Thursday, December 27, 2012

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2012, #2

BRIAN FARIAS



I'd like to link to the story where we originally announced that one lucky, charter member of the Ten Club was going to Amsterdam with the band, but frankly ... I was too jealous to report it in the first place.  Back in June, Pearl Jam announced that they had dug up their first ten fan club members and were going to celebrate them by offering one of them a trip to Amsterdam to see the band over the course of two nights.

Brian Farias of Rhode Island was their man.  As if the trip wouldn't have been enough of a prize, Eddie and Jeff surprised him by asking him to write the setlist for the second night.  All of us have our opinions of a perfect setlist from the absurd to the standard, but frankly, Brian nailed it.  Here's what he had to say to Tim Bierman, Ten Club Manager, about the process.
Ed ended up bringing me back into the dressing room and we talked for a long time about lots of things from when I first met him up to the present. Then he gave me a god education on what he goes through when he makes a set list. Which really helped me in making my final list. 
He gave me his Master List which had all of the Pearl Jam songs and covers that they play. He also showed me a list of all the songs that they've ever played in the Netherlands. So he kind of showed me his process, his research that he does before every show, which is so above and beyond anything I've ever heard of a band doing. He really takes into consideration what these people possibly never heard.

He did encourage me to go for it and write down whatever I wanted. He did write down four songs that I might want to include, which I did and ironically he scratched two of them.
Brian's Final Set List
What was the highlight of the show?
Every Pearl Jam fan has their bucket list. The only one on mine of the regular songs is "Bugs". He originally told me he couldn't do it, because he didn't have the accordion. So I kinda cut a deal with him and asked if he could just do a few lines from it a cappella, then I could just check it off my list. And you saw what happened - He took it one step further by learning it on guitar and turning it into a totally different feeling song.

Did Brian have a "must hear" song?
... right off the bat, the 28 songs that they played the night before were off the board. And there's "Release". It's a song I've heard man, many times but it's one I have to hear. I won't ever get sick of it and I definitely have to hear it. It's a song that means a lot to me.