Sonic Youth

Pearl Jam 7/7/06

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Pearl Jam was touring for their eponymous album aka The Avocado Album that was released in May of this year. Growing up in Washington State I cannot believe that this was my first time seeing Pearl Jam…and it almost didn’t happen. I again for whatever reason did not have a ticket so I decided to scour Craigslist at the last minute. I came across a peculiar ad titled “Free Pearl Jam Ticket.” First I thought it was total bullshit but decided to click anyway. It said something to the effect of “My buddy bailed on me so I have an extra ticket. Just buy me a couple beers and the ticket is yours. First come, first served.” The ad had been posted about 40 minutes before my eyes laid upon it so I thought even if it was legit someone else would have already beat me to the punch but I called the number just to make sure. Guy (sorry I’m bad with names) answered the phone and I said “I know you’ve probably already gotten a million calls for the Pearl Jam ticket…” He said, “Actually you’re the first.” I shot the shit with guy for a couple minutes and we decided upon a meeting place. I was still super skeptical right up to the minute I met him but much to my pleasant surprise the guy met me exactly where and when he said he would. The only thing about the ticket was that it was in the section behind the stage but beggars can’t be choosers. We were looking at the back of the band a lot of the time but to their credit the band paid us a fair amount of attention. This was my first experience of seeing Eddie downing red wine throughout the show which was pretty entertaining. The band was every bit as great as I expected them to be, drawing from all their albums fairly evenly. Pearl Jam fans are a different breed and thankfully so because I was able to locate a YouTube video of “Yellow Ledbetter” from this show and a soundboard quality audio of the entire show. Enjoy!

Full Show Audio HERE

SETLIST: Oceans, Severed Hand, Corduroy, Brain of J, World Wide Suicide, Love Boat Captain, Gone, Even Flow, Unemployable, Wasted Reprise, Better Man, Satan’s Bed, Not for You, You Are, Inside Job, Life Wasted, Rearviewmirror, Long Road, Come Back, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Crazy Mary (Victoria Williams), Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone), Alive, Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran) Comatose, Leash, Big Wave, Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young), Yellow Ledbetter

Lollapalooza 7/4/95

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The nights were very long that summer and I smoked a lot of pot. I was looking for something in my dad’s closet and came across a brick of weed. This was more than I had ever seen and I could not resist but pinch a little something off of it. Once I got it back to my bedroom and broke it up, it turned into a quarter of an ounce! This kept our stoner appetites alive for a few months. At this point in my life I had started seeing a fiery redhead named Daisy who I had met through my friend Jackie. She was the first girl that I ever really cared about. I was smitten. She was a few years younger but seemed much wiser than her years. She was a prototypical rock chick who happened to play the piano since an early age. She was probably a big reason Marvin and I decided to attend Lollapalooza 95’. There were bands playing that we wanted to see and we had missed the year before because it occurred on the first day of school. Ironically 94’ was the year Nirvana was supposed to headline. We had also missed the magical 93’ lineup that showcased Alice In Chains, Tool, and Rage Against the Machine. Jackie, Daisy, and their friend J.R. had decided to go up the night before and camp. I later found out that on that night Daisy had fooled around with someone at the campground, which is what eventually broke us up. The temperature on the 4th of July was particularly hot that year. Beck was the first band to perform that I really cared about. This is about the time he had broke into the mainstream with “Loser.” The next band that I wanted to see was Cypress Hill. They came out on stage with a 15 foot bong and they were also the first band I had ever seen toke up on stage. The next band I wanted to see was Hole. Courtney Love was a mess because of Kurt’s death and acted appropriately. She kept taking her top off and berating the crowd but overall put on a decent show. The headliner that year was Sonic Youth. I was not and still am not that big of a fan but they definitely impressed me that night.