Pearl Jam Official Bootlegs


The Pearl Jam "Official" Bootlegs are a large, continually growing series of live albums by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam noted the desire of fans to own a copy of the shows they attended and the popularity of bootleg recordings. The band had been open in the past about allowing fans to make amateur recordings, and these "official bootlegs" were an attempt to provide a more affordable and better quality product for fans. The band has sold more than 13.5 million copies of shows since launching the bootleg series in 2000. The official bootlegs are a complete record of almost every show the band plays, excluding club "warm-up" dates.

2000–2001

Pearl Jam's official bootleg program was begun for the band's 2000 Binaural Tour. 72 of the "bootlegs" were released to stores in three waves in late 2000 and early 2001, with the 25 European bootlegs coming first. Every show was released in a cardboard sleeve containing two CDs, with the exception of the 72nd and final show on the tour, November 6, 2000 at KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle show was released as a triple-disc set, and was the highest-charting of the series, peaking at number 98 on the Billboard 200, and was called an "essential live document" by Allmusic. Eighteen shows from the tour were chosen by the band as "Ape/Man" shows, which, according to bassist Jeff Ament, were shows the band found "really exciting." With the release of these official bootlegs, Pearl Jam would set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200 at the same time.

2000 Official Bootlegs

Europe Bootlegs
Released: September 26, 2000
North America Leg 1 Bootlegs
Released: February 27, 2001
North America Leg 2 Bootlegs
Released: March 27, 2001

2003

The CDs continued for the 2003 Riot Act Tour, but they were not available in stores at first. They had to be ordered through the band's official website, and were mailed out. The bootlegs were made available within a week of each show date. After each leg of the tour, however, certain standout shows were released in stores: February 23, 2003 in Perth, Australia, March 3, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan, May 3, 2003 in State College, Pennsylvania, July 8, 2003 and July 9, 2003 in New York City, and July 11, 2003 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The State College show was a three-hour, triple disc show, which vocalist Eddie Vedder vowed to make "the longest Pearl Jam show ever played." It was surpassed by the Mansfield show, from the Tweeter Center Boston, in which the band played 45 songs, including an acoustic set. The New York shows, from Madison Square Garden, were released both separately and as a boxed set. The July 8, 2003 show was also released as the Live at the Garden DVD. In 2004, Pearl Jam released Live at Benaroya Hall, and while it came in similar packaging to the bootlegs, it is not considered to be part of the series.

2003 Official Bootlegs

* denotes a bootleg released to retail stores on June 10, 2003

** denotes a bootleg released to retail stores on July 15, 2003

*** denotes a bootleg released to retail stores on September 16, 2003

**** denotes a bootleg released as a special edition to retail stores only in Mexico
Note: Number 53 in the series was to have been the band's show at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, however the show was cancelled.
Australia/Japan Bootlegs
North America Leg 1 Bootlegs
North America Leg 2 Bootlegs

2005–2006

Pearl Jam took a year-long touring break until the 2004 Vote for Change tour, but the band elected not to release bootlegs for the six shows from that tour. The band took yet another year off until a fall 2005 tour of Canada and South America. For the first time, the bootlegs were MP3-only, again only available through the band's official website. The music downloads were accompanied by pictures from individual shows. The MP3-only format expanded to include lossless FLAC format for the band's 2006 summer tour for its self-titled eighth album. The digital bootlegs were typically made available within 2–3 days of each show date. The bootlegs were available through the band's official download website, which has since been discontinued.

2005 Official Bootlegs

North America Bootlegs
Latin America Bootlegs
North America Leg 1 Bootlegs
North America Leg 2 Bootlegs
Europe Bootlegs
Australia/Hawaii Bootlegs
The band elected not to release official bootlegs for its 2007 European Tour. Official bootlegs are available for the band's 2008 U.S. Tour through the band's official website in FLAC, MP3, and CD formats. The 2008 bootlegs were released through Kufala Recordings.
Pearl Jam released bootlegs of shows from their 2009-2010 Backspacer Tour exclusively on its website. The bootlegs are available for digital download in MP3 and FLAC format as well as burn-to-order compact disc formats with the CD orders fulfilled by Kufala Records.

2008 Official Bootlegs

North America Bootlegs
Europe Bootlegs
Canada Bootlegs
Latin America Bootlegs
Official bootlegs for the band's 2012 Tour were available through the band's official website in MP3, FLAC, 24-bit/96 kHz FLAC formats, as well as physical compact discs. The CD orders are fulfilled by nugs.net. In addition, ALAC and 24-bit/96 kHz ALAC formats are available on the nugs.net website.
The 2012 bootlegs each premiered one week before their official release on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio.
Bootlegs in this format continued to be released on subsequent Pearl Jam tours from 2013 through to 2018.

2012 Official Bootlegs

Europe bootlegs
North America bootlegs
South America bootlegs
North America bootlegs
Australia/New Zealand bootlegs
Europe bootlegs
North America bootlegs
Latin America bootlegs
North America bootlegs
Latin America Bootlegs
Europe bootlegs
North America bootlegs