Immortality Scrapped at Merriweather Post Pavilion
Both notes say that after the band had played the intro of "Immortality," Eddie took a drink, and that the band then turned to "Better Man," scrapping "Immortality." The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's note says that it took 6 minutes for the show to sell out.
On Tuesday, September 24, 1996, Pearl Jam played in Columbia, Maryland, and both chronologies head the night at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology gives an attendance of 18 000 and marks the show sold out, and Five Horizons gives 18,000 with no status. The chronology's opening act line names Fastbacks, and Five Horizons' support act line names The Fastbacks. The chronology prints eighteen entries in its setlist, five in a first encore and two in a second, twenty-five in all, and Five Horizons gives twenty-four in all. Both notes say that the show opened with "Long Road," in a version they call particularly sweet.
The show
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Five Horizons brackets 115m after its heading without stating what it measures, and the chronology's heading carries no figure. The chronology's note says that it took 6 minutes for the show to sell out. Neither chronology's entry gives a capacity, a door or stage time, a ticket price, or a promoter.
The Performance
The chronology's soundcheck line gives "I'm Open," "Elderly Woman," which it follows with three dots, "Rearviewmirror," and "The Kids Are Alright," and Five Horizons' soundcheck line gives four entries. The chronology's setlist runs "Long Road," "Hail Hail," "Animal," "Spin The Black Circle," "In My Tree," "Corduroy," "Not For You," "Jeremy," "Red Mosquito," "Black," "Habit," "Rearviewmirror," "Immortality," "Better Man," "Whipping," "State Of Love And Trust," "Alive," and "Blood." The chronology's first encore holds "Who You Are," "Even Flow," "Daughter," "Mankind," and "Leaving Here," and its second holds "Wash" and "Yellow Ledbetter." Five Horizons' set line gives seventeen entries, its first encore line five, and its second two. Both notes say that "Habit" was modified. Both notes say that after the band had played the intro of "Immortality," Eddie, Ed in Five Horizons' note, took a drink, and that the band then turned to "Better Man," scrapping "Immortality." Both notes say that the second encore brought the crowd a surprise, a version of "Wash" that they call super.
The Next Step
Toledo, two days earlier, is told in Indifference Under the House Lights in Toledo. Both chronologies put the next show two days later, September 26, in Augusta, Maine; it is told in Eddie Solo in Augusta.
Recording & sound
What the Record Preserves
The chronology's entry ends with a remaster series line that names the band, the date, and Columbia and carries the label info-file. Five Horizons' entry closes with a short line that reads as a link label of its page: review. Under the night's heading the chronology's page hangs four images, three links to PDF files, and two links into its remaster series, one to a zip file and one to a text file. The house holds two files for the night: the remaster series' information file and its fingerprint list. The information file opens with three lines naming the band, the date, and the pavilion with its city and state. Under a line that reads Sources, FLAC is the last word of the chain its line B gives. Two lines then say which source feeds each side of the mix: the left is source A's left and the right is source B's right, except for the right side's first minute, which the file gives as source A's right. FLAC is both the first and the last word of the file's lineage line. The file's notes say that the speed was a little off, so source A was changed by 0.015%, that swings in volume were evened out and each source was equalized for tonal balance, and that loud claps were taken out and the level of the final mix was raised. The file's twenty-eight numbered labels open with Intro and follow the chronology's setlist in its order from "Long Road" to "Blood," and two groups come after them, each opening with an Encore Break label, the first running from "Who You Are" to "Leaving Here" and the second giving "Wash" and "Yellow Ledbetter." The fingerprint list gives each of twenty-eight FLAC file names a value, and the names repeat the labels but for one comma. Columbia comes down to one pavilion under one name, 115m that Five Horizons brackets without saying what it measures, an attendance of 18 000 in the chronology and 18,000 in Five Horizons, one act on both bill lines, twenty-five entries against twenty-four, a sellout in 6 minutes by the chronology's note, an "Immortality" that both notes say was scrapped, nine objects under the date, and two house files.
Other Media (1)
Other accounts
No further accounts of this show have been added.
Sources & thanks (4)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1996 page
- Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1996, entries for 09/22/96, 09/24/96, and 09/26/96
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1996 page, the entry for the date
- The house archive — Information file and fingerprint file (remaster series) in the 1996-09-24 folder