My recent PJ renaissance, and past PJ underappreciation.

circlesdown

So lately I've been going through sort of a PJ renaissance. I've been a hard core fan since day 1, but for a lot of the time in the Riot Act - Avocado years I seemed to always have something to be disappointed about rather than be happy about. Between 03 and 06 I saw 9 shows. While me feelings for the shows are FAR from negative, it seems that I was in a constant state of hoping my expectations would be met with each one of them: I was hoping they would play the right songs, play the rare one, the one I want to hear, the right tag, the right version, the right energy, whatever. I would go into each show with a list if I-hope-they-do's and I-hope-they-dont's. I deeply love about 98% of their entire catalog, so it's not like they can play a song I don't like, but as setlists progressed I would often be unimpressed or left wanting something more. More what? What did I want? I don't know. It would be just like, "Oh, they're just playing Animal, no biggie", or "Oh, it's Given to Fly again" And these are two songs I love! It's like I was just getting tired of seeing them or something, and I had reached the point of diminished returns. I happened to catch two Incubus shows this summer, the first of which I had these similar expectations, and I left feeling underwhelmed. The second show I was just in a great mood and happy to see them and I was happy to hear hit after hit. Right now I badly long to see PJ again and would happily embrace whatever they rolled out. I would be pumped to hear Betterman, Elderly Woman, and Black, and all that stuff. I can't believe I ever got tired of seeing them and didn't appreciate what they were doing.

I was really critical of the last two records as well, as if they weren't good enough. Even though I liked them and listened to each of them a lot, I still had plenty of criticism for each of them. I've grown to LOVE each of them, recently Avocado finally broke though for me, and I realize how much I love and appreciate this band. I instantly fell in love with Backspacer as well. This has nothing to do with fulfilling some obligation to like or love everything they do in order to be a "true fan". I consider myself a true fan/ admirer no matter how I feel about what comes out next, I just realized that I never stopped loving them, and they never EVER gave me reason to.


I love this band.

satansbed

yeah always wonderd about people you see them alot, sometimes being a "new" and young fan i think im lucky when i got gigs cause im still stoked to hear even flow, black, daughter, better man etc

37pheet

long live pj. songs are songs whatever hits you hits you.

PJ Fan est. 1990

try thinking of it in a "Joe DiMaggio" context...

he once said (and this is a paraphrase) "out in the crowd there could be a young boy seeing me for the first time or an old man seeing me for the last time, and to them i owe my best"

if something were to happen to me before i could see the next PJ show, i'd want my last one to be of mostly hits, because those are the songs that got me into the band to begin with...of course i crave the rarities and b-sides, we all do, but we shall not take the staples for granted...like i said they are the reason you got into the band in the first place.

dbodner

if something were to happen to me before i could see the next PJ show, i'd want my last one to be of mostly hits, because those are the songs that got me into the band to begin with...of course i crave the rarities and b-sides, we all do, but we shall not take the staples for granted...like i said they are the reason you got into the band in the first place.

This is part of what I don't get by people on this board putting Ten down a lot. I get that you've heard the songs so much you may not have much interest in hearing them at the moment, but that's a very different statement than saying they're not good or it wasn't a great album. I would bet the majority of people who don't like Ten first became Pearl Jam fans because of it.

FenwayFaithful

circlesdown wrote:

So lately I've been going through sort of a PJ renaissance. I've been a hard core fan since day 1, but for a lot of the time in the Riot Act - Avocado years I seemed to always have something to be disappointed about rather than be happy about. Between 03 and 06 I saw 9 shows. While me feelings for the shows are FAR from negative, it seems that I was in a constant state of hoping my expectations would be met with each one of them: I was hoping they would play the right songs, play the rare one, the one I want to hear, the right tag, the right version, the right energy, whatever. I would go into each show with a list if I-hope-they-do's and I-hope-they-dont's. I deeply love about 98% of their entire catalog, so it's not like they can play a song I don't like, but as setlists progressed I would often be unimpressed or left wanting something more. More what? What did I want? I don't know. It would be just like, "Oh, they're just playing Animal, no biggie", or "Oh, it's Given to Fly again" And these are two songs I love! It's like I was just getting tired of seeing them or something, and I had reached the point of diminished returns. I happened to catch two Incubus shows this summer, the first of which I had these similar expectations, and I left feeling underwhelmed. The second show I was just in a great mood and happy to see them and I was happy to hear hit after hit. Right now I badly long to see PJ again and would happily embrace whatever they rolled out. I would be pumped to hear Betterman, Elderly Woman, and Black, and all that stuff. I can't believe I ever got tired of seeing them and didn't appreciate what they were doing.

I was really critical of the last two records as well, as if they weren't good enough. Even though I liked them and listened to each of them a lot, I still had plenty of criticism for each of them. I've grown to LOVE each of them, recently Avocado finally broke though for me, and I realize how much I love and appreciate this band. I instantly fell in love with Backspacer as well. This has nothing to do with fulfilling some obligation to like or love everything they do in order to be a "true fan". I consider myself a true fan/ admirer no matter how I feel about what comes out next, I just realized that I never stopped loving them, and they never EVER gave me reason to.


I love this band.

Well said my friend. Great post.

cajunkiwi

dbodner wrote:

if something were to happen to me before i could see the next PJ show, i'd want my last one to be of mostly hits, because those are the songs that got me into the band to begin with...of course i crave the rarities and b-sides, we all do, but we shall not take the staples for granted...like i said they are the reason you got into the band in the first place.

This is part of what I don't get by people on this board putting Ten down a lot. I get that you've heard the songs so much you may not have much interest in hearing them at the moment, but that's a very different statement than saying they're not good or it wasn't a great album. I would bet the majority of people who don't like Ten first became Pearl Jam fans because of it.

I'll never understand people who don't like Ten - it's a stellar album from start to finish, not a low point on there. I have a new favorite song every time I hear it, and for me it's aged like a fine wine. It was the album that got me into the band (I was 13 when it came out) and every time I put it on it's like reuniting with an old friend. I loved the remaster as well - it was like the old friend showed up on my doorstep after taking a swig from the fountain of youth - the old personality was there, but it had brand new energy.

I'm with you guys... when I next see the band (if they ever come back to Louisiana... come on guys, I'll get you directions on Google Maps if you need them) I'll enjoy the newer material and the rarities, but it'll be my old friends that get the blood flowing.