I promised to write more about my October trip to Austin, Texas. I’m finally getting around to the details in anticipation of the premiere of Pearl Jam’s appearance on Austin City Limits this weekend (Saturday, November 21 on WXXI, but check your local PBS listings).

I had the good fortune to attend the simulcast in the Hogg Auditorium while Pearl Jam recorded their session for Austin City Limits in the KLRU studio.

You can watch a time lapse of what will be aired on Austin City Limits synched up with Pearl Jam’s performance of The Fixer:

I saw the unedited 2 hour concert, so if you’re interested, read further, if not, please remember to set your TiVo or DVR to record this show!

I went to Texas with my friend WashMyLove (on the TenClub forum) to see Pearl Jam headline the Austin City Limits Music Festival (Oct 2-4). We knew Pearl Jam was also taping for the Austin City Limits TV show on Saturday night, but had no hope for tickets.

The airport information center lady said it hadn’t rained in 2 years and rain was expected. On Saturday it felt like 2 years’ worth of rain was falling. We didn’t rush out to Zilker Park early because bands we wanted to see - Mos Def, The Decemberists and Dave Matthews Band - were later in the day at ACLFest. I read on the TenClub message pit that someone had extra tickets to the simulcast viewing of PJ taping at Austin City Limits, so I posted asking for details.

We chose to visit the Blanton Museum of Art on the UT campus instead of going to Zilker Park. Despite rain ponchos and waterproof shoes, we were soaked from just a 15 minute walk from the hotel upon our arrival at the museum. The Blanton was dry and had a wonderful collection of Latin American modern art.

The rain was still pouring down after the museum tour, but the internet knows no weather. TenClub forum updates on WashMyLove’s Blackberry told us how to find the guy with the extra simulcast tickets. PJ fans rule! We abandoned all plans to go to Zilker Park and used the Blackberry to find directions to the Hogg Auditorium. That meant a trip back to the UT campus. We were in line around 5pm waiting for the doors to open at 7pm for the 8pm show.

We never did find the guy with the extra tickets. Some ACL folks handed out extras. All the ACL staff were nice and professional. Their sponsors were generous with the free Budweiser, Heinekin and water, which was great since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Pearl Jam had a poster for the show and of course I bought it and an ACL t-shirt to support the local economy.

The crowd was a mix of PJ fans and folks associated with ACL or KLRU. Folks were excited as it’s rare that they setup a simulcast to watch a live taping; plus many people were like us - thrilled to have come by their tickets last minute.
We met several cool people, including Betsy and Dave, a couple who lived in Rochester for a time, but now live in Austin. They were just as thrilled as me about the show, the new album, and hearing it live. I had already heard The Fixer and Got Some at the Toronto show earlier in the summer. I was most anticipating hearing Unthought Known and The End live for the first time.

The simulcast felt like we were actually in the KLRU studio, just sitting farther back. Before the show began, they played the season opener of ACL with the Dave Matthews’ Band. It made up for missing them play that night at ACLFest. The show started late. Eddie Vedder said that they were already changing up the setlist. In a nod to history, he and Jeff Ament played Walking the Cow, a song by Austin singer Daniel Johnston. (Ed played this song a lot on his Into the Wild solo tour.)

EdVed was in hi-larious rambley storytelling mode. The whole band looked excited to play everything based on the smiles, jumping and interactions of the band. Stone Gossard must be very proud of Backspacer since he was actually wearing the special Backspacer t-shirt from Target! I love that geek.

I could understand why the ACL studio is so beloved. There’s a residual vibe from the space that translates into a warm comfortable atmosphere, no doubt fueled by the years of amazing music, and sustained by the very nice ACL staff. I’ve seen Pearl Jam play on TV a few times and Ed rarely looks comfortable around cameras. He had a couple false starts on Just Breathe. Although the crowd said it sounded good, Ed commented he wanted it to sound good to him which it finally did. After The Fixer, Ed looked like he was at home and he was hosting guests. He remarked that they were now the ACL House Band and they would have to kick them out.

The End was better than I hoped, made more lovely with the strings accompaniment. All the new songs from Backspacer sounded amazing. Mike McCready and Stone Gossard are so in synch with how they blend their guitars together.

Before playing Johnny Guitar, Ed talked about how he used to look at this Johnny Guitar Watson album with 2 women and an Afghan hound on the cover. That album cover was clearly the inspiration for the song’s story. From there he wandered into a discussion about the late ’70s and wearing spandex that he turned into a question tossed to Mike McCready about gold lame. The startled look on Mike’s face was hilarious. I know Mike had that KISS phase… After the story, and then hearing Johnny Guitar played, it turned this song into one of my favorites on the new album.

As I hoped, Unthought Known was indeed a highlight. This song has such great positive momentum. I predict Unthought Known will eventually become like another Given to Fly as an energetic sing-along at Pearl Jam shows.

Ed went on another rambling discussion that concluded with the world needing an evolution in compassion. It sounded like Ed was re-inventing Buddhism, but honestly, he lost me… then he admitted he lost himself! It was worth it once they tore into a great version of Do the Evolution.

Got Some keeps improving every time they play it. When Ed was singing Gonna Meet My Friend he had the wild genius look in his eyes that reminds me of when he sang DTE on the Single Video Theory DVD, or older versions of Not For You.

Another highlight was a cover of The Police’s Driven to Tears. The Police are the first band I loved as a teenager. Ghost in the Machine is one of my favorite albums from start to finish. It makes me a little sad that the post-vinyl generations don’t have a concept of listening to a whole album. Record albums are some of the original “audiobooks”. Sometimes they are novels, other times anthologies of really short stories.

The band invited several service members from a nearby rehab center for wounded veterans. At one point Ed needed a guitar pick and he remarked how they go for an arm and a leg on Ebay. One of the veterans yelled something like “I’ll trade you for mine!” Ed then gave the young man each member’s guitar pick, and Matt Cameron’s drumsticks, then signed the guy’s prosthetic leg and then another guy’s leg. Ed told all the soldiers that the band would sign anything more after the show.

The local string players returned and tried to follow Ed’s instructions and keep up as he played Lukin on acoustic at ultra punk speed. I couldn’t care if I ever hear Lukin again, but Ed seems to really enjoy playing the song so I predict it’s not going away. With the lightspeed tempo, it’s over in under 2 minutes. Now Porch and Betterman are songs I don’t seem to tire of hearing. Porch was another standout version to close the set.

Boom, the organist, got a little teary after Ed told the story of how Boom would watch ACL with his Dad and dream about playing there some day. Boom got the spotlight on their cover of Crazy Mary. I’ve heard this songs too many times, so this very extended version was a bit too much of a good thing for me, but very nice for Boom. Mike McCready ended things with his version of the Star Spangled Banner, which is always a treat. I believe he gave that guitar to one of the veterans later too.

Another amazing night with Pearl Jam. Thanks to the band, the drought-ending rain, TenClub forum fans and the generous people at Austin City Limits. The ACL taping simulcast was the perfect warm-up for the big show on Sunday night.

Setlist
first set: Walking The Cow, Just Breathe, The End, The Fixer, Johnny Guitar, Amongst The Waves, Unthought Known, Army Reserve, Driven To Tears, Do The Evolution, Got Some
second set: Lukin, Red Mosquito, Inside Job, Better Man, Gonna See My Friend, Porch
encore: Crazy Mary, Star Spangled Banner

Update: A great full-screen video of Pearl Jam’s Austin City Limits TV appearance is available on the PBS website here. Another reason to support public television!

Come back for the details of Pearl Jam headlining the final night of ACL Music Festival 2009: Sunday Muddy Sunday.