Red Mosquito

Idlewild was pretty good too in '03.

somehow i forgot i saw ted leo and the pharmacists in '08...

elliseamos wrote:somehow i forgot i saw ted leo and the pharmacists in '08...

Can you teach me how to do that?

Ah, PJ openers. Let's see who I have had:

1998: Spacehog - Horrible
2000: Supergrass - Excellent! Got them three times and could not have been happier
2003: Sparta (meh) & Idlewild (decent, but never had an urge to check them out further)
2006: Sonic Youth - Pretty good. I am not a diehard fan, but I enjoyed them.
2009: Ben Harper & the Relentless7 - Blah. I have never understood PJ fans hard-on for Ben Harper.

Seeing some of what you all got, I definitely am not too lucky.

Supergrass 2000
Buzzcocks 2003
My Morning Jacket 2006
Ted Leo and the pharmacists 2008

My morning jacket was by far my favorite.

stonefury wrote: 2009: Ben Harper & the Relentless7 - Blah. I have never understood PJ fans hard-on for Ben Harper.

Ben Harper's first two albums are pretty awesome, from before his electric guitar phase. Simple and soulful music. If you have not heard them, I would suggest a listen before you judge him too harshly. His newer stuff holds less appeal for me (much like another band I won't mention).

broken iris wrote:

stonefury wrote: 2009: Ben Harper & the Relentless7 - Blah. I have never understood PJ fans hard-on for Ben Harper.

Ben Harper's first two albums are pretty awesome, from before his electric guitar phase. Simple and soulful music. If you have not heard them, I would suggest a listen before you judge him too harshly. His newer stuff holds less appeal for me (much like another band I won't mention).

his first albums and his work with the innocent criminals is pretty solid. beyond that, he seems fairly ordinary.

1998: Shudder to Think
2006: Kings of Leon (x2)
2009: Liam Finn, Ben Harper

Eh, I've never really enjoyed a Pearl Jam opening act.

durdencommatyler wrote:Murder City Devils:

These guys have some really good songs (and they reformed a few years back, which I didn't even realise). Their drummer is Coady Willis, perhaps better known these days for playing drums in Big Business and the Melvins.

Death Cab in 2004 were pretty fucking awesome. Hey, dismemberment plan is back!

Off topic, but I really hope they go back to playing DTE without that awful crowd bullshit they have been doing after the first verse. It's fucking terrible, just terrible.

Birds in Hell wrote:1998: Shudder to Think
2006: Kings of Leon (x2)
2009: Liam Finn, Ben Harper

Eh, I've never really enjoyed a Pearl Jam opening act.

durdencommatyler wrote:Murder City Devils:

shudder to think - man, I haven't thought of those guys in years. I remember Ed liked this band, but I'm pretty sure they sucked when I saw them

also, deathcab for cutie was horrible.

Best opener besides MMJ was Grant Lee Buffalo in 1994.

Best PJ opener I've seen has to be Rage Against the Machine in 1992.

It took me three Sleater Kinney sets to really love them. The third was on the floor in Quebec. They sounded massive.

super nintendo chalmers wrote:It took me three Sleater Kinney sets to really love them. The third was on the floor in Quebec. They sounded massive.

Saw them in a small club shortly after the '05 Canadian tour. They destroyed it.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

super nintendo chalmers wrote:It took me three Sleater Kinney sets to really love them. The third was on the floor in Quebec. They sounded massive.

Saw them in a small club shortly after the '05 Canadian tour. They destroyed it.

In 2005 I was convinced that Sleater-Kinney were the greatest band in rock history. They were ridiculously, insanely good that year (and into 2006), relevant, tight, and utterly transcendent. I was completely gutted when they broke up ("went on hiatus"...but really, they broke up) and it's hard for me to listen to them now because it's like when you love somebody and they die - you love them so much but it hurts at the same time.

If that sounds melodramatic and over the top, Sleater-Kinney deserved it:



I'll be curious to see who opens for PJ. My guess is Mudhoney, Wild Flag or Quasi, but you never know. So long as it's not One Direction I think I'll be fine with anything.

matt reeder wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:

super nintendo chalmers wrote:It took me three Sleater Kinney sets to really love them. The third was on the floor in Quebec. They sounded massive.

Saw them in a small club shortly after the '05 Canadian tour. They destroyed it.

In 2005 I was convinced that Sleater-Kinney were the greatest band in rock history. They were ridiculously, insanely good that year (and into 2006), relevant, tight, and utterly transcendent. I was completely gutted when they broke up ("went on hiatus"...but really, they broke up) and it's hard for me to listen to them now because it's like when you love somebody and they die - you love them so much but it hurts at the same time.

If that sounds melodramatic and over the top, Sleater-Kinney deserved it:



I'll be curious to see who opens for PJ. My guess is Mudhoney, Wild Flag or Quasi, but you never know. So long as it's not One Direction I think I'll be fine with anything.

Regarding Sleater-Kinney's end, I saw them twice on their European tour in 2006: they were my favorite band at the time (still top 3 at least) with The Woods going over my expectations, and with my friends we invited them to a restaurant after their Paris show (great gig) and discussed for maybe two hours. We talked a bit about PJ as we were huge fans and waiting for their first Euro tour in years (quite funny as they come now every other year), they told us about their unannonced opening slot for the Portland show and that the guys were great (we were not expecting breaking news or gossip here).
And a few days later, the second show was in Brussels, but you could feel on stage that the vibe was off. We tried to see them after the concert, Janet stopped to say hello and discuss a bit, but it looked bad. The "hiatus" announcement a few weeks later was what we feared, and it made me sad as I would not see a double bill SK / PJ...
At least, I had a chance to run into Janet and Corin after shows with their respective bands (Quasi and the Corin Tucker Band): it was nice to see they remembered the Paris restaurant, or joke with Janet about the release of Drumgasm (eventually, it paid off).

I was hoping for Wild Flag or Quasi to open the shows I will go to (between Worcester and Hartford), but Quasi is touring at the same time in the area. At least, I should have a chance to have a chat with Janet between 2 PJ dates.
Mudhoney is also on tour during the first leg, so I hope for a "new" PJ opener and discover new music.

As openers I have seen:
- the Vandals (silly but funny)
- Wolfmother (with Mike and Ed as guests)
- My Morning Jacket (nice, but 5 times in a row was too much for me)
- Tarantula A.D. (I can't remember. who are they?)
- the Black Keys (great, right after the release of Magic Potion)
- the Futureheads (bad sound)
- Idlewild (even worse sound)
- Gomez (I was not in the mood)
- Ben Harper and Relentless 7 (nice, but nothing beats a seated Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals)
- X (I really enjoyed their sets)

Seeing My Morning Jacket in 2006 turned me into a fan.

But my favourite was Toronto 2009 when Ted Leo got stuck at the border and Pearl Jam opened for themselves. Each member took turns and came out and played a song or two.

In case you haven't seen the YouTube videos:





And then, uh, there's this one:

stonefury wrote:2009: Ben Harper & the Relentless7 - Blah. I have never understood PJ fans hard-on for Ben Harper.

I'd choose seeing Ben Harper over Pearl Jam any night of the week.

Sleater-Kinney opening in Portland 2006 was my all-time fav. Eddie doing a 3-song set before S-K's final show ever at the Crystal Ballroom later that summer was also pretty special.