You can’t be neutral on a moving train

Riot Act turned 14 earlier this month, along with its immediate predecessor Binaural a somewhat underrated album in the middle of the Pearl Jam pack.* Both albums were critically acclaimed on release, but over time their lustre has seemingly dimmed for many (though not for me; they remain strong personal favourites). Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it’s the early albums, along with the more overtly straightforward rock contained in Yield, that continue to have find more favour generally, as evidenced by this Rolling Stone readers’ poll from July 2013.**

I can feel the living all around

I should have seen this coming. Dave goes off on holiday to Florida, and, lazing by the pool one baking hot afternoon, does the Ice Bucket Challenge and nominates me back in grey old Blighty. Cheers.

So, following on from Pearl Jam rising to the challenge – here are Mike and Ed, and here are Boom, Jeff, Stone and Matt – it was our turn!

I could clear the clouds

No sooner had Mike thrown down the ice bucket challenge* gauntlet to the rest of Pearl Jam than they all duly stepped up to the plate/got under the bucket. All to support strike out ALS. Mike’s and Ed’s videos were in the last post. Now it’s the turn of:

Boom (with Defend Team Gleason t-shirt)…

Till the lightning strike sets you free

Pearl Jam, Stockholm, 28 June 2014

Pearl Jam swung back in to Europe this summer for the latest leg of their Lightning Bolt tour, so with their arrival came the chance for Becky and I repeat our Prague trip of 2012 by selecting a glamorous European city to visit for a few days whilst also enjoying a PJ gig.

It was a tough choice this year, Leeds and Milton Keynes narrowly missing out to eventual winner Stockholm.* The gig was at the Friends Arena, the Swedish national football stadium which opened in 2012 and whose first match saw Zlatan Ibrahimović beat obliging guests England 4-2.** The naming rights for the venue were donated by Swedbank to Friends, a non-profit organisation against school bullying – something to which Vedder referred approvingly shortly before the band played ‘Jeremy’.

See the sky blanket you with gems and rhinestones…

…see the path cut by the moon, for you to walk on.

Pearl Jam, Prague, 2 July 2012

One of the big plusses of blogging as a form of communication is its immediacy; you can post your scribblings and upload photos pretty much on the way home from an event – or if you’re like me, right on the cutting edge of technology, as soon as you get home, make a cup of tea and turn your pc on.

Pearl Jam poster, Prague, 2 July 2012, courtesy Spreading the Jam.