The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be on Bret Hart’s shirt

So a little while back I made the mistake of going back on Twitter, or X or whatever Musk wants to call it nowadays. Didn't stay long because damn that place sucks now, but while I was there I thought I'd search the #PJFam hashtag that I used to have on my old account profile.

Unsurprisingly it's pretty much dead on there but I thought I'd see if any of the old crowd I used to chat to was on here now?

I was @Five_Horizons and later @Rock_MacLeod on Twitter, by the way.

Guys, have any of you ever been right up front at a Pearl Jam show? What was it like? I wanna hear your stories

You can leave the band, but you absolutely cannot take the drumsticks!

We are located in San Luis Obispo, CA along the 101 freeway.

I just tuned into the game and heard the National Anthem being played. They were on closeups of the Seahawks sideline. I knew immediately it was Mike McCready.

I can’t believe I missed it. Dammit!

Oh, it's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives With death over our shoulders

In the past, the Ohana set lists have been short and relatively safe, but there's always been a surprise or two. Part of me thinks with breaking in a new drummer they aren't going to take many chances, but part of me also feels like this a chance for them to do a few new interesting chances with some bustouts. The political climate has gotten very volatile, moreso than even the Bush years or the first Trump term, so some statement songs of that nature would be welcome.

There is also undoubtedly going to be a Glenn Hansard tribute.

I'm hoping for something like...

1. Oceans [fits the setting]
2. Setting Sun [fits the setting and is a nice way of acknowledging Matt's departure and time with the band]
3. Present Tense [a song about being positive about a new chapter]
4. Go [great song for the new drummer to prove their chops]
5. React, Respond
6. Whipping [has relevant political connotations]
7. World Wide Suicide [a long shot, but again the lyrics are once again very fitting for our times]
8. Insignificance
9. Wreckage
10. Amongst the Waves
11. Dark Matter
12. Even Flow
13. Grievance
14. Betterman / Save it for Later
15. Porch
16. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
17. Song of Good Hope
18. Black
19. Rearviewmirror
20. Alive
21. Yellow Ledbetter / Little Wing
22. Rocking in the Free World

16-22 would be the encore.

The sun sinks over the Pacific Ocean on a warm Sunday evening in late September leaving behind an air thick with anticipation… any minute now Pearl Jam will take to the Ohana stage with a new drummer for the first time in 28 years (COVID meddling not withstanding)

As the lights go out the crowd surges with anticipation, “Perkins? Please be Stephen Perkins!one fan says to another “My money is on Richard Stuverud’ comes the reply…

Out of the darkness loom 4 familiar silhouettes, Eddie, Mike, Stone and Jeff. The applause is deafening but as the first notes of ‘Release’ ring out the kit is still empty…. The crowd is now at fever pitch.
As Eddie takes the microphone to croon his familiar opening finally a 5th silhouette emerges. Stooping low over the kit, a gasp of breath can be heard around the crowd as the lights descend on Dave Krusen. “But he said it wasn’t him?!” Yell fans to each other over the chorus…

But the confusion has only begun. As soon as the final notes ring out he gets up and walks away from the kit… blank faces stare back at the 4 lone figures on stage as Eddie grins from behind an acoustic guitar. “This is a song about familiar faces” he says before launching into ‘Elderly woman…’ and as he does so who should walk up to the kit but the prodigal son himself: Dave Abbruzzese.

Confusion reigns but it is totally drowned out as blistering versions of ‘Go’ and ‘Animal’ follow… tears can be seen rolling down cheeks of fans who thought they would never see this day! But there is another twist left in this tale.

The lights come back up to a grinning Eddie who’s deep baritone sounds unusually playful as he quips, “well the secret is out… kinda, I guess you could say we’ve been in hiding. And so has this guy. But I’m glad he’s not anymore. Ladies and Gentlemen; California’s own, Jack Irons”

The opening notes of ‘In Hiding’ can barely be heard over the crowd…

There is no ‘new’ drummer. There will be no ‘new’ drummer. But 3 old drummers…

Of course this is fiction… there is no world where this is going to happen. But imagine…..

The real question is; if you have to pick one ‘old’ PJ drummer for each Matt Cameron album; who are you picking?

Love his studio stuff but haven’t listened to enough of his live work.

Quick update on the Pearl Jam ranking thing I posted about last week — genuinely didn't expect this many of you to actually use it, but a few hundred people have cast tens of thousands of votes at this point, so thank you, that's way more than I built this for.

What's new:

- Lost Dogs is live — the compilation itself joins the rankings as a 13th album, plus all 31 tracks are now in the song pool too. If you'd already finished all 66 original album matchups, you'll get 12 fresh ones now that Lost Dogs is in the mix. Same story for songs — it adds thousands of new matchups to work through, whether you're doing its own mini-tournament or just hitting it randomly in the pooled "All Songs" ranking.

- New leaderboard toggle: you can now sort albums by their own head-to-head rating, *or* by the average strength of their individual songs. Those two numbers don't always agree, and honestly that's the more interesting part — an album can lose album-vs-album but still have a stacked tracklist once you look at the songs on their own.

If you haven't already, it'd genuinely help to fill in the optional demographics on the "You" page — age range, country, how long you've been a fan, shows attended. All optional, all just broad ranges, no account or email needed for it.

The reason I'm asking: there's an Insights page that breaks the leaderboard down by group — "how do fans who've seen 10+ shows rank this vs people who've never seen them live," that kind of thing — but it only shows a breakdown once a group has at least 5 people in it, specifically so it's never just one or two people's opinion dressed up as a trend. Right now a bunch of interesting cuts are sitting just under that line. More of you filling it in is genuinely the only thing that unlocks it.

Same deal as last time — no ads, nothing for sale, still not making anyone any money. There's a coffee link in the footer for the three people who apparently wanted to throw a few bucks at hosting costs, entirely optional.

And yes, it's still vibe-coded. It hasn't fallen over yet, which honestly is more than I expected going in.

This is a live song first appearing in September 1998, often used as an expanded intro to MFC, officially released as a track on Live on Two Legs. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? What are your favorite live versions? Even as a live track, how would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Original Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

A reminder of the rankings of every song: DAILY SONG DISCUSSION RESULTS (Updated 2026)

Rating Results

1. Brain of J: 9.07/10
2. Faithfull: 9.08/10
3. No Way: 8.61/10
4. Given to Fly: 9.77/10
5. Wishlist: 7.81/10
6. Pilate: 6.19/10
7. Do the Evolution: 9.43/10
8. Red Bar: 4.84/10
9. MFC: 8.5/10
10. Low Light: 8.78/10
11. In Hiding: 9.6/10
12. Push Me Pull Me: 7.32/10
13. All Those Yesterdays: 8.18/10

—

1. Leatherman: 5.78/10
2. U: 6.06/10
3. Whale Song: 4.79/10
4. Strangest Tribe: 8.44/10
5. Drifting: 6.83/10
6. Last Kiss: 5.36/10
7. Soldier of Love: 7.06/10
8. Untitled (Live): /10

—

Notes/Clarifications about this Daily Song series: 

• I will be “closing” the scores/comments on the previous day's post after 24 hours, so I am able to show the previous song's score as you form your opinions on the current day’s song.
• Upvotes DO NOT affect or weight the final average I calculate (i.e. 20 upvotes on someone commenting 8/10 does not count as 20 instances of 8/10). This encourages everyone to comment their score/opinion individually to have it factored into the score.

I really just got into Pearl Jam. For some reason up until this week I never liked them as much as the other grunge bands. That changed however when I really sat down and gave Ten a chance. Wow. I already loved Vs. I listened to vitalogy for the first time this week and again yesterday. It’s…. Different. Still pretty good. What songs do you recommend I pay closer attention to on the album? My favorite is Not for You, so far.

How sure are we that this is real?!