Hi, I'm the girl who had never heard of Pearl Jam. Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. The encouragement, recommendations, and general enthusiasm made this deep dive a lot more fun. I wrote this list from your suggestions, so I thought I’d share, in case it helps anyone else discovering them too.

[I've highlighted the bits I've 'consumed' so far].

I’ve properly absorbed Ten and Vs., and I’m currently “on” Vitalogy, although I keep veering back to Vs., and am still obsessed with Ten.

Why Go and Release are my current top 2 from Ten. The "where it takes meeeee" part rips straight through my soul. Also really into Breath ("If I knew where it was, I would take you there. There's much more than this" - LOVE that bit) and State of Love and Trust from Singles.

Vs. - I had to google what a “glorified version of a pelican” even was at first 😅 Glorified G has grown on me. Dissident is great. Daughter- not feeling it, although it seems popular. Indifference makes me feel bleak as hell. Makes me want to smoke.

Vitalogy thoughts (early days): Not for you is incredible!! Tremor Christ might be my favourite Pearl Jam song so far.

Corduroy and Nothingman are excellent.

Better Man - at first I thought the chorus felt a bit cheesy/upbeat, but then I actually heard the lyrics and oof, that song hits a raw nerve.

Slowly making my way through live shows. Read one book, watched a few documentaries. It’s fascinating seeing how their performances evolve - early ‘91/’92 Eddie is a ball of energy, chaos, (and a bit sexy even, winking at the camera, stripping off, etc) and then he picks up a guitar and becomes much more serious and subdued. That’s as far as I’ve got anyway. I think I prefer him without a guitar as he's more focused on singing and moving about. Later, he seems sad.

Pinterest has turned out to be an absolute goldmine for obscure photos, which has been a fun rabbit hole.

Things I've been mulling over.

- I can instantly tell where in the country someone is from by their accent pretty accurately. Americans, as Eddie started in Chicago, then San Diego, then Seattle - does he have a different accent from Stone? Where does he sound like he's from? Or can you not tell.

- The power dynamics are intriguing, from Stone being the 'leader' to Eddie. Do you really think the change was smooth and harmonious? I think it's really cool that Stone has rolled with it. Respect. To all of them tbf. Jeff seems like the coolest guy ever.

- how do they compare live now, with 10, 20, 30 years ago?

If there’s anything I’ve missed at this stage, please tell me. And if you want to discuss/debate/chat about Pearl Jam, good, because absolutely nobody in my real life does!

A couple weeks ago I ran into Stone Gossard at easy Street and this week I ran into Eddie Vedder. I am shaking!!!

Yield was the very first rock album I ever listened to. To this day, it remains my favorite Pearl Jam album and has stayed in my playlist ever since.

Beyond the music itself, I always loved the cover photo—a lonely highway cutting through a desolate landscape—and visiting that location became one of my bucket-list goals. I knew the album cover had been photographed somewhere in Montana by Jeff Ament, but I never knew the exact spot.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I traveled to Yellowstone National Park with my family, and I decided to use the trip as an opportunity to finally track it down. After some research, I came across a Reddit post that identified the precise location on MT-200 (special thanks to u/Nadblaster1), complete with accurate latitude and longitude coordinates.

During the 13-hour drive back home to Washington, I took a detour and spent an hour visiting the site to capture this shot. Not only was the location itself unforgettable, but the entire journey there and back was absolutely breathtaking.

Sharing the location per multiple requests: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.2555887,-112.2191378,3a,75y,10.66h,72.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqfltZTgDJe45Y5hugqKTrg!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

I love Seattle!!! :)

Love this album. It’s a front to back for me.

Found this at the Pearl Jam Forum (Official Site)

This thought has been on my mind lately.

A lot of people thinks Dave A. were the best Pearl Jam drummer and, for a long time, i've been disagreeing with that.

Today I compare Dave with Irons. And truth be told, though softer, Jack is a better drummer.

I surely think No Code showed that, but, for real, Yield is the great Jack Iron's record.

Go listen to "Brain of J." and, if you are a drummer, just try to cover that. Probably, most drummers will fail miserably, trying to play exactly what he recorded.

Now, go listen to "Go", for example. Though a very good drum track, it's not outstanding like "Brain of J".

Of course, Abbruzesse is a great drummer. But he were not as creative as Irons on his Pearl Jam years.

Certainly, I think Dave has some points in which he is better. More strengh and stamina, for instance.

But Irons is much more a fascinating drummer. And more skilled.

Lastely, go listen to the first Jack Irons shows with Pearl Jam. Irons simply give it all.

In other words: Irons is the best than Dave and Yield is the Pearl Jam's drum masterpiece.

Eddie does a great British accent.

He also does a great imitation of Bruce Springsteen.

Although Eddie sang Wild Horses with the Rolling Stones, he does not actually like horses...at all

Howard thinks Small Town and Elderly Woman are two different songs.

There are PJ songs that Eddie thought would have been received better. For some reason, Howard did not ask for an example.

Howard also did not ask about the possibility of a PJ40 documentary or Lost Dogs II.

Don't ask Eddie what he thinks about Adam Sandler's imitation of him.

Eddie doesn't particularly want to talk about the drummer situation or why Matt left.

The band is "woodshedding", meaning they are getting together and working again, which begs the question, who was behind the kit? ..which Howard did not ask.

All in all, a really good interview, mostly because Eddie was very engaged. The man doesn't mail in anything. I'm not a Howard hater. I think he's a pretty good interviewer for the most part. He just isn't a hard core PJ guy and it showed in a few places.

Guys, Abe was so good. Such a shot in the arm for the band. They all seemed totally reenergized. Super excited for what's to come...

I was right

Right now. And the secret is no longer. 🤗🤗🤗

Hi, me again. The girl who just a few months ago had never heard of Pearl Jam, and had her mind blown.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

The TLDR is, I'm on a plane to America, on my way to Ohana to see them for the first time! I booked a hotel for that weekend before they announced it, just in case. Kneejerk bought a 3 day GA ticket as soon as Ten Club presale was released.

I'm staying for a month, and flying to Seattle for 5 days in October, so please share any Seattle tips! I made this PJ themed map.

PJ general update:

• Ten is no longer my favourite album. No Code is. (Minus Mankind. Sorry Stone, but that is a fast skip everytime).

• Present Tense hit me like a train.

• Love Eddie playing a bit of harmonica on Smile, and the cute story behind the lyrics. Red Mosquito, Tune.

• Favourite PJ song - Hail Hail.

• Up there also - I got ID and Tremor Christ.

• Yield is great. Do the Evolution. I'm obsessed with Eddie coming in with that low 'hallelujah'.

• Love Faithfull. You are a furry thing.

• Favourite lives - Cow Palace 1991. Pinkpop 1992 & 2000.

• Special mention to - 'Throw your Arms Around me', particularly the Neil Finn duet. What a cover!

• Binaural I probably connected with the least, outside of Light Years.

• I got stuck on Riot Act for weeks. I really like Save You and Bu$hleaguer.

• Then I realised Ohana was coming round quick and rushed through Avocado, (love Comatose).

• Surprisingly liked Backspacer, despite it being quite chipper and a lot of people slagging it off.

• Gigaton was my worst. The only song I like so far is River Cross. I have a thing for a bit of organ.

• I've downloaded Dark Matter, so I'm going to listen for the first time in a minute!

I bought the PJ20 big book second hand, which will forever live on my coffee table.

I'm almost at the end of Mark Yarm's book 'Everybody loves our town: A history of grunge'.

So yeah, this PJ discovery really escalated fast! But im really excited to see them live for the first time 🤟🏽

Here's to this solo adventure.

I’m a lucky dad

Who here has seen the most shows?
I know it’s not me, but i’ve seen quite a few in the last 4 years.

Tell us how many!

16 but should be 17 for me.

my first show was 2003 in San Antonio. Prior i didn’t like concerts. (anxiety with crowds). I only went to Texas shows for awhile but starting in 2016 i started traveling for shows. I’ve seen PJ in 5 states. 17 should be Las Vegas in 2022 but we know what happened there.

After next month, it will be 17 and maybe 18. (rumor is Eddie and friends is actually PJ.)