Inside PBS Blog

On Saturday, November 21, Pearl Jam will make its first appearance on AUSTIN CITY LIMITS. (Check local listings.)  “After 18 years of playing as a group, there are still things out there that give us an elevated sense of experience and this was certainly one of them,” said front man Eddie Vedder in an interview with ACL. “I sometimes wonder how many more ‘firsts’ can there be,” said  Terry Lickona,  ACL producer, “this will go down as one of our all-time classic shows . . . there are some musical and emotional highs that gave me goose bumps.” The PBS.org Video portal features a concert preview with Vedder’s ballad, “Just Breathe” from the new album, “Backspacer.”

With roots in classic rock and punk, Pearl Jam exploded onto the global music scene soon after forming in 1991 - among other such Seattle greats as Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.  The band’s discography of 9 albums, 28 singles, and hundreds of bootlegs continue to attract loyal fans; fans who travel to concerts, post rare online videos, and chat at forums.pearljam.com. For the release of “Backspacer,” the band streamed exclusive performances and interviews at pearljamradiotakeover.com. As with many Pearl Jam efforts, this online event also fundraised for Feeding America, a domestic anti-hunger charity, with fans donations and proceeds from a limited edition t-shirt.

PBS coverage of this Pearl Jam exclusive includes AUSTIN CITY LIMITS web features, such as a time-lapsed video of the concert taping. For the Arts Beat blog, PBS NEWSHOUR correspondent Jeffery Brown produced web exclusive reports on the concert and ACL’s 35-year history. On November 22, the PBS.org Video portal will stream the broadcast, among a growing archive of commercial-free concerts, including Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews and more.

Comments on this page have now been closed.