Pearl Jam will release its Philly ‘Ten’ concert on vinyl
In 2016, Eddie Vedder decided to play the band's 1991 album in its entirely after seeing a '10' banner hanging from the rafters in South Philly. Now it's coming out as a three sided LP.
Pearl Jam’s concert at the Wells Fargo Center in April 2016 is legendary among fans because the band played its 1991 debut album Ten in its entirety.
The performance happened after Eddie Vedder was struck by the idea during the sound check for the show. The venue had surprised him by hanging a Flyers-style banner made by Native Colors Flag Co. in Haddonfield marking the band’s 10th sold-out performance in a South Philly arena.
“I saw that number, and it was like, ‘I think we gotta do it,’ ” Vedder said with a smile that night, after the band had finished playing Ten from start-to-finish for only the second time in its career.
Now, Pearl Jam is releasing Ten Live, a three-sided vinyl LP that captures live versions of the 13 songs on the album, which includes songs that have long been centerpieces of the band’s repertoire such as “Even Flow,” “Alive” and “Jeremy.”
The live album recorded April 29, 2016 in the building that is now known as Xfinity Mobile Arena comes out on Nov. 27. That’s Record Store Day Black Friday, the holiday season day on which music retailers put limited edition vinyl exclusives on sale in shops in Philly and around the U.S.
In 2020, the Pearl Jam made a video stream of the entire 32-song 2016 concert available through Philly-based music platform nugs.net. That release was timed to promote PJ Votes, a voter mobilization initiative ahead of the 2020 Presidential election.
At the time, Pearl Jam guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready spoke to The Inquirer about the band’s special relationship with Philadelphia. That dates back to a 1991 show at J.C. Dobbs on South Street (now Nikki Lopez), and the final four shows at the Spectrum in 2009 before that venue was demolished the next year.
“I remember playing Dobbs, and it was the strangest stage I’ve ever been on,” McCready recalled. An oversize column on one side of the stage made it difficult to see an entire band at the defunct South Street club. “I’ll never forget that.”
During the October 2009 Spectrum shows, which ended on Halloween with the band dressing up like Devo and playing “Whip It,” McCready said “in four nights, we tried to play every song we’ve ever written.”
“There’s something about Philadelphia,” Vedder said during the Ten show.
“It seems tough, and intense. I get the City of Brotherly Love. But I also know brothers beat the [stuffing] out of each other! So to see all these intense people … release themselves and open up and celebrate and seem to love each other, it’s really powerful.”
At one point in the show, Vedder looked up to see the Bruce Springsteen banner in the rafters with a number 56 much larger than Pearl Jam’s 10. He then did an impression of the Boss: “Hey Ed, I hear you’ve got a little banner up there. You’ve got some catchin’ up to do. Call me in 20 years.”
In 2020, Gossard spoke about the bond between Pearl Jam and fans in Philly, and also Camden where the band has played many times at the venue now known as the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion.
”I think there really is a tangible difference in the level of engagement. I mean, since we started playing Philadelphia and over into New Jersey, it’s … insane. Things are generally sort of twice as big there.
“Some of it has to do with the longevity, I think. There’s a consistency with talking to fans, and then having them turn their kids on to the music. It’s magical, and I don’t want to know too much about it. I just want to honor it. It feels real.”
A version of the 2016 Ten show, which includes covers of Pink Floyd, Wayne Cochran, the Dead Boys, Neil Young, and the Who, can be streamed on YouTube. And a pro-shot video of the concert can be rented or purchased on PearlJam.com, where the Ten Live vinyl can also be preordered.
