Yesterday Pearl Jam released their new album Backspacer with a huge promotional push from Target. I’ve seen the band twice in the past month (Chicago & San Francisco) and felt they’re just as vital live as they’ve ever been.

We’re pleased to be giving away a copy of Backspacer on vinyl! To enter, drop a comment with your favorite Pearl Jam album. We’ll select one winner at random and notify them next week via e-mail.

Video: Pearl Jam – “The Fixer”

Had a great first day at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival. The weather was absolutely gorgeous providing the perfect background to some great music. I spent my festival time cautiously today. Since it is my first time here, I chose to acquaint myself slowly on day one and hit things with more gusto over the next two days.

We started our day with a set from Los Campesinos! who Madison fans will remember and who provided just the right amount of energy for an early afternoon. We stuck around and caught The Dodos whose new material was a welcomed soundtrack to the afternoon. Speaking of new material, The National continue to roll out new tunes in concert. I think there were a total of three new ones played yesterday if my memory serves me correctly. The set ending “Mr. November” has become a guarantee lately, but that bother me one bit nor did the rest of the packed crowd.

Pearl Jam closed this down the first night in proper fashion. I had a feeling we might get a special guest appearance by Neil Young last night, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the band channeled Shakey via his catalog with covers of “Throw Your Hatred Down” and the night’s final tune “Rockin In The Free World.” Having seen Pearl Jam plenty of times this one ranks up there in terms of favorites. It was the first time I’d heard them play “Crazy Mary” and The Who’s “Real Me” was the ultimate highlight for me.

Please follow @Muzzleofbees for frequent updates of our festival coverage. Not here, but want to be? YouTube is providing a webcast for the entire festival weekend.

Not sure if this announcement kills the rumored Alpine Valley date this summer, but Chicago is close enough, right? Pearl Jam will play the United Center in Chicago on Sunday, August 23rd. If only I had renewed my 10 Club Membership….

Tickets: $66
On Sale: May 9th, 11AM

As I’m rounding third and coming home to the conclusion of the Neil Young bio Shakey, I’m reminded of the above collaboration featuring Neil Young + Pearl Jam from the MTV Music Awards circa 1993. Somewhere I have a well-worn VHS tape with the same footage. I must have played it a hundred times. The instrument/stage destruction at the end of the performance is a result of poor monitor performance (according the Shakey) and a lot of pent up frustration.

I recently engaged in a lengthy discussion over at Via Chicago in reference to Young’s post 1980 output, where I declared his collaboration with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball to be one of the high points since that time line marker. Feel free to discuss Young’s post 1980 output – the highs and lows – and, at some point I’ll be back with my review/recap of Shakey.

Buy: Neil Young – Mirror Ball

Some eight days after my 15th birthday I hitched a ride with a classmate’s older brother headed to Milwaukee to see my favorite band of my youth, Pearl Jam. At that age, saying I was a die-hard Pearl Jam fan was very much an understatement. Each morning, after delivering all the papers on my route, I would scour the classifieds hoping for a reasonably priced ticket. That never happened, but I collected money a few days early from my customers, came up with the $70, and approached my friend’s older brother (who was in college) who I’d heard was going and basically begged him for a ride. Thankfully he obliged, and I’m grateful, as it’s one of my most vivid concert memories ever.

I remember the drive and what we listened to, we played the Jeremy single countless times, and I remember really wanting to hear Eddie Vedder tag on Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2″ to the end of “Daughter” (he did) like he’d done on some of the many bootleg tapes I’d traded with distant strangers, and something my parents watched in disbelief trying to understand my relentless passion/obsession with the group.

I remember where we parked and the steps we took from the main entrance to the Marcus Amphitheater entrance. I watched as my travel companion bought not one, but two beers with his fake ID and handed one to me. We made it into the venue in plenty of time to catch an incognito Eddie Vedder join the hometown weirdo outlet, The Frogs for their song “I Only Play For Money.”

The actual Pearl Jam set started with “Act of Love” from their Neil Young collaborative record, Mirror Ball. From there the set was heavy on Vitalogy and Vs. material combined with all the heavy hitters from Ten. And I sang along, the whole set. However, they did throw some curve balls my way, like an alternate take on “Jeremy”:

Pearl Jam – “Jeremy” (Milwaukee, 7/9/95)

This was also the show with the now infamous encore that included a blistering combination of Jimi Hendrix “Little Wing” flowing into Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain.” The guitar work of Mike McCready cemented in legend at that point, but they carried on after to close out the night with “Betterman” and “Porch.”

Pearl Jam – “Little Wing>Maggot Brain” (Milwaukee, 7/9/95)

The drive home was one of those silent ones. I had so much fun, but I also couldn’t process any words to even touch what I’d seen. I knew that rock and roll would be big in my life from that moment on. It’s rare when you have such high expectations of a group and you walk away having real life seems to play out just as it always had in dreams. That’s a feeling you don’t soon forget.

That’s my first brush with rock and roll folks. I could bore you with every detail like seat numbers, what I wore, how I talked about it for months after, but I’ve probably already said to much.

What shows were big for you growing up? What show(s) made you really love rock and roll? Were you at this Pearl Jam show at Summerfest in 95? What was the first Pearl Jam show you saw?

Set: I Only Play for Money (EV w/ The Frogs), Act of Love, Go, Last Exit, Spin the Black Circle, Tremor Christ, Corduroy, Not for You, Why Go, Jeremy (original, teaser), Deep, Daughter/Improv (This is How I Feel)/(Release)/(ABitW-II), Jeremy (new), Rearviewmirror, Elderly Woman, Lukin, Animal, Dissident, Even Flow, Black, Alive, Blood
Encore: Star Boy, Little Wing/Maggot Brain, Better Man, Porch

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