Pearl Jam, MTV Unplugged 3/16/92

Friday's Pearl Jam post put me back into PJ mode, so I'm pulling out the archive with their MTV Unplugged performance.

The show was filmed at midnight on 3/16/92 at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, NY and aired on 5/13/92. I explicitly remember this as the first time I ever saw Pearl Jam perform live (on air, of course) and was blown away by Eddie's voice and the translation of the songs in an acoustic setting. You may recall images of Eddie standing on his stool and writing "Pro Choice" on his arm with a marker during a thrilling version of "Porch." Legend has it that the band had wanted to play "Sonic Reducer" instead of "Jeremy," the video that was currently on heavy rotation on the network but MTV heavies had their way and the band relented. Another confirmed rumor suggests that MTV also later asked Pearl Jam to do another Unplugged segment which they turned down.

Strangely, this show was never released as an album but you can find the album as a bootleg in many places. Here is the setlist, taken from Pearl Jam's Web site with mp3's of a few of my favorites, including the two songs that did not air (email us if you're interested in any others).

[aired version, 30 min]: Even Flow, Jeremy, Alive, Black, State of Love and Trust, Porch

[complete, 51 minute set]: Oceans, State of Love and Trust, Alive, Black, Jeremy, Porch, Even Flow, Rockin' in the Free World

Pearl Jam, MTV Unplugged:
MP3: "Oceans"
MP3: "State of Love and Trust"
MP3: "Porch"
MP3: "Rockin' in the Free World"

Pearl Jam - "Porch"