Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > November > 18 > Entry
DVR alert! Pearl Jam on ‘ACL’ Saturday
Pearl Jam’s “Austin City Limits” taping, reviewed live here by Austin 360’s Chad Swiatecki, hits the small screen Saturday at 7 p.m. on KLRU. It’s the last program of 2009 for “ACL.”
Renowned local string ensemble Will Taylor and Strings Attached joined the legendary rock band on stage for two songs — “The End” and “Just Breathe” — as well as a brief improvisational jam. Taylor says Pearl Jam reached out to him via e-mail about a week and half before the taping, sending along sheet music in PDF form.
“It came completely out of the blue. I frankly was not real familiar with Pearl Jam other than that they were a very famous rock band that had been around about 20 years and had a lot of longevity,” says Taylor. “But I recognized it was a great opportunity. All these years of living in Austin and contributing to the music here and I’d never been on any ACL program. When I was backstage talking to (“Austin City Limits” producer) Terry Lickona he was like ‘So how many times is this for you?’ And I was like ‘Actually, this is the first time.’”
Taylor and company also joined Pearl Jam backstage for a slightly less intense undertaking — a few rounds of ping pong. The band famously carts a ping pong table around on tour as a way of blowing off stress. The entire experience, Taylor says, was slightly intimidating but went off without a hitch.
“It was thrilling and terrifying, even with all these years — for myself, over 25 years — of playing on various stages all over the world. Getting to play on Austin City Limits was a bit terrifying,” Taylor says. “The idea that millions of people are going to be watching it. But it was great.”
Check out “Just Breathe,” featuring Will Taylor and Strings Attached, below, and when you’re done be sure to surf on over to the official Austin City Limits Web site, where you can watch a time-lapse video of the entire taping. Keep your eyes peeled and you just might spot our own Chad Swiatecki.
Rounding out the 35th season are these shows:
January 9- Allen Toussaint
January 16- K’ Naan / Mos Def
January 23- The Avett Brothers / Heartless Bastards
January 30- Steve Earle / Kris Kristofferson
February 6- Esperanza Spalding / Madeleine Peyroux
February 13- Them Crooked Vultures
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | |
