The Mighty Pearl Jam

"I just wanna scream 'hello.' My God, it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return, but now here you are and here I am. . . " Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Pearl Jam

Been adding more songs to my iPod recently. Bought the thing last fall and have been steadily working through my CD collection (which numbers nearly 1,000) and ripping songs from the discs to the computer. Not putting every song on it; just the good stuff for the most part. So far, I've ripped about 2,100 songs.

Got to the P’s the other night and was working through the numerous Pearl Jam discs, rediscovering the true power of Eddie Vedder’s intensity and the sometimes-thunderous rage that comes through in his voice. As I worked through the pile, I came across a three-disc set and, almost instantly, I was transported in time back to 1995. . .

It was July 11, 1995 and Jen and I were heading into Chicago to see Eddie and the boys at Soldier Field. It was during the height of their battle with Ticketmaster and things had been heating up as they were fighting the monopolistic tendencies of TM and their control over major concert acts. Needless to say, we were knee-deep in our Pearl Jam phase and were very excited about the show.

As you’ll recall from an earlier post, I was not nearly as comfortable in Chicago back then as I am now. The area around Soldier Field, and of course the stadium itself, was much different than it is today. So, we bravely battled the traffic in my little Honda Accord and ended up parking south of Soldier Field near the old Donnelley Building and then walking through some questionable areas just to make it into the stadium.

Weather was hot but the energy of 70,000 people waiting for Pearl Jam was incredible. Our seats were in the east stands around the 30-yard line closer to the stage, which was on the north endzone, so our view was rather good. They played a 2.5 hour show and it was amazing. Played all their hits from “Ten” and “Vs.” and riffed on some Pete Townsend and Bob Marley as well. Even led the crowd in a 30-second chant of “Ticketmaster Sucks.” Seems trite today, since they essentially lost that war, but it was interesting at the time.

Some months later I caught wind of a bootleg three-CD set of the show that had been recorded directly from “the board” at the show and began my hunt to acquire it. It took a while, as good CD hunts often do, but I struck gold a year later or so when I found it at a used CD store in Madison, Wis., and picked it up for a cool $65. It was worth every penny and is still bringing back memories for me even 11 years later. . .