Published at 10:30 AM on September 18, 2009

By Paste Staff

An Expert Fan's Guide to Pearl Jam's Bootlegs

Patrick Tang is about as big of a Pearl Jam fan as you’ll find, which is saying a lot, given the band’s rabid following. Tang, 25, plays lead guitar for Atlanta comedy-core band the Attractive Eighties Women (of which Paste associate editor Steve LaBate is also a member), and says his “shredding is definitely influenced by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready.” He’s seen the band countless times (sometimes traveling cross country to do so), and has amassed hundreds of hours of PJ bootlegs, making him an unofficial expert on the subject. 


At the moment, Tang’s favorite Pearl Jam songs are “Given To Fly” and “Sleight of Hand,” and he says the best Pearl Jam show he ever saw was April 19, 2003 at Atlanta’s Lakewood Amphitheater, though he admits his love for that particular performance is a little biased. “It was my first show,” says Tang. “They played ‘Crown of Thorns’ and ‘Black’ with [producer] Brendan O’Brien on keys, and my older brother, Vincent, was there with me, and they played his favorite song, ‘Present Tense.’” 

Since Pearl Jam has made a name for itself as a live powerhouse over the years—always encouraging taping at shows and issuing an overwhelming amount of live recordings—Paste asked Tang to compile a guide to the band’s best bootlegs. What he came up with is a mix of his personal favorites and shows that the Pearl Jam fan community generally agrees are the best of the best. Much of this music is available at pearljamlive.com.

Oct. 22, 1990 | Off Ramp Café | Seattle 

Pearl Jam’s first show ever, though at this point they were billed as Mookie Blaylock.

June 8, 1992 | Pinkpop Festival | Landgraaf, Netherlands 
This performance was originally televised, so most—if not all—of it is now on YouTube. I heard this show before I downloaded the video on my 56k modem back in the dial-up days. It’s a short but excellent festival set. During the show, it was raining, so the band played a cover of The Beatles’ “Rain” before launching into “Jeremy.” During “Porch,” Eddie leaps into the crowd from a camera rig.

June 18, 1992 | Volkshaus | Zürich, Switzerland 
An awesome show from the Ten tour. The “Mamasan Trilogy”—“Alive,” “Once” and “Footsteps”—was played for the first time, accompanied by some background from Eddie. There’s a lot of improv and jamming, which is unusual for a show from this era. Strangely enough, during one jam, Eddie even throws in some snippets of James Taylor’s “Shower The People.” Who knew he was a JT buff? There’s also a pretty hot version of “Porch,” and the band closes out the show with a kickass cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” with the lyrics altered to reference police-brutality issues back in States: “There’s a thousand points of light for the colored man, there’s a kinder, gentler policeman’s hand.” 

April 3, 1994 | The Fox Theatre | Atlanta 
This was my first Pearl Jam bootleg, way before they started releasing the official ones. It’s from a radio broadcast, and the sound quality is fantastic. They play a couple songs from Vitalogy (“Better Man,” “Satan’s Bed,” “Whipping”), which wouldn’t be released until later that November. The band covers “Sonic Reducer” by The Dead Boys, and plays a 10-minute version of “Porch” that is particularly epic, with Eddie screaming and Mike shredding at full tilt, starting the solo with some Hendrix “Voodoo Chile” licks. There’s also a pretty emotional version of “Black,” and “Daughter” is tagged with a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2.” The early version of “Better Man” from this show is almost identical to the studio version, except for the intro and first chorus being full-band as opposed to just Ed. Most notably, though, “Go” was dedicated to Kurt Cobain at this show because, a few weeks prior, the Nirvana frontman had nearly died overdosing on alcohol and Rohypnol while on tour in Rome. Tragically, two days after this show, Cobain committed suicide. 

 April 12, 1994 | Orpheum Theater | Boston 
This was the second to last stop on the Vs tour, so the band let the crew and roadies put together the setlist. Some rare stuff is played: "Hard To Imagine," "Alone," "Rats," "Yellow Ledbetter" and "Dirty Frank." They also played a few tunes from the then-unreleased Vitalogy—"Immortality," "Tremor Christ" and "Not For You," plus a few choice covers: The Beatles' "I've Got A Feeling," Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer" (with Mudhoney’s Mark Arm) and Neil Young's "Fuckin' Up." 

Oct. 10 & 11, 1994 | The Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheatre | Mountain View, Calif.
These shows were Pearl Jam’s second time playing this annual benefit thrown by Neil Young. All artists’ performances at the Bridge School Benefit are acoustic. Overall, this was a great pair of shows featuring stripped-down versions of "Black," "Wash" and "Yellow Ledbetter," a song they didn't really breakout regularly until 1996’s No Code tour. The first night opens with a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Walking The Cow." “Daughter” is tagged with "American Pie," which the crowd eats up. The band plays "Immortality," "Not For You" and a nascent version of "Corduroy" (with slightly altered lyrics), later released on Vitalogy. The first-night closer is "Let Me Sleep"—this is the only time the band has ever played the song. It's off of the very first Ten Club Christmas single. The second night closes with the live premiere of "Bee Girl," a duo with just Jeff on acoustic guitar and Ed on vocals. It's about/to the bee girl from the Blind Melon music video for "No Rain." Pearl Jam had actually played “Bee Girl” live during a radio interview on Rockline a year earlier. Also, these Bridge School shows were Jack Irons’ first shows drumming for the band (he replaced old drummer Dave Abbruzzese). 

March 17, 1995 | Flinders Park Tennis Centre | Melbourne, Australia 
Radio broadcast on Triple J, this show was an overall great performance, with some equally awesome banter... Ed: "It's not just us tonight, we're on the radio. I just thought I'd warn you, you know—if you're supposed to be at your friend's house spending the night, [and] you weren't allowed to come, don't get your voice on the radio, we don't want you to get in trouble. Ah, fuck it, get in trouble!” … "Fine bunch of mutants we got here, we're all mutants up here, too." … "It's really too bad they couldn't open the roof in this place ’cause there's a fuckin’ full moon out there that we're missing ... so if someone's out there listening to us in their car, stick your head out the window. At home, go to the windows. Things happen in a full moon, good things, bad things, things happen." Ed also reads a long list of phrases that start with the letters “N” and “W” (“nit wit, “needless war,” "no worries," etc.). Reference is also made to the overly violent asshole security guards at the previous night’s show ("We got the guys from last night the fuck outta here."). Nirvana’s Dave Grohl sits in, too, playing drums on a kickass version of "Rockin' In The Free World."

July 9, 1995 - Summerfest, Marcus Amphitheater | Milwaukee, Wisc. 
Before Pearl Jam’s set, Eddie joined obscure yet revered Milwaukee indie rockers The Frogs on "I Only Play For Money." This isn't on my boot, but it’s on some copies out there. PJ opens their set with "Act Of Love," a song from the newly released Mirrorball, on which they were the backing band for Neil Young. An alternate version of "Jeremy" is also played, and “Daughter” is tagged with some nice improvisation, "Release" and then "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2." They play "Little Wing," too, with Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums. But the best part is when they melt into Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain." Mike McCready kills on this one (with plenty of wah and delay). It’s one of his best performances. Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel would have been proud. 

July 11, 1995 | Soldier Field | Chicago 
This show was also radio broadcast. At one point, Eddie says, "some fancy people in the skybox ... they're blinking to us, sending us a message … life has a way of working itself out, you know? Think about this for a sec, right? These are the rich, fancy people, right? They got all the luxury, right? Looks to me, like they're the farthest ones away from the stage and they're behind a fuckin' window ... you hang in the trenches long enough, it pays off." At this show, Eddie also smashes his black Telecaster, and Brendan O'Brien plays keyboard on covers of Sly & the Family Stone’s "Everyday People" and Pete Townshend’s "Let My Love Open the Door." 

June 20, 1995 | Red Rocks Amphitheater | Morrison, Colo. 
A new, slower, jammier version of "Jeremy" is debuted.

Nov. 7, 1995 | Sports Arena | San Diego 
This was the last show of the Vitalogy Tour. The band plays some cool Who covers: "Can't Explain" and "Leaving Here." No Code's "Lukin"—a staple of that tour—is also played. 

Sept. 29, 1996 | Downing Stadium (Randall’s Island) | New York 
Pearl Jam fans really like this show because it's a nearly three-hour-long marathon. After “Leaving Here,” Mike starts playing “Yellow Ledbetter,” but Ed stops him and they go into “Off He Goes” followed by “Present Tense.” It’s an incredible set list. 

Nov. 19, 1997 | Oakland Stadium | Oakland, Calif. 
This was the conclusion of a four-night stint opening for The Rolling Stones. All nervousness from the first night was long gone and the band was good and loose. This was pretty much a warm-up for the following year's Yield Tour and Pearl Jam tested out some tunes from the yet-to-be-released record; "Brain of J," "Do The Evolution," "Given To Fly." Mike McCready is a huge Stones fan. After a few riffs of "Start Me Up," the band plays a good bit of "Beast of Burden." “We're going to get in so much trouble for that one," Ed says. And then, after they finish the tune: “You see, they haven't been playing that one, and we just thought you might like to hear it." At this show, Eddie totally blows the lyrics on "Alive," but manages a charming recovery—"Is something wrong she said? I forgot the song I said!" The set ends with "Yellow Ledbetter," featuring some "Sympathy For The Devil" licks. Beforehand, Ed thanked the Rolling Stones crew "for being so kind to us, and treating us like nice little kids, and especially letting me stay up drinking all night in their rooms." He later joins the Stones onstage for "Waiting On A Friend"—a bonus track on the boot. 

March 5, 1998 | Melbourne Park | Melbourne, Australia 
A recording of this show was supposed to be bundled with Yield at Best Buy but got yanked the day before because of legal issues. Along with many other fans, I was pissed. So it’s a good thing the show was broadcast on Australian radio station Triple J. I picked up this bootleg for $60 at Low Yo Yo Stuff right next to the 40 Watt Club when I was visiting my brother in Athens, Ga. (The record store has since moved to a new Atlanta location.) This show is from the first leg of the Yield tour, and one of the last shows to feature Jack Irons on drums. Soon, Matt Cameron would replace him, but we get to hear Jack’s tribal pounding on "In My Tree." There are also great versions of "Even Flow," "Brain of J" and "Porch" (on this version Mike solos much differently than any other version I've heard). "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" is intro’d with a snippet of Victoria Williams cover and fan favorite "Crazy Mary"—they didn't start playing this song regularly until the 2000 Binaural tour, so at the time it was super rare to hear it, and the crowd went wild. Any of the Yield songs played at this show are phenomenal versions, and "Spin The Black Circle" is dedicated to the fine folks at Triple J. 

July 5, 1998 | Reunion Arena | Dallas 
Another great show from the Yield tour. The fairly rare song "Mankind" is played with guitarist Stone Gossard on vocals. “Daughter” is tagged with the Pixies’ "Monkey Gone To Heaven." Dennis Rodman, a huge PJ fan, watches the show from the sidelines. During the "Alive" solo, Eddie finishes the song on Rodman's shoulders. 

Sept. 16, 1998 | Great Woods | Mansfield, Mass. 
Eddie plays a great version of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" before Ben Harper's set. This is one of the best shows of 1998. Also, it’s when the infamous quarter incident happened: Right before the band plays “State of Love and Trust,” some idiot starts throwing quarters at Ed, and he launches into a huge tirade that ends with, "Ahh, that felt good." Also, “Better Man” is tagged with The English Beats’ “Save It For Later.” Cool stuff. 

Oct. 22, 2000 | MGM Grand Arena | Las Vegas, N.V. 
This Vegas show marks the 10th anniversary of the first-ever Pearl Jam show. For the special occasion, the band plays Mother Love Bone's "Crown Of Thorns" with Brendan O'Brien on keyboard. O’Brien also sticks around to play on "Black" and a cover of Elvis Presley’s "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You." 

July 11, 2003 | Tweeter Center | Mansfield, Mass. 
The band plays an acoustic set before opener Sleater-Kinney. They'd never performed both an acoustic and electric set the same night before, and have only done it once since (at Washington’s Gorge Amphitheatre in 2005). Acoustic set gems: "Long Road," "Of The Girl," "Sometimes," the rare "All Those Yesterdays,” "Sleight Of Hand," "Footsteps," "All Or None," "Parting Ways." Covers: The Ramones’ "I Believe In Miracles," The Clash’s "Know Your Rights" and Creedence’s "Fortunate Son." 

Sept. 1, 2005 | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, Wash.
Pearl Jam played here for the first time nearly 13 years earlier. This time, they play an acoustic set like they did at the Tweeter Center couple of years prior. They hadn't played "Hard To Imagine" since 1998, and when they play it here, the crowd goes nuts. This show also had three lengthy encores: 

Encore 1: "Love Boat Captain," "Insignificance," "Better Man," "Rearviewmirror"  
Encore 2: "I Won't Back Down" (Tom Petty), "Last Kiss" (Wayne Cochrane), "Crown Of Thorns" (Mother Love Bone), "Blood"  
Encore 3: "Yellow Ledbetter" "Baba O'Riley" (The Who) 

October 5, 2005 | House Of Blues | Chicago 
A Hurricane Katrina Benefit featuring Robert Plant and Pearl Jam. This was never officially released, so it's a true bootleg. Tickets were $1,000 each. The first encore included a nice version of "Man Of The Hour" from the Big Fish soundtrack and a fitting performance of "Hard To Imagine." During the second encore, Plant joined the band for Led Zeppelin’s "Going To California," as well as "Little Sister," "Money (That's What I Want)," and another Zep classic, "Fool In The Rain." There was a rumor of a feud between PJ and Led Zeppelin because of the similarities between "Given To Fly" and "Going To California" and band had even joked years earlier that they'd probably be sued for it. At this show, though, they play both songs back-to-back, and the night ended with the band backing Plant on "Thank You," from Led Zep's self-titled debut.

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