Live at Benaroya Hall is a two-disc live album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, recorded on October 22, 2003 at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington and released on July 27, 2004 through BMG.

Live at Benaroya Hall
Cover to the Compact Disc version of the album
Live album by
ReleasedJuly 27, 2004
RecordedOctober 22, 2003, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington
GenreAlternative rock, acoustic rock
Length129:27
LanguageEnglish
LabelBMG
Pearl Jam live albums chronology
Live on Two Legs
(1998)
Live at Benaroya Hall
(2004)
Live in NYC 12/31/92
(2006)
Vinyl LP
Artwork for the 2004 vinyl edition
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Q[2]
Rolling Stone[3]

Overview edit

The concert—which took place on October 22, 2003 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington—is acoustic, and was performed and released as a benefit for YouthCare, a non-profit charity in Seattle. The album was also released as a limited edition quadruple vinyl through Ten Club, Pearl Jam's fan club. Only 2,000 were pressed—each individually numbered by hand—and sold out within minutes of being on sale.[citation needed]

Live at Benaroya Hall was released through a one-album deal with BMG,[4] and the band used the experiment to later sign with BMG subsidiary J Records to produce the album Pearl Jam (Avocado).[5] It debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold approximately 52,000 copies in its first week.[6] As of April 2006, Live at Benaroya Hall has sold 168,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.[5]

Reception edit

AllMusic staff writer Jason Birchmeier gave the album two and a half out of five stars, writing, "Of the many, many live albums Pearl Jam publicly released, their October 23, 2003, show at Benaroya Hall is one of the more novel ones... Such novelty, of course, doesn't make Benaroya Hall an especially excellent set (in fact, it feels a little one-dimensional and subdued because of the acoustic instrumentation), though it is one of the more unique and interesting of the many, many shows Pearl Jam released publicly over the years."[1] Rolling Stone staff writer Christian Hoard gave the album three out of five stars, writing that the " album's warm, wizened feel and unusual set list are appropriate for souvenir-collecting obsessives and lapsed fans looking for a new take on Pearl Jam's substantial catalog."[3]

Track listing edit

Disc one
  1. "Of the Girl" (Stone Gossard) – 5:22
  2. "Low Light" (Jeff Ament) – 4:18
  3. "Thumbing My Way" (Eddie Vedder) – 4:49
  4. "Thin Air" (Gossard) – 4:25
  5. "Fatal" (Gossard) – 3:49
  6. "Nothing as It Seems" (Ament) – 7:29
  7. "Man of the Hour" (Vedder) – 3:58
  8. "Immortality" (Dave Abbruzzese, Ament, Gossard, Mike McCready, Vedder) – 6:18
  9. "Off He Goes" (Vedder) – 5:53
  10. "Around the Bend" (Vedder) – 5:37
  11. "I Believe in Miracles" (Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey) – 5:29
  12. "Sleight of Hand" (Ament, Vedder) – 5:13
  13. "All or None" (Gossard, Vedder) – 7:42
  14. "Lukin" (Vedder) – 2:07
Disc two
  1. "Parting Ways" (Vedder) – 5:24
  2. "Down" (Gossard, McCready, Vedder) – 3:08
  3. "Encore Break" – 0:49
  4. "Can't Keep" (Vedder) – 3:15
  5. "Dead Man" (Vedder) – 4:24
  6. "Masters of War" (Bob Dylan) – 6:06
  7. "Black" (Vedder, Gossard) – 7:41
  8. "Crazy Mary" (Victoria Williams) – 7:40
  9. "25 Minutes to Go" (Shel Silverstein) – 4:43
  10. "Daughter" (Abbruzzese, Ament, Gossard, McCready, Vedder) – 6:30
  11. "Encore Break" – 1:06
  12. "Yellow Ledbetter" (Ament, McCready, Vedder) – 6:01

Personnel edit

Pearl Jam
Additional musicians and production

Chart positions edit

Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[7] 27
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8] 31
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9] 38
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[10] 10
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[11] 25
French Albums (SNEP)[12] 116
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 100
Irish Albums (IRMA)[14] 48
Italian Albums (FIMI)[15] 10
New Zealand (RMNZ)[16] 12
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[17] 2
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 67
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 76
US Billboard 200[20] 18
US Top Internet Albums (Billboard)[citation needed] 1

References edit

  1. ^ a b Birchmeier, Jason. "allmusic ((( Live at Benaroya Hall > Review )))". Allmusic. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  2. ^ (August 2004). "Review: Live at Benaroya Hall". Q (p. 122).
  3. ^ a b Hoard, Christian (2004-09-02). "Pearl Jam: Live at Benaroya Hall". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
  4. ^ Missio, David (2004-06-14). "Pearl Jam Plug An Acoustic Set Into Your Stereo". ChartAttack.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2007-07-02.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ a b Cohen, Jonathan (2006-04-21). "Pearl Jam's 'New' World Order". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  6. ^ "Pearl Jam Eyeing Winter Studio Return". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  7. ^ Pearl Jam in Australian Charts Archived October 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.
  8. ^ "Austrian Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  9. ^ "Belgian Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". belgiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  10. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  11. ^ "Dutch Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  12. ^ "French Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  13. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Pearl Jam – Liva at Benaroya Hall - Oct. 22 2003" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  14. ^ "Irish Album/Singles Chart". irish-charts.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  15. ^ "Pearl Jam - Live at Benaroya Hall - Oct. 22 2003 (Album)". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  16. ^ Pearl Jam in New Zealand Charts . Charts.Org.NZ. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.
  17. ^ "Pearl Jam - Live at Benaroya Hall - Oct. 22 2003 (Album)". portuguesecharts.com. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  18. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  19. ^ "Chart Log: 1994-2006". Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  20. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 2, 2021.

External links edit