Comes Then Goes: Twenty Years Of Pearl Jam

You inevitably feel behind when you start the consuming pastime of collecting concerts from any band that shares DNA with the Grateful Dead — groups known for a committed fanbase that travels, setlists that vary by the night, and decades of milestones. Already you’ve missed important dates in the building of the mythology: the show where a rarity appeared for the first or last time, the night when the opener canceled and they broke three hours, the one where they lost the crowd over politics. You’ll never catch up to the fan clubbers who think it’s been downhill since the basement era.

My first Pearl Jam concert was 20 years ago, Aug. 27, 2000, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, during the “Binaural” tour.

I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. Mostly that has to do with age; I was a little too young for the Lollapalooza boom, and the band inevitably slowed down from years of 100-city tours, making it harder to see more shows. And then streaming came along and the music industry’s floor fell through. Ticket prices skyrocketed. But since the racing opening notes of “Breakerfall” on that August night, I’ve been hooked. Here are my memories of the all-encompassing trip. So far.

August 27, 2000, Saratoga Performing Arts Center

My journey starts with a hometown show, capping a long summer of SPAC concerts. Who knew this would be Pearl Jam’s last trip to Saratoga to date? I go with my bandmates, one of whom is turning 15 today. It’s the end of the summer and already getting cool at night as the school year approaches. Years before texting, we use walkie-talkies to make sure we don’t get lost. Lawn tickets are $26. Sonic Youth opens. We find it incomprehensible. We sneak in a tape recorder with a mini-microphone. That tape becomes my first Pearl Jam bootleg, the same summer the band begins official soundboard releases. It’s still the era of moshing, and an adult punches me in the throat during “Even Flow.” Another keeps shouting the profane opening line of “Porch” into the void. Eddie Vedder says both he and Matt Cameron, late of Soundgarden, are wearing the same shirts tonight as they did for Lollapalooza’s 1992 SPAC stop. The crowd tries to clap along to “Soon Forget” in the second encore but loses the beat. I buy a “Binaural” tour poster in the parking lot on the way out for $10. I still have it.

April 29, 2003, Albany

This show on the “Riot Act” tour has the distinction of being one of the shortest sets of the band’s mature era. I’m less than two months from graduating from high school and nervous about what to do next. I have to pick a college in two days and haven’t decided yet. A friend with an SUV drives us. They play “Whipping” second again. Just 22 proper songs. A month into the Iraq War, Patti Smith’s “People Have The Power” was showing up in a lot of setlists, including here. “I Am Mine” is everywhere I go this spring.

June 27, 2008, Hartford

The five years between shows have been monumental ones for me. I’ve missed Pearl Jam’s 2006 return to Albany, which I’ll always regret. I’ve finished college and started grad school. And now, I’m taking a break from my newsroom for a two-show swing and a beach day in Cape Cod. It starts on the lawn in Hartford, and as they always do in this city, Pearl Jam turns in an exemplary set. Although it comes just six songs in, the “Sad”-“Brain of J.”-“Big Wave”-“In Hiding”-“Not For You” run is blistering. Erin mentions “Not for You” as a highlight as we are forced to make a left, not the right we need, leaving the venue.

June 28, 2008, Mansfield

Two shows in two days is one way to beef up your concert count. Ted Leo opens for the second straight night, but a surprise before he takes the stage: Eddie sings “Throw Your Arms Around Me” solo as a teaser. We’re on the lawn for this one, but in seats….on the lawn. It drizzles, but the heavy rain holds off, thankfully. This show may be best remembered for the extended applause and chair-rattling that interrupt “Better Man.” It’s an election year, so the anti-war anthem “No More” follows a voter registration push just before the end.

May 15, 2010, Hartford

It’s been just about two years since the last Hartford gig. This time, we’re indoors for the “Backspacer” tour. We have three shows in six days, and I’m also seeing Neil Young and Alice in Chains this week. It might be the best concert week of my life. And the most expensive. The band is in fine form and the crowd is euphoric, and that’s even before the bonkers “ot-ot-o” (one time, one time only) cover of Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love.” Ben Bridwell of opener Band of Horses comes back for the finale, “All Along The Watchtower.” This is my favorite show yet, and the week is just starting.

May 20, 2010, New York City

We catch the train in the afternoon and I take note of another Ten Clubber making the identical trip. Thousands more are already flooding Manhattan. I have high hopes for the next two nights: Madison Square Garden, home of the famous 2003 shows that shook the stage and ended up on DVD. Whether it’s true or not, Northeast shows are said to be among the most intense, but apparently the Newark gig two nights earlier was a bit of a bust. We make a retroactively bad decision to skip the opener: The Black Keys. There are different theories about whether night one or night two is the better show to catch. As it turns out, it will be tough to top this one: 33 songs, including a section with string accompaniment, and a cover of the Who classic “Love, Reign O’er Me.” We’re staying in the smallest hotel room you can imagine. The door almost hits the bed when you open it. So we stay out after the show a little while.

May 21, 2010, New York City

There is an entire subculture of poster collecting in the Pearl Jam universe, and while that “Binaural” poster is the first and only one I’ve ever bought, I come close on this night. It’s the famous Donkey Kong poster by Ames Bros. Years later, people will pay 10 times face value for it. But you won’t see me with a poster tube at a concert, mainly because I don’t need to start another obsession. Gathering obscurities is another matter. As Eddie says, this setlist includes a lot for the “collectors.” We get the basketball duo of “Black, Red, Yellow” and Jeff Ament dribbling in a jersey for “Sweet Lew.” We get “Hunger Strike” with Bridwell and “Kick Out The Jams.” New York City has lived up to its reputation. I leave hoarse. These are two nights I won’t forget. When I get the bootlegs later, this Big Apple run holds up. This is one of the great Pearl Jam sets of all.

October 15, 2013 Worcester

For this Yankees fan, maybe it’s a mistake to head this far east during an ALCS involving the Boston Red Sox, but it’s been almost 3.5 years since my last gig. I’ve started a new position at work, and a second job teaching at my alma mater. It’s been a busy time, but here comes “Lightning Bolt” and its accompanying tour, and back on the road I go, this time with a friend and fellow Ten Clubber. The Polar factory sign means we’re close. If this gig had been in Boston like usual, we probably wouldn’t have gone on a work night, but we couldn’t resist. The DCU Center is an ideal place to see this band: a smallish arena in the rabid Northeast. We have decent seats, and the band delivers, opening with “Release” and “Long Road” and dropping in “Red Mosquito” in the first set. “Man of the Hour” and “Fatal” show up later, and it all ends with “Indifference” as the house lights go up. I get home close to 3 a.m. Worth it.

October 25, 2013 Hartford

Ten days later, we are back in Hartford for the fourth time in five years (including a solo gig by Eddie in 2011). Our tradition of stuffing ourselves on garlic bread and pasta at Salute first continues. On this night, we make friends with a couple a few years older as we take our seats at the very back of the floor. He says it’s maybe his 100th show. We are four songs in, bopping to “Corduroy” but seeing nothing, when an usher taps on my shoulder, gives us wristbands for the pit, and leads us to the front. I’m floored and thank him profusely. He says I should thank the band. We spend the rest of the show maybe 50 feet from the stage as I try to soak it all in. They play “Chloe Dancer-Crown of Thorns,” which is always an emotional apex, and then two Van Halen covers, “Eruption” and “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love.” So much for one time, one time only! The lights come up for “Indifference,” the 35th song of the night, and we linger for a few minutes with our new friends.

September 26, 2015, Central Park, New York City

Many fans avoid festivals featuring Pearl Jam because the sets are shorter, the prices are higher, and the rest of the bill can be filler. I get it. But with Pearl Jam playing Global Citizen Fest with Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Sting and more, I wasn’t going to miss it. It was a long day of speeches on the great lawn by people like the Bidens, Malala and Michelle Obama. The crowd was there for Beyoncé, and she delivered, even if we could only catch glimpses. Later, Pearl Jam blitzes through 12 songs to a thinning crowd, including a “Redemption Song” cover with Beyoncé. Eddie says it’s the first time he’s ever sung with a queen. This beautiful performance will wind up as a Ten Club single in a couple years.

April 28, 2016, Philadelphia

This is the year I catch up. I have five shows in three cities between now and August. And it’s my first time seeing the sights of Philly as an adult. We have a mix of high- and low-brow stops. The Rocky steps and statue. The restaurant with the aria-singing waitstaff that stands in as Adrian’s in the “Rocky” franchise. A dive bar that hasn’t seen a ray of daylight in decades called “Dirty Frank’s,” which takes 10 minutes to find because there’s no sign. A speakeasy. Betsy Ross’ House. The Liberty Bell. The U.S. Mint. Independence Hall. Reading Terminal Market. It’s a whirlwind before we even get to the arena. Night one would be a standout show even without the promise of night two. “Oceans.” “All or None.” “Throw Your Hatred Down” from “Mirrorball.” “Bee Girl.” “Deep.” “Garden.” With all these “Ten” deep cuts, what’s going to happen tomorrow?

April 29, 2016, Philadelphia

Night two opens with a surprise: a Pearl Jam banner with “10” comes down from the rafters, marking the band’s 10th Philly sellout. And then night one starts to make more sense. They start with “Once.” And then “Even Flow.” That leads to “Alive,” almost always played late in the night, third. We all realize what’s happening. They’re playing “Ten” straight through for the first time in 25 years. I have goosebumps. “Ten” is the most popular of all Pearl Jam albums, dating to the grunge explosion of the 90s and MTV. For many die-hard fans, the music from that album is the most familiar, but also usually the least interesting part of any gig. But hearing it all together as a surprise is like being reintroduced to an old friend. It’s an epic night.

August 5, 2016, Fenway Park, Boston

I make the ill-advised decision to drive east on I-90 on an August Friday, getting out of work the second I can. I’m racing across Massachusetts. I’m by myself, making my way slowly toward Fenway Park for my first baseball stadium concert, wearing a Yankee hat and choking the steering wheel when traffic backs up by Springfield. I white-knucle it to Boston and see the throngs around Fenway as the sun sets. I pay $40 to park at a gas station, pick up my ticket, and head to my on-field seat. Somehow, my friends from home (including my Worcester concert cohort) spot me near the third base line. I make it to my seat in plenty of time. I take it all in. I’ve been to Fenway for a Yankees-Red Sox game, but I’ve never seen it like this. Every seat is sold out, all the way up. A giant stage stands in the shadow of the Green Monster. It’s a gorgeous summer night. “Low Light” and “Faithfull” are early highlights, “Down” is dedicated to Howard Zinn (of course), and the band rips through “Masters of War” for the first time in eight years. In this election year, the subtext has become text. “Draw The Line” by hometown heroes Aerosmith shows up in the second encore before a “Baba O’Riley” bookend. It’s a long and draining drive home, but I hit the pillow happy.

August 20, 2016, Wrigley Field, Chicago

A year earlier, having never explored Chicago, a group of us flew in for the Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” concerts, catching the second night on July 4, which concluded with the perfect combination of “U.S. Blues” and fireworks. But there was so much more of the city to see, and, as ever, more Pearl Jam songs to chase. Given Eddie’s rabid Cub fandom, it was a natural spot for another two-night run. We land in an absolute downpour and catch a train to nearby Oak Park to check out the Hemingway birthplace and museum. This stunning neighborhood is also home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studios and several of his houses. In between shows, the next two days are a blur of deep dish pizza, a White Sox game, a riverwalk visit, and a trip to the historic jazz destination the Green Mill Lounge for an afternoon tipple. Chicago is a blast in the summer, and there are Pearl Jam fans at every stop.

We’re nowhere close to the stage for these shows, and the distance takes some of the charm away from the stadium model. The show delivers, though: 34 songs, with maybe two too many covers, and, as expected, the Cubs anthem “All The Way.” The highlight of the night is “Inside Job,” introduced by the ALS-battling Steve Gleason. It’s a hair-raising moment.

Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace in Oak Park.

August 22, 2016, Wrigley Field, Chicago

Night two offers more Easter eggs and underplayed classics. “Animal.” “Why Go.” “Off He Goes.” “Immortality.” Even “Got Some” and “Blood” make it in. And that’s before the Beatles cover “I’ve Got A Feeling” that caps a 35-song night that also includes a verse by Dennis Rodman on “Black, Red, Yellow.” It’s the end of the tour, we all know it, and even before the flight home I’m filled with a mix of satisfaction from a five-show year and melancholy now that it’s all over. Later, we’ll get to relive this weekend thanks to filmmaker Danny Clinch. The Cubs look just as strong two months later as they try to end a 108-year curse, and Eddie is on hand celebrating when they score two runs in the 10th inning to beat Cleveland in one of the best Game 7s in baseball history.

I chased Melky Cabrera all the way to the South Side.

September 2, 2018, Fenway Park, Boston

Two years later we’re back in Boston for two more ballpark shows. I book a tiny Airbnb on Revere Beach, which I find out later is referred to by natives as “Severe.” Ha! Planes heading to Logan fly over the bay every few minutes and there’s a sharp fish smell, but we’re right by the train. Once again, we’re packing the weekend with sights: The Old North Church, the state capitol, Downeast Cider, the Harvard Lampoon, the JFK Presidential Museum. Joined for some of this trip by my same friends from the third base line two years ago and Worcester in 2013, I can’t help but sneak into Suffolk Downs, a once important horse racing mecca now on borrowed time. It’s closed this morning, but a single door is ajar, and we have the place to ourselves. For someone who grew up in a racing town, it’s worth the risk.

More than usual, these are destination gigs since the band is only playing seven shows in North America in 2018, including ballpark runs in Seattle, Chicago and Boston. The novelty of the stadium concerts is wearing off (we’d all prefer to be in an arena) but I’m way past the point of missing nearby shows. Once they begin the slow-burn opening set, whatever gripes we have about the long lines and distance from the stage fade. A breathtaking cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” with smartphone lights illuminating the stadium stands out, and then they bring out local hero Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom for “Taillights Fade.” They dust off the goofy “Out of My Mind” for the first time in almost a decade. This band never stops surprising, even if this Yankee fan will have “arms aloft in Fenway Park” in my head for a week.

A slice of racing history at Suffolk Downs.

September 4, 2018, Fenway Park, Boston

Night two features “Given to Fly” as the opener, and it’s the exact right tone. Night one was the warmup and now we’re hyped. “Save You” comes third, then “U” pops up. We’re all hopeful for “Can’t Deny Me,” a new song the band says is from its forthcoming album (this proves to be untrue), and Janovitz comes back for a second go at “Taillights Fade.” We get “Immortality” with the rarely heard alternate lyrics. “Go” and “Rearviewmirror” rip into the second break, and then a cruel trick: we hear the opening chords of the white whale of the Pearl Jam catalogue, “Dirty Frank,” a Red Hot Chili Peppers sendup that has been played exactly six times in three decades and not since 2006. But right as the crowd figures out what’s happening, they pivot to the Boston anthem “Dirty Water.” Maybe next time!

At one point, Eddie says the band won’t be playing together again outside of the studio for a while. As much as we’re all eager for a new album, I have to stop going to the last show of the tour. It always gets me down afterward: no more dates on the calendar, no logistics to sort out, no sights to see. And Pearl Jam is a difficult band to get intel on in the down times. Famously tight-knit, the band is known to cloister without updates for months on end. As “Yellow Ledbetter” turns into the national anthem, this is it for a long while. Sadly, 2019 goes by without a single concert.

March 28, 2020, Baltimore

After a silent year, the band is ramping back up. New single, a rare interview with Bill Simmons, and the March arrival of “Gigaton.” I get my Ten Club tickets for Baltimore for the same day the Yankees are at Camden Yards at 4. Planning a trip like this gets me through a long winter. But soon COVID-19 cases start popping up in the U.S. Large gatherings are called off: first Pearl Jam, then the NBA, then the NCAA tournament, and then everything else. There isn’t going to be any Yankee-O’s game, let alone a concert. I keep spinning “Gigaton” with the world on pause, hoping 2021 brings a vaccine and a return to the road. After all, I’m still playing catch-up. I always will be.