Red Mosquito

stip wrote:reading some of the comments in this thread you'd almost forget that they just had two tours where the performances were almost universally praised by the people that were there.

Agree.

I was listening to Oslo...and its a great great show.

Good lord. Some of the criticisms are really "first world problems" (aka "white people problems"). Ditching the band for a 3.5 (but "sloppy") show? If they DID do the 1.5 hour "tight" show they would have lost Wendy Carlos' Twin anyway cause there would be no rarities and too many repeats. People asking for a "tighter" show should ALSO lessen their demands for the interesting nuggets (rarities, improvs, etc), which I don't entirely see. And ...... oh man, I can barely gather my thoughts cause the whole thing is so ridiculous .....

I think some of the recent performances are great. I think folks are just looking for a balance. Toss in some marathon shows and perhaps sprinkle in some tighter, error free shows. Balance.

The live stuff - to me - isn't an issue. Get back in the studio, get creative and bang out something off the wall.

I'll admit, after awful 2009 shows I really enjoyed the two I saw in 2010.

Id be fine if pj didnt tour every year. Ive seen them enough and while I usually always have a blast....

They need to become studio monsters and start creating something unnique. This standard issue PJ is tiresome. Sure, I enjoy lightning bolt but to say it is anywhere near their prime song crafting years would be idiocy.

yeah, they really need to make more music.

VinylGuy wrote:yeah, they really need to make better music.

ftfy

Honestly, no matter how well they play, I just can't stand what Vedder does with his voice these days. I guess that's on me though.

cutuphalfdead wrote:Honestly, no matter how well they play, I just can't stand what Vedder does with his voice these days. I guess that's on me though.

That's not on you. He's not singing his best with the warbles. That's on him, compensating for something or just becoming bored over the years.

But in general, I think "Pearl Jam Live" wise we're gonna have to deal with the new Ed voice, but some recent stuff (Strangest Tribe live and Pendulum - live and in studio) has me optimistic that if you combine that kind of Ed with some experimental, whacked out shit, then we might have something in the form of a record from left field.

I know the above is a dream, but it could happen.

Spoiler: show

But probably not

It just seems that they are not all at the top of their game and they don't seem to have any inclination to better themselves. Ed fumbles lyrics and rambles, easy lay off the sauce. The band don't know the rarity and makes mistakes, rehearse more or don't play the song until it's ready.

It appears that the band (or mainly Ed) think they can coast through a run of shows. Clearly they cannot. And I sincerely hope that this isn't the band pushing themselves as hard as they can.

Strat wrote:Id be fine if pj didnt tour every year. Ive seen them enough and while I usually always have a blast....

They need to become studio monsters and start creating something unnique. This standard issue PJ is tiresome. Sure, I enjoy lightning bolt but to say it is anywhere near their prime song crafting years would be idiocy.

Totally agree. I'm still digging portions of LB (Getaway, Pendulum, My Father's Son) but I do hope that they return to some more different music.

I was pretty blown away by "Strangest Tribe" -- Eddie sounds fantastic on it, nary the hint that his voice in any kind of decline at all.

I ordered a few more 2014 boots that I am waiting to be delivered, but based on the two shows I attended, I have to concede Stip's age-old point that Eddie isn't really fumbling lyrics any more often now than he was in 2000. His physical limitations are what they are -- he is 50, not 30, it's to be expected. But a lot of the general sloppiness issues I remember from 2008-2011 (I tuned out after that) seem to be smoothed over. Overall I am pretty happy with what I've heard from the past year (at least happy enough to keep checking out more of it, which is more than I can say about 2011-2013).

Being a PJ fan has all but ruined other concerts for me. If I don't get at least 25 songs I am disappointed because I'm used to 30+ from PJ.

The same set night after night would suck. Hard. Half the fun of seeing PJ is being surprised, not knowing what is coming next. There would be no reason to see multiple shows per tour if it was a tight, scripted (see: robotic) set night after night after night.

Anyone who disagrees with me on this is flat out wrong.

Bammer wrote:Anyone who disagrees with me on this is flat out wrong.

Heh.

Bammer wrote:Being a PJ fan has all but ruined other concerts for me. If I don't get at least 25 songs I am disappointed because I'm used to 30+ from PJ.

The same set night after night would suck. Hard. Half the fun of seeing PJ is being surprised, not knowing what is coming next. There would be no reason to see multiple shows per tour if it was a tight, scripted (see: robotic) set night after night after night.

Anyone who disagrees with me on this is flat out wrong.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that PJ has "ruined" other shows for me but I do find myself sometimes unfavorably comparing other band's shows to Pearl Jam's. Metallica is my best example. I went to their two-day Orion Festival in Atlantic City in 2012. It was billed that they would play the entire Ride The Lightning album the first day and The Black Album the second...which they did....starting each album about six songs into the show (and playing them backwards for some reason). Now on the first day, they opened the show with Hit The Lights and Master Of Puppets (awesome). The second day however, they opened with....Hit The Lights and Master Of Puppets (lazy fucking bastards). Nearly everybody who was there had bought a two-day pass so they're playing for the same people. And they have SO MANY SONGS. To open with the same two songs is lame as hell. They also closed both nights with the same songs (One & Seek and Destroy).

I've seen Pearl Jam 8 times or so dating back to 2009 and I don't think any of them have been better than most shows I've seen by other bands in that same time period.

The 2010 shows have the best shot at being good enough.

You were at good 2013 shows.

cutuphalfdead wrote:Honestly, no matter how well they play, I just can't stand what Vedder does with his voice these days. I guess that's on me though.

If Ed could simply transplant his solo show voice/persona/concentration into Pearl Jam shows, I think that would solve much of this issue.

CopperTom wrote:You were at good 2013 shows.

I liked Hartford better than Worcester. But both left me a bit underwhelmed.