorable things in that season than any other sports franchise that I have seen, and so they stand out as "the greatest" team, as such.

Now, it can also apply to other things as well, although again, these become more subjective. When I was growing up as a child of the eighties, it seemed to me that the two preceding generations had been through a lot. I heard a lot from my grandparents generation about World War II and those times, perhaps including the Great Depression that happened just before that war. The events were so monumental, so enormous and had such an huge impact on the world that these events changed, that it seemed almost unfathomable. They seemed almost on a mythological level.

As for my parents generation, they lived in different times, but still quite fascinating. They were young adults during that epic and divisive time, and much like World War II, the huge events that defined those times also seemed to almost inherit a mythical kind of quality to them. There was the Kennedy assassination, which was seen as essentially ending an era (I have heard the often rather cliche sounding "end of innocence" label applied to that fateful day). The Civil Rights movement was gaining steam, and would soon see the dismantling of the legal segregation system then dominant in the South, known as Jim Crow. Soon afterwards, there came the Vietnam War, and then the protests, the music, and all of that experimentation that challenged the traditional conformity that the nation had known and largely abided by up to that point. Things were different than they had ever been. There were monumental events in the late sixties, which saw the so-called "summer of love", the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the swelling unpopularity and active disapproval of the war there, man walking on the moon, and then, finally, the legendary concert on a New York state farm field.

I was a bit envious of the "greatness" of the times for both of those generations, and just how memorable those things seemed to me. Admittedly, that was mixed with not a small degree of skepticism about just how memorable events in my own times, my own life, would be.

Now, I know that last weekend, there was a concert out in Las Vegas that people have been calling "the greatest" concert ever. A few years back, I entertained the notion of spending a small fortune to attend a couple of concerts at Madison Square Garden that some other people have called "the greatest" concerts of all times, those being the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Those concerts all had incredible lineups, but frankly, they likely will not carry with them the same mythology of what seems to me to actually have some legitimacy when we discuss "the greatest" concert of all time: Woodstock.  Woodstock just took it to another level. The creativity, not just restricted to the music on stage, was just unparalleled. Say what you want about the drug culture, but there really was some genius present on those three days of peace, love and music in the summer of '69. So much is this the case, in fact, that it is still remembered today. Not surprisingly, it also has taken on almost legendary, mythological status. I myself was thrilled to have attended a concert some years ago (Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band) that was played at the Bethwoods venue, right next to the field where that legendary concert took place. There is a museum, which I did not actually visit, but just seeing the field that you see in the background of documentaries and pictures on the albums and such was a thrill. That, to me, far transcends some concert in superficially sparkling and showy Las Vegas, where each group was allocated about half an hour or so, to my understanding. That concert last weekend might have been really cool, but let's be honest:  it was no Woodstock.

I have seen a lot of concerts in my own time, of course. It's approaching two hundred since 1992, when my brother and I went to see Metallica and Guns 'n Roses, with Faith No More as the opening act, at Giants Stadium in the summer of 1992. That concert was intense, particularly Metallica's set. It was so loud, so long, so energetic, and it left a lasting impression. It was quite memorable. More recently, there have been other concerts that were quite memorable, as well. Seeing Pink Floyd at Yankees Stadium in 1994. Seeing the Vote for Change Finale in 2004, with incredible acts like Pearl Jam, REM, the Dave Matthews Band, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Jackson Brown, James Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, and with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band as the closers. That was incredible. I have seen Paul McCartney give a free concert in Quebec on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of that city. Sir Paul was also involved in another incredible concert memory: joining Ringo Starr on stage a couple of years ago on Ringo's 70th Birthday and playing "Birthday". It was as close to a Beatles reunion, or a Beatles show, that I'll have ever seen, most likely, and as a big Beatles fan (could you guess?), that was very memorable!

I started going to see a lot of concerts particularly starting in1992, and especially gaining momentum in 1994. But at that point, there was one major act that I really wanted to see, probably more than all others, but which it sometimes felt I would never see: Pearl Jam. The thing about Pearl Jam was that, at the time, they were phenomenally popular, probably at the height of their power, if you will. Granted, much of that was the cult of personality surrounding lead vocalist Eddie Vedder. He was the iconic leader of the group, if you will. The type of guy that, as cliche as this sounds, women wanted to be with, and me wanted to be. They had an incredible, raw energy to them in those days. They have retained some of that over the years, but at that time, it was their defining trait. Their music was intense, and charged with powerful and meaningful lyrics, with more than a touch of poetry to them. They really were a band that seemed almost to offer at least a little something to everyone. I desperately wanted to see them, and felt, on many levels, that no matter how many concerts and acts I saw, it would not be or feel complete or impressive until I saw Pearl Jam.

But they rarely ever toured, and never seemed to come to my area, the New York greater metropolitan area, at the time. True, they came around for several shows in their earliest days in the early nineties, playing some very memorable, even legendary shows, at places like the Limelight, but I really started getting into Pearl jam early in 1993, and by then, they were becoming a rare act to see in New York. They had actually come in the area and done a show at the Paramount, in Madison Square Garden (but not outright MSG), and I had desperately tried to get tickets, but was unsuccessful. I waited outside on the side of a road in New York City with a group of equally determined friends to try and get stand by tickets to Saturday Night Live, and actually managed to get one of these tickets. But there was literally not one opening that night, and so all stand by tickets were sent home. I even tried to see them at the Boston Gardens, and came somewhat close, but no cigar. I collected bootlegs of their shows by then, and that 1994 tour still looms large in my memory, although the pleasure of actually going to one of those shows was not mine.

Eventually, however, the opportunity did come. I was friends with someone who had a penchant for obtaining rare tickets, and he managed to get tickets to one of the two Randall's Island shows that the band scheduled for September of 1996, to support their latest album, No Code. This came around a month after the release of that album, which I remember having gotten while on a trip to Chicago, in late August. So, knowing that I would finally get to see them, I was incredibly excited. I just couldn't wait to finally see this group in concert.

There were three of us who went to the concert together. We got there early, and I remember kind of just taking in the atmosphere. The Fastbacks finally came out to open the show, and then it was Ben Harper, who I was not familiar with at the time, but was tremendously impressed with. Still, the group that I wanted to see was in the waits, and the excitement grew. It seemed to take forever for them to take the stage, and it was so hot that night, I remember. Maybe it was just because we were all so tightly packed in. There were a lot of people there.

Finally, the lights went out, and I saw candles on the stage that Pearl Jam was about to take. I don't remember having seen candles at a concert before like that, so it seemed like a new touch. The band came on stage, and it was a thrill to see the curls of Vedder's hair, and knowing that they were finally there, that the concert had finally begun.

But the music waited, as Eddie Vedder spoke first. He assured us that while the previous night (they had played Randall's Island the night before, as I understand it, in heavy rain) had been highly charged, tonight, they were going to take it a bit easier. But he had the feeling, he told us, that the music would be better sharper, than it had ever been, and that the concert would be longer, maybe, than any other that they had ever performed.

He was right. It wound up being, at that time, the longest show that the band had ever played (it had since been overtaken, and the longest concert that they have played to date now, to my knowledge, was the third Mansfield show in 2004, when they tried to play mostly all different songs in the three shows combined, and opened that third and final show in the Boston area with an acoustic set prior to their main set).

They opened up with "Sometimes", which is also the opening song of their then new album, No Code. It was a strange choice, I thought. It was followed by an intense version of "Go", and the intensity was on. The crowd was really fired up, and seemed as excited as I was in just seeing the band, finally. The next few songs were also highly charged, despite Vedder's previous prediction. During "Animal", Vedder stopped the song and warned the crowd that people were acting crazy, and given the overly crowded circumstances, he did not want something to happen. He even mentioned that they did not think they could keep playing music if someone was to lose their life at one of their shows, something that a friend of mine mentioned some years later, following the tragic incident at Roskilde during the Pearl Jam set.

In any case, that show indeed was legendary, and just as Vedder had forecast, they did in fact play more sings, and played a longer show, than they had ever done before. Everyone went home satisfied, and that certainly included me. I was flying high for maybe a week or so after, feeling so privileged to have felt like that. Since then, only the shows that I mentioned earlier have really allowed me to feel that way, as far as concerts are concerned. Most recently, it was Ringo's 70th birthday show that made me feel that concert magic. It's a nice feeling, and I remember just feeling so content following that legendary 1996 show. Even the massive traffic jam following the show's end did not bother me. Nothing bothered me after that for a while.

That show was on this date, September 29th, exactly sixteen years ago. I was sure that it would forever be the greatest Pearl Jam show that I would ever see, but I have seen them over twenty times since then. One of the other very memorable shows that I saw of theirs also occurred on this date, back in 2004. It was also part of the Vote for Change tour, about two weeks before that Washington DC finale that I mentioned earlier in this blog. That also had an incredible setlist, and was one of the most intense shows of Pearl Jam's that I had ever seen. Even that was now eight years ago. They were both a long time ago, but, ah, what memories!











Here's a link to Pearl Jam's website with the setlist of this 1996 show (as well as an illustration of the poster from the show, now a real colector's item):

http://pearljam.com/setlists/1011/1996/20122/downing_stadium_randalls_island

And here's a link to the other September 29th show, eight years later in 2004, and eight years ago on this date:

http://pearljam.com/setlists/1019/2004/20384/fleet_center