The downside of resurrected rarities

Flagg

Pearl Jam elitism at it's finest on display right here in this thread.

Kraven

So people talking about Push Me Pull Me made me realize that I have seen it 3 out of the 6 times its been played. All of which were in the last 9 months. Philly, Boston, NYC.

Oh and rarities aren't rarities if they're played all the time.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

So is Jeremy a rarity at this point? ive never seen it.

Snoopy Died For Our Sins

Evacuation Rules wrote:

The downside of rarities for me is when they butcher them. It's not fun hearing a rare song when half the band doesn't know how it goes.

+1....I hope they never play Brother again....................... :?

igotid88

MrSmith wrote:

The downside is when they break out Sweet Lew.

great song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-B-mH06Pcg

The Rock

What a strange thread. Basically, some people wish that the rarities that they heard at their shows were never played again just so they could brag that they heard a super rare song and others didn't. Sounds a bit gay to me.

I like the odd rare song thrown in here and there, but I'll be gutted if they stop playing the live staples. The regular songs are what made Pearl Jam concerts so legendary in the first place. I consider myself a diehard fan. Pearl Jam are my favourite band of all time. I've seen them 11 times and I'll be seeing them in Belfast and Berlin. I pray that they play the likes of Small Town, Do The Evolution, Better Man, Black, Alive etc. They're epic moments in Pearl Jam shows where the crowd and the band are united and everything just feels right.

One or two rarities thrown in for good measure and I'm a happy camper. Look at Nijmegen 2007. Most people would say it was a boring/standard/regular/lame setlist. For me, I finally got to hear Nothingman and I got all my usual favourites that make shows great. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Rarities are overrated. Being rare doesn't equal being good. Sweet Lew is a sack of crap. Brother is as generic a 'grunge' song as I've ever heard. I couldn't care less if the band never busted them out because they add little to a show in my opinion.

Given To Fly...now there's a song that should be played at every show.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

igotid88 wrote:

MrSmith wrote:

The downside is when they break out Sweet Lew.

great song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-B-mH06Pcg

no. no no. nonononononnono

Ledbetterman10

Backspacer_Backer wrote:

As a "collector" of hearing rarities played live like most of us diehards, the downside is when you have a true rarity that you think you may never see played again, and now they've pulled it back out and have put it in a somewhat regular rotation, it kind of ruins it for those of us who heard it before it was buried.

Example: Push me, Pull me. I was at the show in DC in 1998, which was the third time they played it, and the last since 1998 (up until Philly last year). now, they've played it twice on this tour. purely selfish, i realize, but it's not quite as much of a rarity now. it is an amazing song to hear live, even though I really didn't care for it until i heard it live.

I think I know what you mean. It was a huge deal when they played finally Breath in 1998 but yet I heard it 4 times in 2003. Who You Are is sorta similar. It was rarely played going into 2008 but I saw it 4 times in a week that year.

They've been around for 20 years and eventually, nothing will truly be a "rarity". But hell, last night was my 22nd Pearl Jam concert and I saw them play three songs (Black Red Yellow, Hunger Strike, Kick Out The James) that I've never seen them play. And others (Sweet Lew, I'm Open, Push Me Pull Me) I've only seen because I was at the Philly shows where almost everything got played.

But remember that what's rare to one person might not be to another. I've never seen Oceans played live so that's a rarity to me. But I can't call something like Crown Of Thorns rare when I've seen it 4 or 5 times even though it's technically a "rarity" while Oceans is a well-known album track.

ManOfTheHour75

Evacuation Rules wrote:

The downside of rarities for me is when they butcher them. It's not fun hearing a rare song when half the band doesn't know how it goes.

Totally agree! I wish they would rehearse some of these songs a little more, I hate sloppy Pearl Jam.

merlin401

WM31482 wrote:

based on my point, push me pull me is a perfect example. completely buried for over 11 yrs, only played 3 times, now that number has doubled in less than 8 months. it is awesome live, and i liked saying that I heard it the last time it was ever played. plus, even though it's only been played 6 times total now, it seems they've decided to put it back in rotation.

Who cares? So more people can get to hear it.

With resurrected rarities, you can collect the knowledge that you were the FIRST to see it resurrected. Like Leash in Boston '06. Big Wave in San Diego. Dirty Frank in the Gorge. etc. I saw Leash the SECOND show after it was resurrected. It was definitely amazing, but the people who got it the first night really had a special feeling I'd imagine.

I'll take that with Lukin II. It might become a staple. But I was there when they played it first so I take that as being special in its own rite.

JC38557

Elitism in any regard is unfortunate. This whole debate about rarities is kind of weak, I don't see the point. People want to hear rare songs just so they can say they saw them, even if the songs aren't very good?

YAY!

My enjoyment of Nothingman last night was off the charts, it was perfect, the band and the audience as one. My enjoyment of Sweet Lew and Black Red Yellow was far, far less. That's not because I don't know the songs but because there is nothing like being at a show when the *entire* crowd is on the same page during a song. You need the hits for that.

Give me Given to Fly, Black, or Betterman over Sweet Lew, Mankind, Dirty Frank, or Black Red Yellow every.single.time.

belfast1

i go from wanting to hear 27 rarities on a set to 27 *hits*

i think the band always do a great job of mixing it up

you really get the sense that the band like to keep it fresh for themselves as much as for us and thats pretty cool

Predaking

Am I uber-elite since I saw Bugs live? Yeah, so suck it! :roll: I hate that song on the album, but I have to say, it was kinda cool to see it live. I think it's great the band mixes up the set list every night. I wonder if in ten years, the band will still be touring, and all we'll get are the hits. Let's just enjoy it while we can!

Fahka

Backspacer_Backer wrote:

As a "collector" of hearing rarities played live like most of us diehards, the downside is when you have a true rarity that you think you may never see played again, and now they've pulled it back out and have put it in a somewhat regular rotation, it kind of ruins it for those of us who heard it before it was buried.

Example: Push me, Pull me. I was at the show in DC in 1998, which was the third time they played it, and the last since 1998 (up until Philly last year). now, they've played it twice on this tour. purely selfish, i realize, but it's not quite as much of a rarity now. it is an amazing song to hear live, even though I really didn't care for it until i heard it live.

This makes absolutely no sense to me... ITS OKAY to bring rarities into rotation.. we're not gonna live forever ya know.. we might as well make the most of it and hear it all as much as we can .. Some people arnt into hearing rarities just because they are rare.. some of us really just like the more off beat tunes and appreciate them in ways that most can't/don't

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

my thing is i really dont care what anyone else hears. haha maybe thats selfish but i just dont care! you've heard Wash twenty times! guess what? i dont care. i've never heard it. all that really matters is what songs ive heard. I finally got In My Tree this tour and it isnt somehow less special that they've played it for others. this weird competitiveness is somthing i'll never understand.

FrankieG

SVRDhand13 wrote:

Yea it sucks that they played Sweet Lew again since Philly.

Oh wait, I saw the second performance too.

HELLL YEAH!!!

NeilJam

Evacuation Rules wrote:

The downside of rarities for me is when they butcher them. It's not fun hearing a rare song when half the band doesn't know how it goes.

I was disappointed Ed messed up the lyrics so much for Alone in Columbus, but some fuck ups, like Satan's Bed at State College, can still be great.

I have no complaint about them bringing back songs that haven't been played in a while, even if I can no longer say I was there last time they played BRY. The only time I thought a particular rarity was being played a little too much was 2008 with Hard to Imagine. It wasn't that I didn't want others to hear it live, it's just because Ed had said at a couple shows that HTI was a song they saved for special occasions, then a couple years later they play once every three shows.

youngster

This whole thread is motivating me to start the ******PLEASE PLAY ONE NOTE ON THE NEXT TOUR******* petition.

I seriously think that some of these songs are b-sides and rarities for a reason. I gotta be honest, BRY is NOT that good of a song. Sorry. I get that it isn't played often and the band probably has a reason for that. But it does go to show that they bend over backwards for us fans by honoring many requests. But no one will ever be happy. Next tour there will be an official *********PLEASE REPLACE MATT CAMERON WITH JACK IRONS AT BOTH MSG SHOWS SO WE CAN HEAR WHALE SONG AND THE TRUE IN MY TREE AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT PLEASE PLAY RED DOT***************

JimMacLeod

Meh. Back in '94, I had friends that were jealous that I had seen Yellow Ledbetter in concert.

These days I don't feel the need to brag about the rarities that I've seen, so I'm happy with whatever I see.

igotid88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3cspBJ6SG4