PJ Music Factory

A Special Bass

· Batschkapp · Frankfurt

The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology puts 750 in the Batschkapp and marks the night sold out, and Five Horizons puts 600; the two figures are printed here side by side and neither is settled. In the note the two share, the singer says before "Jeremy" that "They're building Jeff a special bass for this next song and they're almost done with it", and the note calls the show's "Breath" a great, seven-minute version.

On Thursday, March 12, 1992, Pearl Jam played Frankfurt, Germany, at a room the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology spells Batschkapp and Five Horizons Batschkaap. The chronology's attendance line reads 750 (sold out), and Five Horizons' reads 600. They are two different figures, each printed here as its document gives it, and neither is settled against the other. The chronology names Sun as the opening act, as the day sheet does, and Five Horizons names none and gives the show seventy-five minutes. The two print one note for the night, nearly word for word, counted here as one source, but for one sentence only the chronology's copy carries.

The show

A Day Sheet and a Ticket for the Batschkapp

The tour day sheet the chronology hangs under the date, opened here, is headed HAMMER PROMOTION GMBH and gives the venue as BATSCHKAPP, MAYBACHSTR. 24, with SUN as support, admission at DM 19,00 / 23,00 and doors at 20:00. It gives the room's capacity as 750; the chronology gives the attendance as 750 and Five Horizons as 600, and a capacity is not an attendance, so the sheet's matching number confirms nothing and settles neither figure. The ticket it hangs, also opened here, is printed for FRANKFURT • BATSCHKAPP, Maybachstr. 24, for 12 March 1992, with entry at 20.00 and the start at 21.00, and prints Örtliche Durchführung: Batschkapp, Frankfurt. Both objects spell the room as the chronology does, and each document's spelling is printed here as it stands; the ticket prints no price and neither object prints an attendance. A drawing at the sheet's foot shows two trucks, FRANKFURT to MÜNCHEN, 430 km and 270 mi.

The Performance

Both documents run "Oceans," "Even Flow," "Why Go," "Improv," "Jeremy," "Once," "Alive" and "Black," then "Where Do the Children Play," "State of Love and Trust," "Deep," "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Porch," and close with "Suggestion," "Breath," "Outshined" and "Leash." Of the two chronologies, only the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology lists "(Mr. Grieves)," after "Alive." The chronology sets the last four entries apart as an encore and Five Horizons prints no encore marker, which is a way of setting a list down, not a second account. The note the two share says the singer told the crowd, "There's a bunch of Americans in the audience. Hope they're not offending anyone... as they are known to do". Before "Jeremy," it says, he told them, "They're building Jeff a special bass for this next song and they're almost done with it". It says he went on stalling by singing, and then introduced "Jeremy." Of the two chronologies, only the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds that the singer sang part of "Mr. Grieves" by The Pixies after "Alive." Both notes say the lead-in to "State of Love and Trust" was a Cat Stevens song, without naming it, and both lists print "Where Do the Children Play" just before it. The note calls the show's "Breath" a great, seven-minute version.

The Next Step

Hamburg, the show before, is told in Konzert des Monats, and neither chronology has an entry for March 11. Both documents put the next show at the Nachtwerk in Munich the following night; it is told in Side Two Begins.

Recording & sound

What the Record Preserves

Four objects hang under this date on the chronology's page: the day sheet as a PDF with a small image of the same page, and the ticket, all opened here, and a photograph, opened here and not described. No person's name is taken from a markup title, and Five Horizons hangs no object under its entry. Of the house's three folders dated to the night, one holds a Twenty-Ten information file whose heading and note are Five Horizons' but for one sentence, and it is counted here with Five Horizons as one source. It calls its fifteen-track recording, which it says was digitized on October 31, 1999, complete according to Five Horizons' setlist and information, a claim about the recording, not the concert. The other two hold an Internet Archive record, made public on June 5, 2014, and a playlist, each of fifteen tracks. Frankfurt comes down to two different attendances, the chronology's 750 with a sold-out mark and Five Horizons' 600, a day sheet whose capacity settles neither, and a note the two share.

Other Media (5)

Other accounts

No further accounts of this show have been added.

Sources & thanks (12)
  1. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1992 page
  2. Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1992, entries for 03/10/92, 03/12/92 and 03/13/92
  3. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1992 page
  4. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Tour day sheet headed HAMMER PROMOTION GMBH, printing DATE: 12. MÄRZ 1992, TOWN: FRANKFURT and VENUE: BATSCHKAPP (a one-page PDF linked from the March 12, 1992 entry)
  5. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — A small image of the same day sheet's page (shown under the March 12, 1992 entry)
  6. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Ticket printing 12. März 1992 and FRANKFURT • BATSCHKAPP, Maybachstr. 24 (image linked from the March 12, 1992 entry)
  7. The house archive — Folder contents in the 1992-03-12 folder
  8. The house archive — Information file (Twenty-Ten series) in the 1992-03-12 folder
  9. The house archive — Text file in the 1992-03-12 folder
  10. The house archive — Text file in the 1992-03-12 folder
  11. The house archive — Playlist file in the 1992-03-12 folder
  12. Five Horizons — 1992 page