Essential Live Albums

[Higgs]

Pearl Jam - Perth, Australia 2/23/2003

After a considerable rest, Pearl Jam is back! Other than a few spotted shows, they recorded Riot Act, played 4 warm up shows in Seattle, recorded the Chop Suey live takes, and headed to Australia. They released this, the last night of that leg of the world tour, perhaps as representative of those couple of weeks. Ultimately, this one seems a bit sloppy. The Riot Act songs don’t seem to have found their personalities quite yet, Eddie flubs a bunch of verses and lyrics, and it seemed the band just wasn’t quite there yet, save for a great ending to the main set (Half Full, Insignificance, Go), and from the closing of the first encore through the end (jammed out Crazy Mary, Throw Your Arms Around Me w/ Mark Seymour, Alive, and Fortunate Son). So big highs and low lows.

The Essential Performance: Throw Your Arms Around Me

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Tokyo, Japan 3/3/03

PERTH! Represent!

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Tokyo, Japan 3/3/2003

For a very specific reason, I do think all hardcore Pearl Jam fans need to own this one. Live albums or live recordings in some ways are like dealing in Impressionism. Inasmuch as the bands and crowd come together to help you fill the blanks in your imagination of what a song is or should be, they don’t even intend in many instances to mimic the studio recordings as much as reinterpret them in that setting, bands and fans making a sort of noise together. In the politeness of this particular crowd, you get a rare and unadorned performing Pearl Jam, No singalongs or crowd noise you aid your digestion. Pure Pearl Jam. And it is awesome. The band is clearly on fire the majority of this show. Release sounds incredible, as does Can’t Keep, maybe the best Cameron played Even Flow out there, You Are is killer in particular without any crowd noise, Bushleaguer even sounds great folks! Black does sound weird but that’s because Boom is playing the keys in parts where guitars should be, RVM is on another level.. this show is greatness. For the song most aided by the empty space, I am going with You Are, but RVM is really something here.

The Essential Performance: You Are

Up Next: Pearl Jam - State College, PA 5/3/03

[Kevin Davis]

I really like the Tokyo '03 show; I think it's my favorite of the released-to-retail '03 shows, with the possible exception of Mansfield. The best-ever version of "Can't Keep," IMO.

[liebzz]

I really like the Tokyo '03 show; I think it's my favorite of the released-to-retail '03 shows, with the possible exception of Mansfield. The best-ever version of "Can't Keep," IMO.

Probably the best version of that song I can remember hearing.

[VinylGuy]

Pearl Jam - Tokyo, Japan 3/3/2003

For a very specific reason, I do think all hardcore Pearl Jam fans need to own this one. Live albums or live recordings in some ways are like dealing in Impressionism. Inasmuch as the bands and crowd come together to help you fill the blanks in your imagination of what a song is or should be, they don’t even intend in many instances to mimic the studio recordings as much as reinterpret them in that setting, bands and fans making a sort of noise together. In the politeness of this particular crowd, you get a rare and unadorned performing Pearl Jam, No singalongs or crowd noise you aid your digestion. Pure Pearl Jam. And it is awesome. The band is clearly on fire the majority of this show. Release sounds incredible, as does Can’t Keep, maybe the best Cameron played Even Flow out there, You Are is killer in particular without any crowd noise, Bushleaguer even sounds great folks! Black does sound weird but that’s because Boom is playing the keys in parts where guitars should be, RVM is on another level.. this show is greatness. For the song most aided by the empty space, I am going with You Are, but RVM is really something here.

The Essential Performance: You Are

Up Next: Pearl Jam - State College, PA 5/3/03

This show is awesome. I have the pro shot and its one of my favs

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - State College, PA 5/3/2003

“If you’re willing to stay, we’re willing to make the the longest ever Pearl Jam show.” Granted, the record stood for a whole 2 months, but it pretty much sums up how the band was feeling on this particular night. In my haze of over listening to Pearl Jam in the early to mid aughts, I swore this was the most overrated Pearl Jam show, in part because I was annoyed at the hype and in part because they fully mangled Satan’s Bed. I was very wrong, now listening to this nearly 20 years later with a different perspective. Yes, Eddie whiffed his Beatles cover, Mike’s guitar cut out in the middle of an epic Alive solo, and well, we don’t talk about Satan’s Bed. Of course, the 3 hours that encompass the show around it is purely incredible. All the hits are here, but they are some of the most spirited versions you’ll hear. The bust outs are frequent and feel like authentic surprises. This one’s got it all. And the jamming in the third encore straight insane.

The Essential Performance: Crazy Mary and Porch

Up Next: Pearl Jam - New York, NY 7/8/03

[wease]

Didn’t they half ass Why Go at that one, too?

[liebzz]

Didn’t they half ass Why Go at that one, too?

No, but they did do 2(!) improvs.

[VinylGuy]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

[tommy]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

Yes, 03 had no drum intro I think. I remember around the time Avocado came out they did an AOL session or something that featured an absolutely killer version of Why Go.

[tommy]

It was the Maida Vale sessions. I have it on my phone, but can't find it on YouTube.

[VinylGuy]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

Yes, 03 had no drum intro I think. I remember around the time Avocado came out they did an AOL session or something that featured an absolutely killer version of Why Go.

and the bass line was also awful.

[Happy Trees]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

They also rearranged "In My Tree" and that was horrible and there were others too that I am forgetting. 2003 was a weird tour.

Ed also fucked up "Hail Hail" and "State Of Love And Trust" every time, and in spots the band couldn't recover from.

In 2005, it sounded like Ed (or somebody in the band) listened to some 2003 boots and was embarrassed - because he rarely made those same mistakes again, but in 2003 it was almost every night.

[tommy]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

They also rearranged "In My Tree" and that was horrible and there were others too that I am forgetting. 2003 was a weird tour.

Ed also fucked up "Hail Hail" and "State Of Love And Trust" every time, and in spots the band couldn't recover from.

In 2005, it sounded like Ed (or somebody in the band) listened to some 2003 boots and was embarrassed - because he rarely made those same mistakes again, but in 2003 it was almost every night.

I remember them making a big deal about how much they were rehearsing before the 06 tour. It really paid off.

[oasisfan35]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

They also rearranged "In My Tree" and that was horrible and there were others too that I am forgetting. 2003 was a weird tour.

Ed also fucked up "Hail Hail" and "State Of Love And Trust" every time, and in spots the band couldn't recover from.

In 2005, it sounded like Ed (or somebody in the band) listened to some 2003 boots and was embarrassed - because he rarely made those same mistakes again, but in 2003 it was almost every night.

Man I adore those '05 shows.

[liebzz]

Funny. By and large, my strongest positive personal memories of seeing the band were in the ‘98 and ‘03 tours. There were shows since I really loved, but those tours always stuck out to me.

[Happy Trees]

Funny. By and large, my strongest positive personal memories of seeing the band were in the ‘98 and ‘03 tours. There were shows since I really loved, but those tours always stuck out to me.

Well mine was too - Hershey 2003 was my favorite show that I attended. And it was the one time Eddie didn't fuck up SOLAT if I recall. The positives far outweigh the negatives that people often point out (it's a tight and intense show). But maybe you had to be there.

[wease]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

Yes, 03 had no drum intro I think. I remember around the time Avocado came out they did an AOL session or something that featured an absolutely killer version of Why Go.

I thought it was that Letterman post-show set.

[tommy]

that really sucky Why Go was from 03. They nailed it when it came back i think it was 06?

Yes, 03 had no drum intro I think. I remember around the time Avocado came out they did an AOL session or something that featured an absolutely killer version of Why Go.

I thought it was that Letterman post-show set.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pearl-ja ... 62727.html

This is what I was thinking of.

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - New York, NY 7/8/2003

“The stage is bouncing, sing like a choir!”

Fair warning is I attended this show (as well as the next two coming), and the report back is much more positive than the last time I talked about a show I attended and discussed the live album. On this one, I distinctly remember having an out of body experience, feeling like I was floating above the crowd just taking it all in as the place went bonkers during the encores. Do the Evolution, as I took a moment to scan the entirety of the crowd, looked like humanity in the moment they would beckon the end of the world. And yet, the DVD reflects none of this because the angles are all off…but that’s for a different day.

Unlike most here, I don’t throw shade at the revamped In My Tree. Granted, I prefer the Jack Irons version but I still like this version nonetheless. Lukin > Grievance is quite intense coming off a long Wishlist. And that’s most of the notes on the main set, which while good is hardly the strongest they’ve done. This show is all about the encores, with Ben Harper guesting on the Daughter tag (With My Own Two Hands), Crown of Thorns, that Evolution, Indifference, Sonic Reducer, and Baba. Maybe one of the most epic second halves of a show they’ve ever done.

The Essential Performance: In My Tree…just kidding! It’s Evolution, baby!

Up Next: Pearl Jam - New York, NY 7/9/2003