gremmie's basement

real quick gremmies. we’ve uploaded night I from the Bridge School Benefit. Can you find it here. We’ve wrapped both nights into a single zip file.  the quality of both nights is good, particularly night II. however, we are working to get better copies posted within the week. Enjoy. [UPDATED, 11/1: we have uploaded better quality copies of BOTH bridge school nights. each show was ripped directly from the Pearl Jam XM radio feed. thanks bsbeamer.]

TFT Notes: This is Pearl Jam’s Eighth Bridge School Benefit appearance, and fourteenth performance. Although acoustic, all members are standing during their opener, “Last Kiss” dedicated to Bridge School Alumni – and current UC Berkeley Graduate School Student – Maricor. Stone is jumping, energized by “Unthought Known”, and Boom is with the band on grand piano. Ed acknowledges the band’s 20th Anniversary and says they “wouldn’t have made it past the first five or six (years) without Uncle Neil.” “Santa Cruz”, although played by Eddie Vedder before on his solo tours, is a full-band debut. Santa Cruz, CA is located less than an hour south of Mountain View. “Dancing Barefoot” is a Patti Smith cover from her 1979 album Wave. “Better Man” gets the treatment with a new arrangement. “Walk With Me” is the opening track on Neil Young’s latest album Le Noise. “Just Breathe” is played with a String Quartet, affectionately introduced as “four classically trained geniuses. “Black” also gets a new arrangement, this version at a faster tempo, ominous strings, and a new bassline. The band close to standing applause, Ed saying he feels “like the Bridge School is more of a school for us because the band have learned so much from parents and kids.” Ed and Jeff join Neil Young for the day’s finale, “Rockin’ in the Free World”

afternoon gremmies. we’ve added night 2 [10/24] from the bridge school benefit. link is here. enjoy. thanks steve. here’s the setlist and notes from that evening [from tft].

10/24/10 – Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
set: Daughter, Down, Driftin’, Other Side, The End, Walk With Me, Lukin, Just Breathe, Black, Elderly Woman…
TFT Notes: This is Pearl Jam’s Eighth Bridge School Benefit appearance, and fifteenth performance. On another rainy day, the set starts with the standard “Daughter”. “Down” features Mike and Stone on 12-string acoustics. “Driftin’” is introduced by Ed as a song he wrote “on the back of an airplane ticket in Neil’s driveway.” “Other Side” – the Jeff-penned B-side of the 2003 “Save You” single from Riot Act debuts, including terrific harmonies between Ed and Jeff, throughout. The Neil Young song “Walk With Me” is next, and Ed says”I think I’ll be vibrating the next few days”. “Lukin” is with strings, which Ed says they’ll “attempt and beg your forgiveness.” “Just Breathe” and the reworked “Black” are accompanied by strings. Ed tells us that “Buffalo Springfiield is gonna levitate you, here’s one more from us. Get ready to leave the ground.” Band members join Neil Young for the day’s finale, “Rockin’ in the Free World”.

we’re working on night 1. stay tuned.

good morning once again gremmies. we have added the year 1996 to the basement, in addition to more improvs which can be found in the patchwork section here. the 1996 year adds 30+ shows including some of Pearl Jam’s best such as Randall’s Island II (“The Longest Day”) and Rome I. the improvs come from a mix of shows between the years 2000 and 2009. some are entertaining, some meandering; worth a listen though. as we near full upload, we’re going to refocus our attentions on gremmie.net. we’ve got a few projects in the hopper we hope you’ll like. stay tuned.

good morning gremmies, we have added the years 1991, 1993, and 1995 to the basement. this totals more than 50 shows. the setlists during the 1991 and 1993 tours are generally much shorter than those we’ve grown accustomed to in recent years, with Pearl Jam playing between 7 – 15 songs per venue. the venues themselves, particularly in 1991, were small clubs. quality varies from show to show. enjoy.

good morning gremmies. we have added the entirety of the 2003 year to the basement this morning. the tally is in-and-around 75 shows. please have a look. we broke up the year into 4 parts: pacific (which includes australia and japan) us leg i, us leg ii, and mexico (which includes 2 us shows played towards the end of the year).

the 2003 tour was in support of riot act, the band’s not-best album. it may contain canonical songs – goof and gremmie like soon forget, thumbing my way, and love boat captain particularly – but along with binuaral, riot act is regarded as a low point for the band’s studio releases.

riot’s act’s supporting tour however is widely regarded amongst gremmies as one of their best and most diverse with over 110 unique songs played across 3 continents. the quality of these shows is excellent, having been mixed by alchemists at the Ten Club.

in closing, a non-sequitur:

an old Pearl Jam joke the band is rumored to have devised:

Question: “How many members of Pearl Jam does it take to change a light bulb?”

Answer: “Change?! Change? We’re not gonna change for anyone! Do you hear me? Not for anyone.”