Pearl Jam, Cubs team up in film

By MARK KENNEDY

AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK

To many fans of Pearl Jam, the band’s two-concert stand last summer at Wrigley Field in Chicago was epic. What happened a few months later at that hallowed venue was also pretty epic to baseball fans. Filmmaker Danny Clinch combined them.

In the new documentary “Let’s Play Two,” the concerts become the soundtrack for the Chicago Cubs ending their 108-year World Series drought, the worlds of rock and sports tied together by band frontman Eddie Vedder, a lifelong Cubs fan.

Clinch’s cameras captured a dozen live Pearl Jam songs performed Aug. 20 and Aug. 22 in 2016 while also charting the Cubs’ electrifying World Series run. Clinch discussed how the movie came about.

Q. This isn’t a straight-ahead concert film. It combines two different things, baseball and rock ’n’ roll. What did you start with?

A. We went there to film Pearl Jam’s two shows at Wrigley, which was incredible. The energy was great, the performances were great, and that’s what you hope for. When that whole intense process was finished, I think we were all thinking, in the back of our minds, ‘Well, you know, we are at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are on a mad tear and Ed is a big Cubs fan. What would happen if this actually came to pass?’ I said to Eddie and Theo Epstein, the general manager of the Cubs, I said, ‘Look, if they make a run, I’m going to come back with my cameras.’

Q. It’s a careful balance on film, a love letter to the Cubs and Chicago with a soundtrack by Pearl Jam. Was it hard to put together?

A. It was difficult. It was interesting because we were capturing hope and devotion from both sides – from the Pearl Jam fan side, from the Cub side, from the band side as well.

Q. How did you lay out the music? You make the songs comment on the action, as when the song “Alive” plays when the Cubs forced a Game 7, staying alive in the contest.

A. The set-list was a challenge. The band said, ‘It’s your film, you do the set-list.’ I was like, ‘OK.’ I was grateful to have that opportunity.