Pearl Jam to release CDs of North American Tour
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 11, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Pearl Jam,
fronted by Eddie Vedder, performs at the Greek
Theatre earlier this year. Recordings from the tour will be
released on CD.
By Chris Moriates
Daily Bruin Contributor
Not many bands are able to release 47 double CDs in their entire
career, let alone during the course of one year.
Pearl Jam plans to follow a tradition that it invented last year
by releasing live “bootleg” albums from every show of
its recent North American tour.
Discouraged by the fact that many of its fans were forced to buy
expensive bootlegs of live shows that did not meet the quality
standards of the band, last October Pearl Jam released a cheaper
alternative with its 25 live “bootleg” albums
documenting its European tour.
According to the band’s official Web site, the original
idea was to only sell the CDs through its fan club over the
Internet, but its record label, Sony, forced the band to release
the albums to the general public.
The unconventional idea made history when Pearl Jam became the
first band ever to have five albums enter the Billboard Top 200
simultaneously.
The Seattle quintet is ready to outdo itself again on Feb. 27
when the first leg of the North American tour will be released to
the stores (the albums have already been released to fans via the
fan club Web site).
The second leg, which includes the 10th anniversary show in Las
Vegas as well as the local shows at the Greek Theatre, Blockbuster
Pavilion and the San Diego Sports Arena, will hit stores on Mar.
27.
Many fans at UCLA are excited to collect copies of shows that
they witnessed along with those that they wish they could have been
able to attend.
“Eddie (Vedder, lead singer) is just great live, even when
he’s sick,” said Katie Dunlap, a first-year business
economics student, referring to Vedder’s illness during the
local Greek Theatre show.
Unlike most bands, Pearl Jam changes its set every night, making
each show unique and memorable. The new “bootlegs” will
provide such pearls as the inspired version of Dead Moon’s
“It’s OK” in Virginia Beach, Vedder’s
cynical and often humorous political commentary during the election
season, and rare cover songs and improvisations.
“Ultimately, I think the bootlegs I buy will reflect fan
fervor and simple word-of-mouth,” said Amir Riaby, a
fourth-year political science and sociology student. “I am
definitely looking forward to the anniversary show in Las Vegas and
the final stop in Seattle.”
From its unpopular and unsuccessful battle against Ticketmaster
to its practice of guaranteeing tickets for fan club members, Eddie
Vedder and Co. have done their best to take care of their fans. The
bootleg series is another way for the band to service its dedicated
fans.
The band is providing the double-albums for the extremely
reasonable price of $10.98 for its fans through its Web site, and
the in-store suggested price is $16.98.
“I think that (the bootlegs) are totally for the fans, I
mean, they are selling them cheap and some bands don’t even
let their fans bootleg,” Dunlap said. “Come on,
it’s Eddie, do you really think that he has some evil motive?
I’d like to think not.”
As if the release of 72 live shows (including both the European
and North American segments) is not enough to keep fans scrounging
for extra money, Pearl Jam is going to release a DVD further
documenting its recent world tour.
Pearl Jam may not be the type of band to be on MTV’s
“TRL” or be featured in TV commercials, but the band
has risen out of the ashes of the early ’90s grunge scene and
been successful on its own terms.
“While many bands would have you believe that
“˜it’s all about the music,’ they soon resemble
media whores, selling their integrity to corporations and the
like,” Riaby said. “Ten years later, however, Pearl Jam
continues to walk the walk, doing one thing and one thing only:
making good music.”
Pearl Jam’s unconventional practices, support for its
fans, and recent innovative marketing strategies beg the questions:
what will Pearl Jam do when its contract with Sony runs out after
its next album? Will the band make music history yet again?
Don’t look to the Vedder or his band mates for the
answers, however, time will be the only one who tells.
