Some tour statistics..

veddertown

From PJ's conception in 1990 - 99 tour dates spanning the albums Ten - Yield they played 475 shows averaging approx. 47 shows per year.

From 2000 - present and spanning the albums Binaural - Backspacer they have played 365 shows averaging approx. 36 shows per year.

For a bunch of guys doing this for 20 turbulent years and showing no sign of stopping in their 40's after Ticketmaster, personal problems, Roskilde etc, I don't really think a drop on average of 11 shows per year is really much to complain about.

For all those complaining about the most recent dates yeah it's frustrating when they don't play your state or country but most people I know going to shows this year are all in the same boat and are having to travel great distances to see a few shows.(I'm only doing 3 of the Euro dates and that's still a round trip of 1500+ miles) There are even people in Chicago, LA and Philly complaining about the new dates!! Come on, think about all the states who haven't seen dates in years and all the countries still waiting for a first visit. I really thought the south were getting dates this time? :? Following PJ has become more difficult and expensive but that's the same for most bands.

I remember reading an interview with Bruce Dickinson when Iron Maiden toured the US very extensively in 84-85 and he said all he got were complaints about not playing within an hour or two of certain cities and they figured to keep all the US fans happy they'd need to tour for 4 years! Pearl Jam and crew are husbands and fathers and touring is always going to minimal now. We should just be glad they still do it and give them and the 10c staff a break because it sounds like they pulled out the stops to get any dates at all.

I'm sure coming up to such an important anniversary there will still be another announcement for dates later this year but they can't visit every doorstep on the way so it's maybe time for those neglegted US and Canada states to start saving and you never know, you may not need to travel that far? Just to point out too, PJ may play less dates but we've been getting rewarded with longer sets and more rarities are coming out of the closet than ever. Enjoy the dates and I hope you get some more!

CantKeepMeHere

WELL SAID!!!!

English Dash

Good post my friend.
The words "staying power" come to mind.

Kearn5y

Not that i disagree with the above, more recently they do tend to play the same cities/states (New York, Massachusetts) again and again. Same applies to some cities in europe. At London & Manchester last year i think there were more non english on the floor than english themselves. For that reason i would be a bit annoyed. But in sayin that, i happen to be a very happy with the euro tour, 2 irish dates

veddertown

Kearn5y wrote:

Not that i disagree with the above, more recently they do tend to play the same cities/states (New York, Massachusetts) again and again. Same applies to some cities in europe. At London & Manchester last year i think there were more non english on the floor than english themselves. For that reason i would be a bit annoyed. But in sayin that, i happen to be a very happy with the euro tour, 2 irish dates

Yeah the Euro dates were well chosen but still have left out a lot of countries who haven't had shows in a while. Eastern Europe,the Balkans and all Scandinavia have lost out again. The problem PJ have now on both sides of the pond is that they have to try and satisfy too many fans who think PJ can sell out any venue just with locals. My mates who went to the 02 show said the same about the different nationalities present but I think the demand for tickets for home nation citizens was pretty well satisfied anyway. Manchester had empty seats last year and I don't think 10000 of the Scottish public would sell out the Glasgow SECC now so we have to rely on people from other countries and cities to fill the spaces. If PJ had the pulling power we'd like to think they have then Hard Rock Calling would have sold out in minutes and I think a lot of US states are left out for that reason because by playing Boston, Chicago, NY/NJ etc they have a lot of fans in different cities and towns fairly close by and probably stand a better chance of a sellout show. Salt Lake being another example of a venue still selling tickets on the day and not being sold out. Leaving out an entire state or country is obviously hard to take for fans but we come to expect that now so shouldn't be so put out at announcement time.

its just gish

Well said. I'm aware that they can't play in every city, but when they skip entire states repeatedly.. it gets a little annoying. I got the awesome chance to see them in Boston in 08, thanks to a fellow TC member who offered a spare ticket.. but it's getting disheartening when a tour announcement comes and it's the usual cities. I'm grateful I got to go the Boston show, but I can't afford to go to the East Coast every year. I second that when someone said that it's come to be expected that it's typically the same cities everytime.

English Dash

Kearn5y wrote:

Not that i disagree with the above, more recently they do tend to play the same cities/states (New York, Massachusetts) again and again. Same applies to some cities in europe. At London & Manchester last year i think there were more non english on the floor than english themselves. For that reason i would be a bit annoyed. But in sayin that, i happen to be a very happy with the euro tour, 2 irish dates

Yeah I agree actually, I live in England but a great distance from both Manchester and London and I would like it if they came a bit closer but probably never will.

dimitrispearljam

nice work...

MissBeeGirl

Great post Veddertown

Stypo420

Exceptional post

veddertown

I was just thinking if PJ are to keep up the average number of shows per year they've achieved during the last decade then there will need to be about another dozen shows due for announcement before the end of 2010 Statistically!!

cippociappo

veddertown wrote:

I was just thinking if PJ are to keep up the average number of shows per year they've achieved during the last decade then there will need to be about another dozen shows due for announcement before the end of 2010 Statistically!!

I like that

hollyster70

Word!

Child Of The 90s

I'm not saying this is what Pearl Jam should do, but check out these tour statistics:

http://delafont.com/music_acts/BB-King.htm


"By 1955, he had given up his radio job to tour full time, and bought a bus he called "big red" to transport his band. B.B. King and the band played 342 one night stands in 1956 alone".

"In the '70s and '80s, he played nearly 300 dates per year, taking his band to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia".

"B.B. King continues to tour extensively, averaging more than 250 concerts per year around the world".


I find this pretty amazing considering the fact that he was probably on some shitty old bus for a good part of those early days. It's no surprise that a lot of these big touring acts end up with drug addictions, etc.

Kevinman

I'm American, therefore I will complain about everything. Someone fought for me to have this right.