It was very exciting for me to learn of the licensing deal reached between Pearl Jam and Fox Sports for the upcoming World Series.
If I understand it correctly, all of the songs from Pearl Jam’s upcoming Lightning Bolt CD, along with classics such as “Even Flow,” “Animal,” and “Daughter” will be played during telecasts of World Series games, presumably during half inning cutaways and at other strategic points.
And if “Dissident” should happen to get played somewhere, that would make it even better.
Pearl Jam’s concert at Wrigley Field last summer was the stuff of legend. There was a two-hour rain delay, during which time the fans and the band took shelter and rode it out, in Eddie Vedder’s words, “as a team.” Nobody went home during the storms, and the reward was two hours of rock and roll in maybe the best setting of all.
Hearing that the band members love baseball was something of a revelation to me. The exposure on World Series broadcasts will help to sell their new CD, and that aspect of the agreement should not be overlooked. But the marriage between art and baseball goes back to Casey at the Bat, if not further. It’s one more reason why baseball holds such a special place in the American psyche.
Congratulations to Pearl Jam and to Fox Sports, for sharing the music of a great American band with fans of the great American game. It will certainly add an interesting new dimension to the Fall Classic.
