In 7 words or less: Glossy doc on PJ's twentieth anniversary
Best bits? Eddie Vedder when he used to climb the stage rigging like a nutter, and throw himself into the crowd from 20-30ft. Seeing the guys as they are now compared to the youthful fresh faced archive footage. When they get booed by a Texas crowd playing Bu$hleaguer. Pearl Jam playing The Who's 'Baba O'Reilly' at Lollapalooza was a personal favourite.
Did it make you think thoughts? Yes, it made me feel old! I've always thought of 'Yield' as a later album in their career and it was released in '98! Ouch. But what an awesome band, uncompromising and original. A very interesting story of a band that came out of the tragedy of the young death of their singer and formed an unlikely alliance with like minded friends/associates to produce some amazing songs/albums/performances and one of the few who survived the overwhelming attention and hype of the Seattle rock scene of the late 80's/early 90's. It's easy to forget how young they were, which makes you realise why a lot of their peers succumbed to the pressures/excesses of fame, success and music biz exploitation. This has a very personal touch as director Cameron Crowe is both a fan and former music journalist who followed their career closely. It's made up of hundreds of hours of archive/rare footage plus lovely looking interviews and profiles of the band as they are now.
Would you watch it again? I probably would, have always been a fan and there a lots of great moments.
Rating (out of 100%): A lovingly crafted doc, with lots of personal touches and candid interviews with the band members and associates, expertly crafted by a talented director, it uses the archive video to maximum effect. There is so much detail and countless sources of footage that it avoids the tedium that sometimes creeps in to other rockumentaries. 91%
