Most people who know me know that I like Pearl Jam. For a while, they were easily my favorite band. And I was perhaps particularly into them in the early 1990's, and never as much as the late winter/early spring of 1994.
At that point, Pearl Jam seemed to be at height of their power. They were touring in support of their second album, Versus, yet were already introducing some songs for their upcoming third album release, Vitalogy, which would eventually be released in December of that year. They were touring with drummer David Abbruzzese, although he would shortly (and in my estimation, unfortunately and unfairly) get kicked out of the band later in the year, not too long after the tour ended.
It was a different time, those days. The so-called "Seattle sound" and grunge image still had it's grips on much of popular culture, and Pearl Jam was at the forefront of this. The spring of 1994 marked my first serious attempt to try and finally see them, once and for all. I tried to get into Saturday Night Live to see them as the musical guests, and got standby tickets, although we ultimately did not get in. I tried to win tickets on the radio to the Paramount show in New York that weekend, but never got through. Finally, I tried to work something out with friends to catch a show in Boston, but that fell through, too. It was a bittersweet time in many respects. Since then, I have seen Pearl Jam many times, but at that time, it felt almost like an impossible mission.
One thing that they did do, and which would ultimately help to cement their status as one of my favorite bands (and to cement this particular era in the band's history as special, even if a little bittersweet for me) was to broadcast on the radio one of their concerts in it's entirety. It was a show at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, and broadcast throughout the entire nation. At that point in time, it seemed that most Pearl Jam shows became bootlegs that were available in stores shortly afterwards, and this one was no different. I obtained one of those copies (pictured above), and that became the Pearl Jam "album" which I probably listened to the most over the years and decades since.
Truly, it was a great show by a band that was at the top of their game. And it happened on this day 30 years ago exactly. Thought it would be worth a tribute blog entry here today.
Below are two links related to this increidble and very memorable show. I was not one of the lucky ones to be in attendance on that day, although my imagination allowed me to kind of "be there" in other ways during various listenings. Again, it just really felt like they were at the height of their power, musically and culturally, and certainly in terms of their popularity, which was almost unlike anything that I had ever seen before by any band. The first link is an outdated order form for the show by the Pearl Jam Fan Club, and then below that is a video link to an audio recording of the show (the very same bootleg that I obtained all of those years ago, and listened to so much). Enjoy!
Vault #11: Pearl Jam live in Atlanta 1994, a gift from the band to all 10C members SERENA MARSILI 10/12/2020
https://www.pearljamonline.it/en/pearl-jam-live-in-atlanta-1994-a-present-from-the-band-to-all-ten-club-members/
Pearl Jam - 4/3/94 - The Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA - audio only
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