Vote in comments section below for one of these three shows as your choice for best Pearl Jam show of 1991. The winning show will move on to compete with other years' winning shows in this pointess competition!!
** UPDATED **
Scroll to the bottom; added a fourth show!!
12/31/91 Cow Palace - Daly City, CA
The Chili Peppers, in retrospect, must have hated this tour. I can imagine them not only having the smallest crowd of the evening, but simply being upstaged by opening bands Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It’s funny to listen to these early shows now, especially with Ed playing standup comedian.
I don't have a great example as to why I call him a comedian, but he's waaay more animated in these early shows than now. Although, to give him credit, he's a little more loose now than the '95 - '96 era.
Even way back then, Ed was watching out for the crowd. Take “Once” for example, he changes a line to reflect this: “I got nothing to say / be gentle to everybody up front.”
It’s hard to find a PJ performance on the Chili Pepper and Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins tour that isn’t a good listen, but this certainly stands out as one of the year’s best.
SET:
Watch "Porch" from 12/31/91
Though a short set, this show (and the subsequent highly-circulated video bootleg) gave fans a very up close, intimate shot of the band. Maybe this set doesn’t showcase the tightest versions of these songs, but the performance is undeniably raw and passionate.
In between dates of the RHCP/Pumpkins tour, instead of taking a night off from playing, Pearl Jam took advantage to play a rare (at that point) headlining gig.
I love this show because it’s one of the few in 1991 where we get to hear early glimpses of the band they’d become: long jammy versions of songs, an even set of album cuts and b-sides, and heck, even a cover song for the encore!
Plus, as a bonus, “I’ve Got A Feeling” contains snippets from “Oceans” and Soundgarden’s “Outshined,” the latter of which, Ed was quite fond of singing verses from back in the day.
ENCORE: I’ve Got a Feeling
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. The winner of 1991 and nominees of 1992 will be announced soon.
Have a better show in mind I didn't mention? Leave a comment and explain why, or email me.
Thanks to TwoFeetThick (and Five Horizons) for the Concert info!!
Comments
What makes a Pearl Jam concert "the best" has evolved over their career, I think. The constant for me, bottom line, is the balls out energy they give to the crowd and watching what they do with it when they get it back. They feed off of that, and the way they interconnect with one another on stage is unlike anything I've experienced with any other band. Ed is a shaman, Jeff is an athlete, Stone's groove connects my pelvis to the universe with it's depth...Mike is a rock god...Matt's power is uniquely inventive and intense. In 1991 hands down it's the show at Mural Amphitheatre 8-23-91. It's everything perfect about PJ...fun, tender, high-energy, classic. All boys firing on all pistons. Blistering version of Deep...and on a purely girlie level, Ed is just about as beautiful as he can be. Seeing the band 4 days before Ten came out, realizing you were seeing something seriously special...put me in a time machine now. Thanks for making me think about it!
Gotta be 12/31/91... What a lineup for that time. Whoever was there better have saved that ticket!!! I saw the Chilis at the Cow Palace 9 years later. I imagine it wasn't the same.
Hi!
Mel, did you choose these shows also concerning boot quality? ... I mean, it's hard to choose the best show from a crappy sounding boot ... was just wondering...
I'd add to that list 08-23, Mural Amphitheatre, Seattle, WA
Peace,
Chris,
Oldenburg, Germany
...and... (off-topic but still "on") ... WHY IS HERE A SCIENTOLOGY AD ON THE SITE?!?!?!?! ...
the mural ampitheater was a great one. 9.28.91 in portland was also crazy. Too bad a video or high quality dat doesn't exist of this one....
91 shows....it was just pure energy....let's get going on when the band was really honing their craft - 1992.
12/31/91 - NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12/31/91 gets my vote!
Until you utter the words GORGE 2005, don't talk to me about "Best Pearl Jam show ever".
SOLAT319 - we're only voting for the top show of 1991 right now. When we get to '05, I'm sure the Gorge show will come up.
That dude with the "tick" drives me nuts in this video from 1991.08.23.....always wished there was a way to edit is twitch out.
Anyone notice they are playing for a AM station? Radio changed since the good ol' days
Youkan
The show at the mural amphitheater is without a doubt the best of 1991. The only other shows Pearl Jam ever did that could compete with it are their 9-11-98 show where the Breath campaign ended and their 1996 Bridge School Benefit.
8/23/91
12/31/91
I can tell you their worst. When they tryed to sing that song about Bush and got booed bigtime.
Hey JD - what show was that exactly? Oh, and uh, what song was it even? Oh yeah, and who booed them? jk, you alright. You know nothing about Pearl Jam, but you alright :)
JD's probably talking about the Denver show from 2003 (April 1st) ... but WHY are you considering it as THEIR WORST SHOW?
Blind Pig gets my vote.
I've seen these all before, however never all at the same time!
My Vote goes for the Tower Records gig for sure!
I'll never get enough of that Tower Records performance...
I know where JD was going - just giving him a hard time. But yeah, good point, GetALife, I'll have to listen to that boot again. I remember it being a little awkward when Ed thought someone told him to shut up and went into the Free Speech talk, but if anything, didn't the show just get more emotional and powerful from that point on?
I know the media made a big deal of a handful of people leaving during Bushleaguer - I think the report at one point was "thousands." I don't know how many people actually left, but I think at one point on the Red Mosquito board, fans actually at the show said the media played it up quite a bit (Fox News)
my vote - 11/09/91 – Tower Records: Rockville, MD
100% based on nostalgia for that video footage
12/31/91
New Years Cow Palace, where else would you rather be?
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