What was the best tour?

[LetMeSleep]

Yes I agree trag. Backspacer was a much more successful attempt at something different. sure I don't really like it that much but it's better than the turd that is lightning bolt which is just trying to recapture something or rehashing old ideas in an incredibly uninspiring way.

[Bi_3]

Not sure a successful attempt at a turd is better than a failed attempt at a sandwich

[Kevin Davis]

I'm not sure your comment really follows LMS's metaphor but I do look forward to the day when "turd" is stricken from all music-related discourse.

[LetMeSleep]

My apologies KD but I do believe that LB is mostly shite.

[Kevin Davis]

Oh, no apology necessary. I don't care for "LB" either.

The overuse of the phrase "polish a turd" has just soured me on the lingo, that's all.

[Bi_3]

No one polished that turd. If anything, chunks were added

[evenslow]

How is there not a poll for this thread yet?

[LetMeSleep]

No one polished that turd. If anything, chunks were added

I beg to differ. It was overly polished. Suffocatingly so.

[Bi_3]

No one polished that turd. If anything, chunks were added

I beg to differ. It was overly polished. Suffocatingly so.

Yeah, you are probably right.

[TremorJam]

I loved Riot Act. Living in the D.C. area at the time made that album resonate more with me, I think. Bristow (D.C.) 2003 is was an excellent show. 2003 wasn't really that bad. Early PJ is in a league of it's own. My favorite show is probably Melbourne '98, followed by Melbourne '95, Atlanta '94. As far as the Tours go, the era between 2008-2010 I have the most difficulty with. I do think that things leveled off once they got past PJ20.

'90's- I'm lumping everything here between '92-'98. The excitement, energy and controversy helped cement the legendary status for these shows.

'00-Take your pick
'05-Take your pick
'06-Take your pick
'03-This is when the experimentation really got going.
'14-Lots of great shows this year. US, Europe, Australia in this order.
'13-There are some great shows from this tour. The last 5 NW shows are almost perfect for this era.
'12-The end of the 20/BS era and Europe got some great shows
'15-SA had some decent shows
'16-Still trying to get into this Tour, but there were some really good performances. The Canadian shows are my favorite so far.
'11-PJ20!! the Toronto shows and Buenos Aires were pretty good. I'm sure there's more, but I'm good.
'10-Meh, but there were some surprises. Hyde Park and a mix is all I really want.
'09-I can't stand the Spectrum shows that get a lot of love. Give me ridleybradouts' Aussie mix instead
'08-I only have 1 show from this Tour and never listen to it.

Personally, I think the band has evolved quite nicely. Lately, I've mainly been catching up with more recent shows after taking a break for a bit. I've been mixing it up with shows from the 2000 and 2005 Tours. Ed's voice has obviously changed, but I think he's adjusted to it better recently, than he did initially.

[EJ]

Tread lightly, TremorJam. You've just put out WendyCarlosTwins' bat signal. Those 2009 Spectrum shows are his all time favorites.

[TremorJam]

Tread lightly, TremorJam. You've just put out WendyCarlosTwins' bat signal. Those 2009 Spectrum shows are his all time favorites.

I thought that I read he was in agreement with me as far as those shows go? I was never big into message boards or the online fandom experience and bought that box set from seeing people over on the pit raving about it. I was all excited, started listening and really, only listened to each show once before I sold it. I downloaded it again recently to see if my perspective had changed at all and nope, it isn't me...Those shows are probably the most overrated of the band's history.

[Monkey_Driven]

Tread lightly, TremorJam. You've just put out WendyCarlosTwins' bat signal. Those 2009 Spectrum shows are his all time favorites.

I thought that I read he was in agreement with me as far as those shows go? I was never big into message boards or the online fandom experience and bought that box set from seeing people over on the pit raving about it. I was all excited, started listening and really, only listened to each show once before I sold it. I downloaded it again recently to see if my perspective had changed at all and nope, it isn't me...Those shows are probably the most overrated of the band's history.

Yeah, that was a turning point for me with their bootlegs. Before you could pretty much count on every show being solid. Not so much afterwards.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I was never big into message boards or the online fandom experience and bought that box set from seeing people over on the pit raving about it. I was all excited, started listening and really, only listened to each show once before I sold it. I downloaded it again recently to see if my perspective had changed at all and nope, it isn't me...Those shows are probably the most overrated of the band's history.

I was at the second show, arguably the worst of the four, and it was like a prolonged train wreck. I couldn't understand how people weren't walking out in droves. It was a truly pathetic display. The other three shows are better, but still barely worth listening to.

[EJ]

The bat signal did not fail.

I was at night 1 of those. Best seats I've ever had. Had a good time. But, it was the first time I'd been at a PJ show and thought, "wow, they're kind of a mess tonight." Which kinda sucked because they played some great rarities in that set. I haven't ever bothered to listen to the boot.

[TremorJam]

It doesn't help that the recordings sounded bizarre and lacked a lot of warmth from this era, either. I'm so happy that Brett Eliason is back to mixing the shows.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

The bat signal did not fail.

I was at night 1 of those. Best seats I've ever had. Had a good time. But, it was the first time I'd been at a PJ show and thought, "wow, they're kind of a mess tonight." Which kinda sucked because they played some great rarities in that set. I haven't ever bothered to listen to the boot.

I actually thought the boot sounded worse than it did at the show because it only amplified the suck.

[matt reeder]

Tread lightly, TremorJam. You've just put out WendyCarlosTwins' bat signal. Those 2009 Spectrum shows are his all time favorites.

I thought that I read he was in agreement with me as far as those shows go? I was never big into message boards or the online fandom experience and bought that box set from seeing people over on the pit raving about it. I was all excited, started listening and really, only listened to each show once before I sold it. I downloaded it again recently to see if my perspective had changed at all and nope, it isn't me...Those shows are probably the most overrated of the band's history.

Actually the Spectrum shows are regarded poorly here. I was at night 4 and it was the strangest concert I've ever been to. Some parts of it were transcendent, some parts were confounding, and some parts were downright awful.

I'm not really interested in rehashing the debate here, and I think others are tired of it too. It's come up a lot here.

[matt reeder]

I loved Riot Act. Living in the D.C. area at the time made that album resonate more with me, I think. Bristow (D.C.) 2003 is was an excellent show. 2003 wasn't really that bad. Early PJ is in a league of it's own. My favorite show is probably Melbourne '98, followed by Melbourne '95, Atlanta '94. As far as the Tours go, the era between 2008-2010 I have the most difficulty with. I do think that things leveled off once they got past PJ20.

'90's- I'm lumping everything here between '92-'98. The excitement, energy and controversy helped cement the legendary status for these shows.

'00-Take your pick
'05-Take your pick
'06-Take your pick
'03-This is when the experimentation really got going.
'14-Lots of great shows this year. US, Europe, Australia in this order.
'13-There are some great shows from this tour. The last 5 NW shows are almost perfect for this era.
'12-The end of the 20/BS era and Europe got some great shows
'15-SA had some decent shows
'16-Still trying to get into this Tour, but there were some really good performances. The Canadian shows are my favorite so far.
'11-PJ20!! the Toronto shows and Buenos Aires were pretty good. I'm sure there's more, but I'm good.
'10-Meh, but there were some surprises. Hyde Park and a mix is all I really want.
'09-I can't stand the Spectrum shows that get a lot of love. Give me ridleybradouts' Aussie mix instead
'08-I only have 1 show from this Tour and never listen to it.

Personally, I think the band has evolved quite nicely. Lately, I've mainly been catching up with more recent shows after taking a break for a bit. I've been mixing it up with shows from the 2000 and 2005 Tours. Ed's voice has obviously changed, but I think he's adjusted to it better recently, than he did initially.

Everybody likes 2003, but few here would consider it their best tour. My first two shows were in 2003 and the first of the two was an all-time great PJ show (Champaign). There are a lot of great shows from that tour. It just wasn't the best.

I think everybody here would say that 1998 or 2000 were the best tours, with some arguing strongly for 1994. It depends on what your favorite albums are, or who your favorite drummer was. The weird thing: many of us consider March 1998 to be the band's absolute live peak, and yet Jack Irons himself seems to be embarrassed with his performances on this tour. I don't hear it at all.

I think they're all good through 2006; since then the only tour I've listened to that's consistently good is 2014. Every tour has at least a few good or even great shows, and if you catch them on one of these nights they are as good as they're ever going to be. A lot of people didn't like 2013, for example, but I caught them on one of their good nights and it was fantastic. Everybody who went to Pemberton last year seems to have loved it, and the bootleg is fantastic. But the mediocre and even bad nights are becoming more and more common and it makes listening to bootlegs more of a chore sometimes than it ever used to be.

[TremorJam]

I loved Riot Act. Living in the D.C. area at the time made that album resonate more with me, I think. Bristow (D.C.) 2003 is was an excellent show. 2003 wasn't really that bad. Early PJ is in a league of it's own. My favorite show is probably Melbourne '98, followed by Melbourne '95, Atlanta '94. As far as the Tours go, the era between 2008-2010 I have the most difficulty with. I do think that things leveled off once they got past PJ20.

'90's- I'm lumping everything here between '92-'98. The excitement, energy and controversy helped cement the legendary status for these shows.

'00-Take your pick
'05-Take your pick
'06-Take your pick
'03-This is when the experimentation really got going.
'14-Lots of great shows this year. US, Europe, Australia in this order.
'13-There are some great shows from this tour. The last 5 NW shows are almost perfect for this era.
'12-The end of the 20/BS era and Europe got some great shows
'15-SA had some decent shows
'16-Still trying to get into this Tour, but there were some really good performances. The Canadian shows are my favorite so far.
'11-PJ20!! the Toronto shows and Buenos Aires were pretty good. I'm sure there's more, but I'm good.
'10-Meh, but there were some surprises. Hyde Park and a mix is all I really want.
'09-I can't stand the Spectrum shows that get a lot of love. Give me ridleybradouts' Aussie mix instead
'08-I only have 1 show from this Tour and never listen to it.

Personally, I think the band has evolved quite nicely. Lately, I've mainly been catching up with more recent shows after taking a break for a bit. I've been mixing it up with shows from the 2000 and 2005 Tours. Ed's voice has obviously changed, but I think he's adjusted to it better recently, than he did initially.

Everybody likes 2003, but few here would consider it their best tour. My first two shows were in 2003 and the first of the two was an all-time great PJ show (Champaign). There are a lot of great shows from that tour. It just wasn't the best.

I think everybody here would say that 1998 or 2000 were the best tours, with some arguing strongly for 1994. It depends on what your favorite albums are, or who your favorite drummer was. The weird thing: many of us consider March 1998 to be the band's absolute live peak, and yet Jack Irons himself seems to be embarrassed with his performances on this tour. I don't hear it at all.

I think they're all good through 2006; since then the only tour I've listened to that's consistently good is 2014. Every tour has at least a few good or even great shows, and if you catch them on one of these nights they are as good as they're ever going to be. A lot of people didn't like 2013, for example, but I caught them on one of their good nights and it was fantastic. Everybody who went to Pemberton last year seems to have loved it, and the bootleg is fantastic. But the mediocre and even bad nights are becoming more and more common and it makes listening to bootlegs more of a chore sometimes than it ever used to be.

Which show did you catch in 2013? I was at Charlottesville, and aside from noticing immediately that Ed didn't have the capacity he once did, I thought it was an excellent show. Out of the 25 shows from that tour, there's around 17 that I enjoy. 2016 is the hardest for me, but I'm sure the Raleigh cancellation factors into that, to a degree. Pemberton, Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto pleasantly surprised me, though.

The '90's shows I put in their own level. Every tour was different, but they were one of the best bands around back then. I particularly love the '94 and '95 shows. '98 would probably be next followed by 1992, 1996, 1993. 2014 is probably my favorite of the most recent years, particularly the US leg. Taking a break from their music was probably the best thing I could've done because it has given me a fresh and new perspective. I'm not trying to speak for anyone else as far as the shows are concerned, because everyone has their own thoughts about it.