Next month, Pearl Jam will arrive on British shores for a huge show at north London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the sort of mammoth venue that has long been custom for Eddie Vedder’s crew. It is a far cry from where they played their first ever UK gig back at the beginning of 1992. Whilst it’s assumed by many that Pearl Jam’s first performance on British soil took place at London’s Borderline, they had actually played a small club in Southend-on-Sea the night before.
That’s right, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The home of the world’s longest pleasure pier (a mile and a third, pier fact fans), the home of the end credits to Minder (on the world’s longest pleasure pier), the home of Adventure Island (formerly Peter Pan’s Playground), where Depeche Mode played their earliest shows and where the face of Wilko Johnson can be seen on the pub sign hanging on the now-closed Railway Hotel, and where Oasis filmed their classic concert film Live By The Sea. I mean, when you read all that, it’s like, ‘Of course Pearl Jam wanted their first ever UK show to be in Southend!’ (can you tell that this writer lives in Southend?)
