Era of the moment: 1999-2000

[dimejinky99]

We can view it now as that given hindsight, at the time(2003) it was a band almost celebrating that they can and should go on. And that was enjoyable at the time but there are parts of the set each night where they do get stuck in that. I'm not sure if its 20/20 hindsight
On our part or them feeling obliged to doff their caps hugely to their past each night. Bit of both? Maybe.

They're trapped by their past both musically and in terms of history. But don't think they aren't aware of it.

I feel like a lot of us who had seen them on the previous tours did notice the distinct shift in attitude on the 2003 tour. You hit on a big point though; At the time it was remarkable because it was something you never thought you'd see Pearl Jam too. It was awesome to see them loosen up a bit and be dip back into their past. It felt good to see them look back at where they'd come from, and it felt good to relive those older songs again with them. At the time the ramshackle performances of some of the older songs didn't even bother me as much because the fact they were even playing them still seemed to be such a point of significance.

The 2003 tour was the one I saw them the most on, and every single night felt like it could go in any one of a thousand directions. It was an amazing thing in the moment, and I think at the time a lot of us loved it and really hoped they could find a balance between what made them so great on the 98/00 tours and what made the 2003 tour so much fun (because a Pearl Jam concert being fun was such a foreign concept). You could tell they tried from 2004 -2006 to find that balance. At times like Philadelphia in 05 and Grand Rapids in 06, they hit that mark brilliantly, but some nights it seemed like they were chasing something they'd never get back (wasn't there a night they played Avocado from start to finish in the middle of a set?). By the end of 2006 they seemed to stop trying to get back the qualities they lost after 2000 and just threw themselves full-fledged into the opposite end of the spectrum.

So I think you're right. I think they are very aware of being trapped by their history. But I also think they've stopped trying to get out of that trap, which is their prerogative, but no doubt changes things for a lot of us. I still think on any given night you're going to get a performance from them which is a solid 85-90 out of 100, which is remarkable for a band of their tenure. But I think what they sacrificed to get to this point is the ability to leave you feeling like you'd just witnessed the single greatest performance of your life, which you always felt was a possibility when you went to see them up until the mid-00's.

Great post. And funny enough my longest stretch was 10/11 shows I did in the US in 03. And I agree with everything you said except one thing. I've seen them a ton of times and it really does feel like those nights when you think you've seen their best performances and their best is behind them, that they can knock you out and it out of the park. Those shows are farther apart now but there will be 2, possibly 3 on a tour(based on the last few tours is which I've seen a fair few shows). But step back and be a new fan/casual fan walking in. You're going to leave that show saying it was the best show you'd ever seen. Almost always seems to happen with newbies I know/have met from everywhere.

[nightmareblack0206]

Amazing fkn posts! Fans are typing tonight

[nightmareblack0206]

I also feel this was the first sessions where the boys had A LOT of tracks to choose from (we all feel the same about SAD)

[Lament]

But step back and be a new fan/casual fan walking in. You're going to leave that show saying it was the best show you'd ever seen. Almost always seems to happen with newbies I know/have met from everywhere.

You nailed something right there, and something that was kind of a weird (I guess) learning experience for me. When I started going to see Springsteen in 2003 I would leave shows thinking "Oh my God, that was life-altering. No one in the world can possibly be that good!" I used to think that the people who would say "They're still good, but it's not like in 1975/1978/1981 when it was REALLY transcendent" were just crazy or romanticizing the past. And maybe they are to an extent, and maybe we do the same. But overhearing new fans leave shows in 2008 and beyond excitedly claiming to have just witnessed the greatest show ever puts everything into that same kind of perspective. I would never trade having seen the older shows for the chance to have that same high of a new/casual fan, but I can still appreciate the "contact high" of experiencing it with them. I apologize if that doesn't make sense. I swear it did in my mind.

[dimejinky99]

It does make sense! And that's where the real nostalgia comes in on our part, cos invariably you're listening to this fan rave about it and you're both wistful and a little jealous of him, I find that's how I am when I see this happening. It's cool though. It makes me happy at least:)
Probably why I'm always badgering friends who've never seen them to come. That post gig wide eyed revalatory excitement is great to watch:)

[WtOB?]

I remember Triple J in Aus playing Binaural in its entirety over the week before it was released. So that's the first time I heard it. I remember drivin' along listening to Thin Air for the first time, loving it.

[Strat]

But step back and be a new fan/casual fan walking in. You're going to leave that show saying it was the best show you'd ever seen. Almost always seems to happen with newbies I know/have met from everywhere.

You nailed something right there, and something that was kind of a weird (I guess) learning experience for me. When I started going to see Springsteen in 2003 I would leave shows thinking "Oh my God, that was life-altering. No one in the world can possibly be that good!" I used to think that the people who would say "They're still good, but it's not like in 1975/1978/1981 when it was REALLY transcendent" were just crazy or romanticizing the past. And maybe they are to an extent, and maybe we do the same. But overhearing new fans leave shows in 2008 and beyond excitedly claiming to have just witnessed the greatest show ever puts everything into that same kind of perspective. I would never trade having seen the older shows for the chance to have that same high of a new/casual fan, but I can still appreciate the "contact high" of experiencing it with them. I apologize if that doesn't make sense. I swear it did in my mind.

My cousin left the MSG shows in 09 with that feeling. My good buddy also left St. Louis 10 feeling that.

We are jaded. no doubt.

[Strat]

They are showing the Hard Rock calling show on Palladia right now. They are sure taring up Alive. Man alive thats great.

[Lament]

Probably why I'm always badgering friends who've never seen them to come. That post gig wide eyed revalatory excitement is great to watch:)

It's funny you say that. Back in the day I went to see them several times either by myself, with people I barely knew, or with people I openly disliked. Nowadays I put much more stock into who I go with. I don't ever go by myself anymore (2003 was probably the last time I did that), and I try to bring people who haven't seen them (or haven't seen them in years) just like you mentioned doing. I couldn't see myself going solo or with someone I didn't know or like anymore. I'll still do it for other bands, but I guess I need that contact high with Pearl Jam now. It definitely puts the moments where I drift into the jaded territory into better perspective. Night two of PJ20 I probably would've been bored for much of the night, but I was with a friend who had never seen them before PJ20 who was just in sheer awe all night long as they barreled through almost every song she was familiar with and crossed the three hour threshold.

[Lament]

My cousin left the MSG shows in 09 with that feeling. My good buddy also left St. Louis 10 feeling that.

We are jaded. no doubt.

We are, but at least it makes sense as to how we got this way. I was at the Chicago 2000 show you mentioned earlier in the thread; After seeing what the band was capable of that night, how can you not be a bit jaded about them choosing to push so hard in the other direction in the thirteen years since then? I'm not saying they're not justified in doing so, but I think we're justified in being jaded as a response. It's just a matter of what you do with it I guess. Some ways of dealing with it are better than others.

[stip]

I remember the first song I heard from Binaural was the bridge show NAIS. It was an audience quality recording (PJ was still a bit enough deal that this would make it onto the radio) and thought it was okay but was a bit nervous. Not what I wanted in a first listen. Then the Letterman version of Grievance (is that the definitive version of this song) blew me away. It remains my favorite televised PJ performance ever).

I liked but didn't love the NAIS/Insignificance single. It was slightly difficult stuff to digest, and although I like both those songs quite a bit, they are growers and seemed just a little out of place outside the context of their album. Part of the problem might have been that I wanted an album full of songs that sounded like Grievance on Letterman.

Like any PJ album I loved it on the first few listens but this was also the period where I was making myself love it on first listen. I was good at focusing on what I really enjoyed about the songs and the issues I have with the record would sink in. That was pretty standard for me on the Yield-Binaural-Riot Act stretch.

Although I've never really had a lot of close friends outside of high school who gave a shit about pearl jam, this was the first album that I experienced alone. It was my first year out of college, I was living at home, and this was really the beginning of the 'pearl jam as something private' phase that lasted until I started posting on RM.

It was also the last album where I could be surprised by the album since I was reliant on mainstream sources to learn anything about the record/band. Part of me misses those days.

I have to say I was not a huge fan of that tour. I had seen PJ 4 times at this point and the 96 and all 3 98 shows were amazing. I might have just seen lousy shows, but it felt different. Like I had to remind myself how great they were, rather than really knowing it.

Rosklide didn't scare me as much as maybe it should have, and again I think that is because I wasn't on the internet.

The bootlegs were awesome. I bought the box and spent a very enjoyable few months walking the dog listening to those shows, but I lost steam shortly into the US shows. that's where I learned the limits of listening to boots. I had an easier time in 03 and 06.

[Norah]

Why were you listening to an audience recording of the bridge school performance of NAIS when a rip from the webcast was widely circulated?

[stip]

it was whatever was on the radio. It is possible it was the webcast, but the quality sounded like an audience recording. I only heard it once or twice

[Norah]

i see

[digster]

There's some good talk on this thread...I'm not saying much that hasn't been said before, but I'd say the one criticism that sticks out to me between Pearl Jam then and now, more than tempo, breathiness, guitar tone (although that can be a big one), is that I think the shows have become a bit limited in the places they can take you to. Pearl Jam shows in 2000 could throw the most intense political punk rock at you earlier in the show (Grievance), take you through an powerful, visceral heartbreaking song (Parting Ways), and still blow the roof off in celebration (the Baba, Rockin in the Free World closers) etc. There was all this ground that could capably be covered. It seems like more often than not, the live shows now stick exclusively to the latter celebratory feel. They still do it incredibly well; I've rarely felt more elated walking out of a show than at MSG 2010, but I feel like they used to be able to do that and more. It's hard for me to imagine a show they could put on now that could stray outside of that celebratory feel, even if only temporarily. And that's fine, for a joyous feeling like that is probably the most important thing for me to take from seeing my favorite band in concert, but I can't help but feel that focusing on that one aspect of their live personality to the exclusion of others limits their options on what any given night can feel like to the audience and band.

[lowlight79]

This era was really the era that brought me back to the band. I remember getting the album the friday before it came out as I was working for Virgin Megastore at the time from a Sony rep. I remember driving home thinking how different this was from Yield, with the letterman performance still fresh in my head. I just went through this album like 10 times that first weekend. I was going through a very difficult time in my life, I was 21 and just lost and I think people who were having issues in life at the time really bonded with this record that were PJ fans.

Besides my first time seeing them in 98, I saw my next shows at Jones Beach, i don't think I will ever see this band perform 3 different shows like that back to back to back every again. The first night for was my real introducton to PJ, they opened with Long Road and played a mellow set that night, the second night was epic with Daughter with the It's ok tag in it's best form and this really show how powerful Binaural could be live. Killer versions of insignificance and rival. The last night was just them pulling out all the stops and Ed making fun of Stone for not wanting to play breath. My only regret to this day is I still havent' seenn parting ways live.

[Angus]

Why were you listening to an audience recording of the bridge school performance of NAIS when a rip from the webcast was widely circulated?

That was April Fools 2000.

[liebzz]

In 1999, when I heard that live version of "Nothing As It Seems", I thought it ranked among the best things I'd ever heard from the band. I was more disappointed at what it sounded like in the studio.

As far as live performance, I do respectfully disagree. Granted, I haven't seen them in 3 years, but the times I saw them between 2008 and 2010 (the 4 MSG shows and the Spectrum Halloween 2009 show) all rank among my favorite Pearl Jam experiences, with the 2003 tour closely behind. I feel like they had finally decided to lengthen the shows a bit, loosen up the sets, and it allowed fans to feel more apart of the shows. I know I am saying this knowing full well that I enjoyed the heck out of the shows I saw in 1996, 1998, and 2000, but for me 2003 and on have just had so many special moments for me as a fan. At least up through 2010, I never really had the sense that their live show was a mere nostalgia trip - they still played new songs and seemed to fit them into the set in the same general fashion as they always had.

[EJ]

Yeah, when the first time I heard NAIS from Bridge School in 1999, I got serious goosebumps. It was a PJ I was unfamiliar with, but I absolutely loved it. Such a haunting tune.

Thin Air was pretty special too. It had a much lighter feel to it, but it was a song that just really fit into the Bridge performance.

I played those 2 songs to death.

And, I was a bit underwhelmed when I heard the studio version of NAIS. There's something a bit muted about it that bugged me for awhile.

[bodysnatcher]

love the studio version of NAIS, and still do to this day. it caught something spooky in the studio. it's one of the few songs where Mike doesn't feel like a show horse, and you can feel his emotion and his headspace as a person when he plays those solos