Essential Live Albums

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Katowice, Poland 6/16/2000

On this next show, the band showed up to find a half-empty arena. Perhaps another band as big as they were as a touring entity would have phoned it in or ripped quickly through their set. Pearl Jam responded by playing an all time set, complete with a full warm up of slower songs and then ripping into what may be the best main set I can think of. In the warm up, Of the Girl and Sleight of Hand are both phenomenal, and Thin Air right on. The show seems to get kicking for real with Insignificance, Grievance, a great Corduroy, Animal and on from there. It seems nearly all of this is strong blazing through a 22 song main set that never quits. The encores are similarly exciting as the band pushes on Immortality. This is one of those shows you just have to sit back and enjoy. Worth the hype.

The Essential Performance: Sleight of Hand

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Verona, Italy 6/20/00

[Happy Trees]

Pearl Jam - Katowice, Poland 6/16/2000

On this next show, the band showed up to find a half-empty arena. Perhaps another band as big as they were as a touring entity would have phoned it in or ripped quickly through their set. Pearl Jam responded by playing an all time set, complete with a full warm up of slower songs and then ripping into what may be the best main set I can think of. In the warm up, Of the Girl and Sleight of Hand are both phenomenal, and Thin Air right on. The show seems to get kicking for real with Insignificance, Grievance, a great Corduroy, Animal and on from there. It seems nearly all of this is strong blazing through a 22 song main set that never quits. The encores are similarly exciting as the band pushes on Immortality. This is one of those shows you just have to sit back and enjoy. Worth the hype.

Yup, one of the best.

[VinylGuy]

yeah, thats a motherfucking great show right there

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Verona, Italy 6/20/2000

Show 5/6 on the Ape/Man Euro shows finds the band so good and in a groove that it’s actually easy at times to lose attention to what you are listening to. This show hits its own ridiculous level closing the first set with Immortality, Insignificance, and Rearviewmirror. Then the encore here is just amazing. I can imagine if you took the main set from Katowice 2 and this encore do you get the best show ever? As far as a favorite, I’ve always just loved their cover of the Split Enz I Got You from this show, so it’s the winner here.

The Essential Performance: I Got You

Up Next: Milan, Italy 6/22/2000

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Milan, Italy 6/22/2000

Sometimes in the guise of a crowded field of live recordings, great performances can get lost among the shows that have unique rarities or cool moments to separate themselves from the pack. This is one of those shows where there’s not much in the way of song surprises, but the performance itself is a step beyond, a critical document of this tour. The band is basically on fire nearly the whole 2.5 hour show, blasting through one great version after the next, with a particularly great Rival, Go, Rearviewmirror, Black and Rockin in the Free World. Plus the crowd here is nuts, a show unto itself here. This one just has all the elements of another all time great show.

The Essential Performance: Rearviewmirror

Up Next: Alice In Chains - Live

[liebzz]

Alice In Chains - Live

A nice little respite from Pearl Jam for the moment, what really stood out in this live album is the power of Layne’s voice. I mean, he sounds amazing on a studio album, but it’s nothing like when he lets loose here, particularly on Man in the Box and Love Hate Love. Sadly Spotify does not include Rooster, which I am sure was great, but they sound great on this. All of the 3 eras included are really strong, though the ‘93 songs are probably best. I had no idea they were this good live.

The Essential Performance: Love Hate Love

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Atlanta, Georgia 8/7/2000

[Higgs]

I'm looking forward to the next update of the rated list. You are doing amazing work here liebz.

[VinylGuy]

Alice In Chains - Live

A nice little respite from Pearl Jam for the moment, what really stood out in this live album is the power of Layne’s voice. I mean, he sounds amazing on a studio album, but it’s nothing like when he lets loose here, particularly on Man in the Box and Love Hate Love. Sadly Spotify does not include Rooster, which I am sure was great, but they sound great on this. All of the 3 eras included are really strong, though the ‘93 songs are probably best. I had no idea they were this good live.

The Essential Performance: Love Hate Love

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Atlanta, Georgia 8/7/2000

I remember getting the cd and being so happy they were releasing something. Layne sure was so fucking good live.

[wease]

Alice In Chains - Live

A nice little respite from Pearl Jam for the moment, what really stood out in this live album is the power of Layne’s voice. I mean, he sounds amazing on a studio album, but it’s nothing like when he lets loose here, particularly on Man in the Box and Love Hate Love. Sadly Spotify does not include Rooster, which I am sure was great, but they sound great on this. All of the 3 eras included are really strong, though the ‘93 songs are probably best. I had no idea they were this good live.

The Essential Performance: Love Hate Love

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Atlanta, Georgia 8/7/2000

I remember getting the cd and being so happy they were releasing something. Layne sure was so fucking good live.

I already had half of the songs on here from the Heaven Beside You singles. So it was a bit disappointing they just stuck them on here. Completing it with more from those same shows or shows the rest of the tracks were culled from would’ve been a much more satisfying experience. It just seemed like a hodgepodge of tracks with no cohesiveness. Some fucking great performances tho.

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Atlanta, Georgia 8/7/00

This show got a bad rap from me for over two decades. It was always among my least favorite from the 2000 tour, but I think that is because it got the Ape/Man designation over shows I really enjoyed from the tour, including West Palm Beach, Saratoga, and Pittsburgh - all great shows. I never got what made this show special, though with a clearer mind far removed from ingesting all those shows at the time, some of that is revealed on this listen, even if I haven’t changed my mind in relation to those other shows.

This one actually starts off quite great, with a wonderful Release into a bevy of strong versions of Corduroy, Insignificance and Rival on immediate memory. Do the Evolution and Rearviewmirror are also highlights even if they are standard highlights of any show. This version of Crazy Mary is pretty great, pre-Boom jam era. Porch is quick but blazing. So this ends up being more than a solid show, even if it doesn’t rise to the top in particular.

The Essential Performance: Release

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Tampa, Florida 8/12/2000

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Tampa, Florida 8/12/2000

To this day, I can still see the asterisk on Last Exit - though thankfully, the Spotify version places it in the right spot in the setlist to maintain the show’s flow. From the jump, this one is high octane with Interstellar Overdrive > Corduroy, which would become something of an almost norm in their live sets. The show rolls along nicely when Tremor Christ! Granted, it is fumbled in spots but love seeing this followed by a smokin’ Nothing As It Seems and on down the line of hits and Binaural cuts. Daughter’s tag is really strong as well, with Eddie getting into some real wailing even if it is a bit of a call and response. Insignificance > Rearviewmirror to close the first set again is a huge highlight as RVM moves more into its time influenced by Sonic Youth in the breakdown. Porch in the encore is also very good here - yet another fantastic show from them.

The Essential Performance: Interstellar Overdrive > Corduroy

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Columbus, Ohio 8/21/2000

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Columbus, Ohio 8/21/2000

Making its way north, the band jumps out the gate with this one ripping this town a new one with a start of Breakerfall, Whipping, Spin the Black Circle, Hail Hail, and Corduroy. I have weirdly always thought of this show in the same general sense as Saratoga, even though the latter really never lets up and this one eventually pulls into a slower groove. Insignificance > RVM continues to impress. Present Tense here is quite great coming into the first encore. This may be another good show but perhaps the Ape/Man designation could have been used for some of the shows I always preferred.

The Essential Performance: Present Tense

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Jones Beach 8/24/2000

[Monkey_Driven]

Pearl Jam - Verona, Italy 6/20/2000

Show 5/6 on the Ape/Man Euro shows finds the band so good and in a groove that it’s actually easy at times to lose attention to what you are listening to. This show hits its own ridiculous level closing the first set with Immortality, Insignificance, and Rearviewmirror. Then the encore here is just amazing. I can imagine if you took the main set from Katowice 2 and this encore do you get the best show ever? As far as a favorite, I’ve always just loved their cover of the Split Enz I Got You from this show, so it’s the winner here.

The Essential Performance: I Got You

Up Next: Milan, Italy 6/22/2000

My first bootleg and second PJ-related release I ever owned. Such a phenomenal show that may have been the tipping point for a full-on obsession.

[AndySlash]

listening to a bunch of 2000 shows way back when reeeeally burned me out on corduroy for a long time. i may still be burned out on it, it rarely elicits any excitement from me when it's played. but there was a time where regardless of what show from what year i was listening to i would just skip it, way more than i would for even flow or other staples i'd heard hundreds of times.

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Jones Beach, NY 8/24/2000

This is the first live album I am covering from a show I attended (won’t be the only one or even close to it). This was my 5th Pearl Jam show (Randall’s 1 in ‘96, MSG 1 & 2 and Hartford in ‘98 preceded this one). I never considered this one of the better shows I have seen, in large part because of the sound in the venue. Ten Club tickets in hand, I remember feeling an exceptional amount of excitement as I found my seats 24 rows from the stage on the floor on Mike’s side. At the time I thought I had hit the jackpot on basically the east side of the stage. As luck would have it, this breezy night had the wind moving East to West. What that meant was despite the fact that I was 24 rows from the stage, I had to literally squint to hear anything. It sounded about the same as when I sat in the 400 levels the furthest corner from the band next to a luxury box (not in it mind you) at MSG a couple or years earlier. Granted, I could definitely feel that moment on Daughter where they hit the It’s Okay tag. No amount of bad sound could keep that down. But the rest of the show was frankly unmemorable or a bad memory for me. Not the band’s fault, but nothing much drew me back to this one.

So it’s a bit of a surprise that this one has an Ape/Man designation. Listening back now, it’s still mostly a surprise. I mean if I am questioning their judgment on Columbus, I need to take a good hard look in the mirror on what I remember and still hear as a largely ho-hum show with one fantastic moment.

The Essential Performance: Daughter/It’s Okay

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Jones Beach, NY 8/25/2000

[Kevin Davis]

Pearl Jam - Tampa, Florida 8/12/2000

To this day, I can still see the asterisk on Last Exit - though thankfully, the Spotify version places it in the right spot in the setlist to maintain the show’s flow. From the jump, this one is high octane with Interstellar Overdrive > Corduroy, which would become something of an almost norm in their live sets. The show rolls along nicely when Tremor Christ! Granted, it is fumbled in spots but love seeing this followed by a smokin’ Nothing As It Seems and on down the line of hits and Binaural cuts. Daughter’s tag is really strong as well, with Eddie getting into some real wailing even if it is a bit of a call and response. Insignificance > Rearviewmirror to close the first set again is a huge highlight as RVM moves more into its time influenced by Sonic Youth in the breakdown. Porch in the encore is also very good here - yet another fantastic show from them.

The Essential Performance: Interstellar Overdrive > Corduroy

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Columbus, Ohio 8/21/2000

Tampa has one of the best "Evacuation"s, which alone catapults it into the stratosphere of elite PJ2000 gigs.

[liebzz]

All of these 2000 shows are reminding me how much I truly love No Code and Binaural.

[Monkey_Driven]

listening to a bunch of 2000 shows way back when reeeeally burned me out on corduroy for a long time. i may still be burned out on it, it rarely elicits any excitement from me when it's played. but there was a time where regardless of what show from what year i was listening to i would just skip it, way more than i would for even flow or other staples i'd heard hundreds of times.

I think I'm the complete opposite.

[Happy Trees]

Tampa has one of the best "Evacuation"s, which alone catapults it into the stratosphere of elite PJ2000 gigs.

The West Palm Beach version is also close to perfect. They seem to have hit a stride with that song in Florida. After that they started messing it up a lot again. Mike especially seemed disinterested in learning the timing and where his guitar parts should lay.

[oasisfan35]

Pearl Jam - Jones Beach, NY 8/24/2000

This is the first live album I am covering from a show I attended (won’t be the only one or even close to it). This was my 5th Pearl Jam show (Randall’s 1 in ‘96, MSG 1 & 2 and Hartford in ‘98 preceded this one). I never considered this one of the better shows I have seen, in large part because of the sound in the venue. Ten Club tickets in hand, I remember feeling an exceptional amount of excitement as I found my seats 24 rows from the stage on the floor on Mike’s side. At the time I thought I had hit the jackpot on basically the east side of the stage. As luck would have it, this breezy night had the wind moving East to West. What that meant was despite the fact that I was 24 rows from the stage, I had to literally squint to hear anything. It sounded about the same as when I sat in the 400 levels the furthest corner from the band next to a luxury box (not in it mind you) at MSG a couple or years earlier. Granted, I could definitely feel that moment on Daughter where they hit the It’s Okay tag. No amount of bad sound could keep that down. But the rest of the show was frankly unmemorable or a bad memory for me. Not the band’s fault, but nothing much drew me back to this one.

So it’s a bit of a surprise that this one has an Ape/Man designation. Listening back now, it’s still mostly a surprise. I mean if I am questioning their judgment on Columbus, I need to take a good hard look in the mirror on what I remember and still hear as a largely ho-hum show with one fantastic moment.

The Essential Performance: Daughter/It’s Okay

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Jones Beach, NY 8/25/2000

If the Ape/Man designation is not solely the music but everything surrounding the show as far as the band members are concerned I'd say this is an easy inclusion primarily in light of Daughter > It's Okay. When the decision was made to pick the songs I'd imagine the feelings were still palpable, I have that track in a random folder for the car and it hits me every goddamn time.