Watch Pearl Jam’s abandoned first attempt at the video for Even Flow
It’s resurfaced online after 28 years under the radar.
The original video for Pearl Jam’s Even Flow has surfaced online, after being lost since its filming 28 years ago.
The video was canned after the band were deeply unhappy with the results of its shoot, featuring a performance from the band in a Zoo and on what was intended to be a cliff, but ended up being an underwhelming rock. Time constraints were also not kind on the production, as the band were gearing up for a European tour. Marring the experience even further, drummer Dave Abbruzzese injured his wrists on set. Even Flow would eventually receive a different video for a new version of the song after this abandoned concept.
Guitarist Stone Gossard owned up to the concept and discussed the canned shoot in the book Pearl Jam 20, writing: “yes, this was my idea. Some of it was filmed in a zoo after dark, and the rest of it was us jamming on the side of a cliff. It was more ‘big rock’ than we wanted. I’m not sure it will ever be seen.” Bassist Jeff Ament adds a succinct but damning review of the clip: “it was awful. And we knew at the time it was awful.” Thanks to some intrepid footage-hunting archivists, however, you can now make up your own mind as to how justified Ament and the rest of Pearl Jam were in abandoning the shoot.
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