Don’t need a helmet, got a hard, hard head

This made me smile today because it reminds me of something that near happened to me once in Edinburgh (minus the army helmet). Plus, it is a good segue into a few more covers & live tracks from the 2006 Pearl Jam tour thus far that are begging to be shared:

From the expanded Vedder interview in Rolling Stone

Vedder: “I went through this f*cking yearlong period where I wore helmets all the time. It was like army helmets that I’d find, or just like whatever. It was this kind of analogy, like I need a helmet…I felt like…it’s just funny looking…sleeping in a f*cking army helmet.

I remember one day after a Lollapalooza gig, I woke up in a hotel in an army helmet and a T-shirt. And, I heard a live band playing. I thought it was a live band. So I went out the door to see if it was live. I had to know — was that a real stand-up bass? Or were they just playing music in the atrium or whatever? So I pushed the door open, went to look, you know, and I looked back and the door just went [makes a clicking sound].

So I’m standing in the hotel, in this atrium thing and I’ve got an army helmet on and a T-shirt.

RS: In like your underwear? Nothing?

Vedder: “Nothing; army helmet and a T-shirt. I was thinking, ‘Aww, this is really bad.’ And so I go down to the maids, but they won’t let me in. I don’t know anybody else’s room number. Everyone’s got a pseudonym. I don’t know who’s what. And, so I take the T-shirt off, wrap it around the back, put the army helmet over the front, go down in this glass elevator, it’s Easter Sunday — this all starts to hit me — it’s Easter Sunday, there’s all these people in their Easter [best]. It was somewhere in the Midwest like Milwaukee or something. I had to walk through the people, and parents were hiding their kids from this freaky guy. It must have been like a real apparition. Then — sorry I got into this story; I’ll just finish it — but the funny thing is that I actually waited in line. There was a line at the front desk. I actually waited in line behind two other people. It was kind of a Tarzan goes to Vietnam look or something. And then of course you get to the lady, tell her your problem, locked out of your room and, of course, she asks for an ID. That’s when I lost it.”

TUNES:

Beast of Burden – 5/10/06
(Stones cover) Loose like the one from Brixton Academy 7/14/93. Only been played live maybe 3 times.

Save It For Later – 5/17/06
(English Beat cover)

Around The Bend – 5/19/06
Lovely little gem from No Code, rarely played live

Can’t Explain – 5/19/06
(The Who cover) This was played live by PJ for the first time at the 11/7/95 San Diego show that I was at. This version is acoustic; the crowd enthusiastically sings along.

Dead Man Walking – 5/19/06
The first PJ song I ever saw performed live, at the pre-show opener, San Jose 11/4/95. The website is wrong, says the first time it was played was 1998 (and that it has only been played 4 times live) – maybe they don’t count solo pre-sets with just Vedder.

Hard to Imagine – 5/19/06
A great unreleased song, only been played a few dozen times live.

Kick Out The Jams – 5/22/06
(MC5 cover)

Forever Young – 5/24/06
(Dylan cover for Bob’s birthday) First time ever played live.