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It still leaves me dumbfounded to think that Pearl Jam have been around for 20 years -- and that, in fact, we're kind of celebrating in general the 20th anniversary of the era in which a whole slew of bands from Seattle shook the world and saved rock and roll.

I can say without hesitation that Pearl Jam's April 23rd, 1992 show at the Cameo Theater on Miami Beach remains to this day the best concert I've ever been to. It wasn't just a rock show -- it was a religious gathering.

If you haven't seen Cameron Crowe's incredible PJ 20 documentary yet, you really need to.

From '92, here's the band covering Rockin' in the Free World.

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Still one of the greats.

Here's Pearl Jam -- Alive.

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Later this afternoon, I have to drive Inara to the airport where Jayne will be waiting to pick her up. I likely won't see her again for two months.

I've described in detail before what it's like to suddenly wake up and have my little girl not be there anymore -- how it feels like the light's gone out of the world -- so I'll spare everyone the details about the ways in which it gets more and more excruciating each time.

Here's Pearl Jam's Just Breathe.

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Not exactly the world's best copy, but a great song nonetheless.

Here's Pearl Jam doing Rearview Mirror live.

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Conventional wisdom holds that Nirvana's Nevermind was the best album of the 90s. I've never agreed with this; I always thought that if any record deserved that title it was Radiohead's OK Computer, which held up far better over time.

That said, last night I picked up the new Legacy Edition of Pearl Jam's stunning 1991 debut, Ten, featuring an updated mix of the record by Brendan O'Brien, and you know something? It affected me the same way it did the first time I heard it. The thing is simply a fucking masterpiece. It's painful and chilling and ferocious and lovely and powerful and heartbreaking and earnest and hopeful. It reminded me of what it was like to be young, in the best possible way -- maybe because no one makes music like that anymore.

Listening to it left me believing that there was no question that it was and is the best album of the 90s.

Here's a live performance of Jeremy.

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My trip down memory lane reaches its inevitable end with six-and-a-half minutes of absolute perfection.

One of my all-time favorite songs -- Mother Love Bone's Crown of Thorns -- performed live not by the original band but by the band it evolved into: Pearl Jam.



And as a bonus, my favorite Pearl Jam song, performed live in Italy and set to images from the show.

Here's Release.