Lightning & Thunder in Milwaukee
The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's note says Eddie's guests on "Forever In Blue Jeans" were a pair paying tribute to Neil Diamond, which it names Lightning & Thunder, and Five Horizons' note names them Thunder and Lightning. Both notes say a goofy new riff from Stone in the middle of "Blood" made the band laugh, and the chronology's note says "Even Flow" was stopped and started again.
On Saturday, July 8, 1995, Pearl Jam played the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the headings of both chronologies carry the word Summerfest. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology gives an attendance of 24 000 and marks the show sold out, and Five Horizons gives 24,000 with no status. The chronology's opening acts line names Bad Religion, then The Frogs, and Five Horizons' support act line names The Frogs and Bad Religion. The chronology prints nineteen entries in its setlist, three in a first encore and two in a second, twenty-four in all, while Five Horizons gives twenty-three on its set line and two on its one encore line, twenty-five in all. Both notes end by calling it a fun show in which the band showed a lot of energy.
The show
Summerfest, First or Last
Both chronologies head the night at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI: the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds USA and closes its heading with Summerfest in parentheses, and Five Horizons opens its heading with Summerfest. The house's information file gives Marcus Amphitheater, Milwaukee, WI on its third line. Five Horizons' heading runs over two lines and brackets 130m at the end of the second without stating what it measures, and the chronology's heading carries no figure. Both notes open by saying that security let cameras into the show, that the venue has no pit, and that its seats are bolted down, in their words. Neither chronology's entry gives a capacity, a door or stage time, a ticket price, or a promoter.
The Performance
The chronology's setlist runs "Oceans," "Go," "Animal," "Even Flow," "Corduroy," "Whipping," "Better Man," "Dissident," "Last Exit," "Spin The Black Circle," "Tremor Christ," "Jeremy," "Daughter," "State Of Love And Trust," "Black," "Not For You," "Immortality," "Alive," and "Blood." Its first encore holds "I Got Id," "Rearviewmirror," and "Yellow Ledbetter," and its second holds "Forever In Blue Jeans," which it follows with the words Eddie with Lightning & Thunder in parentheses, and "Porch." Five Horizons' set line gives twenty-three entries, the chronology's nineteen in the same order with one more, Improv, after "Daughter," and three more where the chronology's first encore stands, and its encore line gives two. The chronology's note says "Even Flow" was stopped and started again. Both notes say the mood was tentative at first, which they put down to the way the show before it, in San Francisco, had ended, and they recall in parentheses that Eddie had left the stage early there because of food poisoning. In their judgment the show turned unforgettable as the band grew comfortable before an audience they call extremely appreciative. Both notes speak of a long "Alive," jammy in their word, and say that Stone found a goofy new riff, again their word, for the middle of "Blood," which made the band laugh. The chronology's note says the guests Eddie brought out for "Forever In Blue Jeans" were a tribute duo to Neil Diamond from the area, which it names Lightning & Thunder; Five Horizons' note gives them as a Neil Diamond impersonator and his wife, local folks it names Thunder and Lightning. Both notes say Eddie pulled up a chair, sat with his legs crossed, and sang the second verse.
The Next Step
San Francisco, fourteen days earlier, is told in Neil Young in Golden Gate Park. Both chronologies put the next show the following night, July 9, at the same amphitheater in Milwaukee; it is told in Eddie Joins the Frogs in Milwaukee.
Recording & sound
What the Record Preserves
The chronology's entry ends with a remaster series line that names the band, the date and Milwaukee and carries the label info-file. Five Horizons' entry closes with short lines that read as link labels of its page, opening with setlist scan and ending with Radio link. Ten objects hang under the night's heading on the chronology's page. Two are images whose markup titles read Setlist, one is an image whose markup title reads Ticket, and a fourth image has a markup title that begins with Backstage and names Eddie. The other six are untitled: two links to PDF files, two images, and two links into the chronology's remaster series, one to a zip file and one to a text file. The house holds five files for the night: a playlist file, and the remaster series' information file and its fingerprint list, each in two identical copies. The information file opens with three lines naming the band, the date and the amphitheater with its city and state. Its sources field gives two sources, one marked left that starts from Sonic Studios (DSM6) and one marked right that starts from Core Sound, each ending on CDR, and its lineage line runs from CDR to FLAC files. The file's notes say, by two abbreviations it does not expand, that the left channel comes from the source it calls SS and the right from the one it calls CS, and they list the smoothing of fluctuations in volume, equalizing for tonal balance, and a boost in volume. The information file's twenty-seven numbered labels open with Intro and follow the chronology's setlist from "Oceans" to "Blood," and two encore groups come after them, each opening with an Encore Break label, the first ending with "Yellow Ledbetter" and the second giving "Forever in Blue Jeans," followed by the words w/ Lightning & Thunder in parentheses, and "Porch." The fingerprint list gives each of twenty-seven FLAC file names a value, the names following the labels with the guest words dropped from the twenty-sixth. The playlist file names twenty-four MP3 files, each a title followed by the date in parentheses, in the order of the information file's labels without Intro, the two Encore Break labels, and the guest words. The information file, the fingerprint list and the playlist file name no recordist and give no length for the recording. Milwaukee on July 8 comes down to one amphitheater named alike in both chronologies, Summerfest in both headings, 130m that Five Horizons brackets without saying what it measures, an attendance of 24 000 in the chronology and 24,000 in Five Horizons, two acts in two orders, twenty-four entries against twenty-five, two notes that share the guests on "Forever In Blue Jeans" under two names, ten objects, and five house files.
Other Media (4)
Other accounts
No further accounts of this show have been added.
Sources & thanks (4)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1995 page
- Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1995, entries for 07/08/95 and 07/09/95
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1995 page, the entry for the date
- The house archive — Information file and fingerprint file (remaster series) and a playlist file in the 1995-07-08 folders