On September 20, Cameron Crowe’s lauded documentary on Seattle’s greatest band will premiere at theaters across the planet, including our very own Cinerama. Engagements that night and on 9/21 have already sold out–but they’ve added a 9/22 showing, so get tickets while you can. Pearl Jam Twenty, an exclamation mark on the two-decade milestone year dubbed “PJ20,” will also debut on PBS October 21, and the network is releasing advance clips of the film for our viewing pleasure. Try watching today’s preview—a surprising glimpse at how the band formed for rehearsals and got its Vedder man—without grinning.
And now witness how the guys look and sound today—actually yesterday, via Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night. As a surprise treat, Pearl Jam played a punk-brief new cut, “Olé,” on the show and made the studio version available for free. Like many tracks on 2009’s Backspacer, this one is fast and tight, a burst of seemingly spontaneous energy. Not a bad taste of what may show up on the next record—the band’s tenth—reportedly already in the works. Try watching without bobbing your head.
And, lest you think Eddie Vedder is becoming a humorless, Bono-ish celebrity (and you’ve never seen Walk Hard), try watching this without laughing. And singing along.