Search - Pearl Jam :: Chicago 1995

THE ANGRIEST PEARL JAM GIG EVER? - POSSIBLY THE LAST TIMES THE BAND WERE IN PURSUIT OF THE COSMIC "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." So pronounces Eddie Vedder from the stage of football stadium Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9th 1995. Home of the Chicago Bears since 1971, Ed quips too about the Bears performance in the 95 season, and receives a few good natured boos for doing so. But the central topic of his sermon on this summer evening more than 20 years ago is the Ticketmaster controversy, rearing its demonic head to the fore at this juncture in the PJ story. Ticketmaster Sucks, Ticketmaster Sucks respond the crowd to his inflammatory language and the PJ boys are loving every minute. But Vedder is clearly struggling with an inner anger about the entire issue throughout the lengthy gig. Illustrated best not just in his emotionally intense delivery of every number, but in the smashing too of his legendary black Telecaster guitar, which he wraps violently around his mic-stand in the midst of another high intensity freak out. The Grateful Dead had played what would be their final show at Soldier Field two days earlier as the culmination of their 1995 summer tour. The Dead left their stage behind that night as they packed up and moved on, a favour to a band who, because of venue cancellations, were forced to move their show to the uncomfortable confines of a football stadium. And that night, Pearl Jam played their longest show to date, a raging evening where the only goal, it seemed, was to play as long as they do. And from Release until the closing Yellow Ledbetter nearly three hours later, Pearl Jam deliver what should rank among their finest nights. Thankfully the gig was the subject of an FM broadcast that the band administered themselves, a frequent tactic they employed on the 1995 tour, dubbed Monkeywrench Radio. This show, then, marks something of a milepost in Pearl Jam s career. There would be wild nights here and there later (a recording from the end of 1995 in San Diego reveals as much), but this concert marked one of the last times the band went all out in its pursuit of the cosmic, leaving battered guitars and vocals in its stead. More than the last night of a tour, the music preserved on that night in Soldier Field shows a band that played as though their world could end at any moment. And, in music, it can. Pearl Jam had seen the effects of a raging world more than once in its five years as a band. The Grateful Dead s 30-year ride ended less than a month later when Jerry Garcia died in his sleep.