The post is right. The sound on thursday fucking sucked. I was towards the back of section 11 on the risers. I was expecting good sound. I had almost identical seats in 08 in the back of section 10. It was a night and day difference. The vocals were so low and imposible to understand. I couldn't believe it.
I was in dection 96 on friday and it was a little better. The vocals were louder but very muddy. Even when there was no music playing and eddie was "talking" you couldn't really understand everything he said. You kind of had to guess.
It was a joke. I think they should fire their sound people. I actually brought 3 non pearl jam fans to the show on friday night. They weren't impressed. They were impressed with the crowd but not the fucking music which is why we are all there ... right?
Had Pearl Jam played Thursday's Madison Square Garden concert at a smaller hall, the band's energy -- and the dynamic stage presence of frontman Eddie Vedder -- might have saved the day. But they played the arena as if it were a club -- and the fans who filled the Garden paid the price.
First, there was no video projection system. From the back wall of the Garden to the lip of the stage, it's almost a quarter-mile, so the majority of the audience was denied any real visual detail. Did Vedder contort his kisser into the ugly face when he sang "Severed Hand" early in the set? You'd have to ask somebody who sat up front; even the eagle-eyed would have a hard time confirming it was actually Vedder up there.
"Eddie Vedder didn't speak up for Pearl Jam!"
The band's sound system was another problem. The acoustics weren't just a little muddy, they were the Mississippi. Lyrics were mostly indiscernible during the set, which ran for more than 30 songs.
It wasn't so bad on tunes such as "Jeremy" and "Leash," two of the band's best-known numbers. On those, what we couldn't hear with our ears we heard in our heads. But on the less familiar, deep-vault cuts, Vedder's lyrics were little more than garbled jibber-jabber, more noise than poetry.
Other than the shirtless, drunk, fat guy in my far-back section who broke a seat by jumping on it, the fan reaction cooled the farther you were from the stage.
The exceptions came during the night's two brightest songs: a cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and Pearl Jam's own anthem "Alive," which was played in the show's last breaths. These two songs illustrated why Pearl Jam still matters -- but for the most part, Pearl Jam and Vedder coulda been better.
:shock:
that is why I keep emailing 10 C to hire my uncle he has been in the BIZ a long time! Plus all goodies I might get
I went to MSG 2 and the show was great! Great setlist and great energy but sadly I have to agree that the acoustics SUCKED! I could hardly hear any vocals from section 124. It was my 6th show and the sound was not good at all. I'm surprised no one else feels this way!
really? i was in section 124 as well and i didn't have any problem with the sound.
Dan Aquilante, the reviewer loves Pearl Jam you fools. It's amazing how anytime anyone doesn't fawn over this band people get upset.
I've followed his column for years, you should see his review of PJ in 03 - it was glowing and hes been holdng PJ up as the live standard bearers for years.
I felt very smilarly about the show, it was a dud until the encores which couldn't save a show that was in its last breaths.
And the sound was muddled both nights. Its not the venue, csuse i've heard some crystal clear shows there from the 400s. its prob not easy to pull off their sound because the crowd noise is so high.
Dan Aquilante, the reviewer loves Pearl Jam you fools. It's amazing how anytime anyone doesn't fawn over this band people get upset.
I've followed his column for years, you should see his review of PJ in 03 - it was glowing and hes been holdng PJ up as the live standard bearers for years.
I felt very smilarly about the show, it was a dud until the encores which couldn't save a show that was in its last breaths.
Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch right-wing conspiracy lunacy everyone's out to get Pearl Jam!
Here's a review by the pinko NYTIMES writer.
Music Review
A Solid Rock of the Ages, Mixing New and Vintage
By NATE CHINEN
Published: May 21, 2010
Pearl Jam began its first encore at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night with a portrait of ailment, fraught with emotion. Eddie Vedder, the band’s lead singer, returned alone to the stage, where a string quartet had assembled. “This is one of the sadder songs we know,” he said, referring to “The End,” from “Backspacer” (Monkeywrench), Pearl Jam’s most recent album. Finger-picking an acoustic guitar, he sang the song’s first line in a tentative quaver: “What were all those dreams we shared those many years ago?”
These lyrics assumed an outside perspective — that of a dying man addressing his wife — but they also functioned as rock rhetoric, a question of mileage shared with fans. As if to acknowledge that bond, Mr. Vedder and company generously stocked the rest of the show with vintage songs, including five from their 1991 debut, “Ten.” They all landed proud, stretched out and revved up, the furthest thing from sickly or faltering.
Pearl Jam hasn’t budged over the years, unlike most of its old contemporaries. Lately the reunion trail is crowded with grunge or proto-grunge bands, from Alice in Chains and Jane’s Addiction to Stone Temple Pilots, which has a new album coming out on Tuesday. Last month Soundgarden played its first show since 1997, in advance of a headlining slot at Lollapalooza. Meanwhile the Pearl Jam lineup has been doggedly consistent, with Mr. Vedder, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard on guitars, Jeff Ament on bass and Matt Cameron, the only non-original member, on drums. (Mr. Cameron, who came to Pearl Jam from the rubble of Soundgarden, is going to have a busy summer.)
Longevity can be a mixed blessing for a rock band, but Pearl Jam has endured the rough patches, hardening its sound but not its approach, and widening its scope. Punk and garage-rock are two subtexts of “Backspacer,” as they were in hardy stretches of the show. There were also nods to formative powers: “I Got Id,” from a collaboration with Neil Young, and one song apiece by the Who and the Ramones. (There was also a customary Victoria Williams cover, featuring the band’s touring keyboardist, Boom Gaspar.)
Ever the conscientious frontman, Mr. Vedder worked hard to maintain a sense of connection both onstage and out in the room. His barrel-chested baritone still radiates masculine sincerity, along with the traces of self-doubt or indignation that his songs often require. He can be moralistic, but here he held back, letting those songs do the work.
Two from the new album felt emblematic: “The Fixer,” a hard-rock stomper about his endless good intentions, and “Just Breathe,” a ballad of gratitude and renewed devotion. “Just Breathe” opens and closes with an intimation of mortality, and in that sense it’s a complement to “The End,” which concludes with the line “I’m here — but not much longer.”
Mr. Vedder savored the cheers for each song, but he also made sure to provide a rejoinder near the show’s end, with an extravagantly raging version of “Alive,” from “Ten.” The chorus of that tune, like the title, is a simple but vital declaration — an insistence, really — and the arena roared its fist-pumping assent.
Pearl Jam’s European tour starts on June 22; pearljam.com/tour.
A version of this review appeared in print on May 22, 2010, on page C5 of the New York edition.
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My problem is with the Donkey from Down under. Murdoch was one of those who petitioned our FCC to change it's ruling regarding cross ownership of media outlets, i.e. radio, TV, newspapers. Because of the amount of money the right has to spend, they've been able to buy up a great deal of media outlets in this country and temper the opposition of the right wing machine. I'm not saying that the post was ever a Pulitzer prize candidate for it's writing. But since Murdoch has acquired so many TV stations and newspapers, we the American public have been less informed regarding the opposition to most of what the republicans stand for. Even the Wall Street Journal, which was supposed to have independence in it's opinions has been negatively manipulated.
Here we go too funny. Shouldn't this be in moving train. I am sure RM called his music editors and told them to be sure to trash the Big Evil PJ. LMAO!!! One Guys opinion you need to relax dude and not find a conspiracy in everything too funny.
My problem is with the Donkey from Down under. Murdoch was one of those who petitioned our FCC to change it's ruling regarding cross ownership of media outlets, i.e. radio, TV, newspapers. Because of the amount of money the right has to spend, they've been able to buy up a great deal of media outlets in this country and temper the opposition of the right wing machine. I'm not saying that the post was ever a Pulitzer prize candidate for it's writing. But since Murdoch has acquired so many TV stations and newspapers, we the American public have been less informed regarding the opposition to most of what the republicans stand for. Even the Wall Street Journal, which was supposed to have independence in it's opinions has been negatively manipulated.
Here we go too funny. Shouldn't this be in moving train. I am sure RM called his music editors and told them to be sure to trash the Big Evil PJ. LMAO!!! One Guys opinion you need to relax dude and not find a conspiracy in everything too funny.
Again, it's just a commentary on the NYPOST and it's background. Nothing more, nothing less. And I'm quite relaxed, especially after 3 shows this week.
TRANSPLANTS SAVE LIVES www.UNOS.org Donate Organs and Save a Life
Dan Aquilante, the reviewer loves Pearl Jam you fools. It's amazing how anytime anyone doesn't fawn over this band people get upset.
I've followed his column for years, you should see his review of PJ in 03 - it was glowing and hes been holdng PJ up as the live standard bearers for years.
I felt very smilarly about the show, it was a dud until the encores which couldn't save a show that was in its last breaths.
Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch right-wing conspiracy lunacy everyone's out to get Pearl Jam!
Depending on how you look at it, or how you twist things to suit your own personal point of view, things could make sense, considering Pearl Jam trashed Bush at every chance they got.
Presidential Advice from President-Elect Mike McCready: "Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?"
Had Pearl Jam played Thursday's Madison Square Garden concert at a smaller hall, the band's energy -- and the dynamic stage presence of frontman Eddie Vedder -- might have saved the day. But they played the arena as if it were a club -- and the fans who filled the Garden paid the price.
First, there was no video projection system. From the back wall of the Garden to the lip of the stage, it's almost a quarter-mile, so the majority of the audience was denied any real visual detail. Did Vedder contort his kisser into the ugly face when he sang "Severed Hand" early in the set? You'd have to ask somebody who sat up front; even the eagle-eyed would have a hard time confirming it was actually Vedder up there.
"Eddie Vedder didn't speak up for Pearl Jam!"
The band's sound system was another problem. The acoustics weren't just a little muddy, they were the Mississippi. Lyrics were mostly indiscernible during the set, which ran for more than 30 songs.
It wasn't so bad on tunes such as "Jeremy" and "Leash," two of the band's best-known numbers. On those, what we couldn't hear with our ears we heard in our heads. But on the less familiar, deep-vault cuts, Vedder's lyrics were little more than garbled jibber-jabber, more noise than poetry.
Other than the shirtless, drunk, fat guy in my far-back section who broke a seat by jumping on it, the fan reaction cooled the farther you were from the stage.
The exceptions came during the night's two brightest songs: a cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and Pearl Jam's own anthem "Alive," which was played in the show's last breaths. These two songs illustrated why Pearl Jam still matters -- but for the most part, Pearl Jam and Vedder coulda been better.
:shock:
that is why I keep emailing 10 C to hire my uncle he has been in the BIZ a long time! Plus all goodies I might get
Had Pearl Jam played Thursday's Madison Square Garden concert at a smaller hall, the band's energy -- and the dynamic stage presence of frontman Eddie Vedder -- might have saved the day. But they played the arena as if it were a club -- and the fans who filled the Garden paid the price.
First, there was no video projection system. From the back wall of the Garden to the lip of the stage, it's almost a quarter-mile, so the majority of the audience was denied any real visual detail. Did Vedder contort his kisser into the ugly face when he sang "Severed Hand" early in the set? You'd have to ask somebody who sat up front; even the eagle-eyed would have a hard time confirming it was actually Vedder up there.
"Eddie Vedder didn't speak up for Pearl Jam!"
The band's sound system was another problem. The acoustics weren't just a little muddy, they were the Mississippi. Lyrics were mostly indiscernible during the set, which ran for more than 30 songs.
It wasn't so bad on tunes such as "Jeremy" and "Leash," two of the band's best-known numbers. On those, what we couldn't hear with our ears we heard in our heads. But on the less familiar, deep-vault cuts, Vedder's lyrics were little more than garbled jibber-jabber, more noise than poetry.
Other than the shirtless, drunk, fat guy in my far-back section who broke a seat by jumping on it, the fan reaction cooled the farther you were from the stage.
The exceptions came during the night's two brightest songs: a cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and Pearl Jam's own anthem "Alive," which was played in the show's last breaths. These two songs illustrated why Pearl Jam still matters -- but for the most part, Pearl Jam and Vedder coulda been better.
:shock:
that is why I keep emailing 10 C to hire my uncle he has been in the BIZ a long time! Plus all goodies I might get
Had Pearl Jam played Thursday's Madison Square Garden concert at a smaller hall, the band's energy -- and the dynamic stage presence of frontman Eddie Vedder -- might have saved the day. But they played the arena as if it were a club -- and the fans who filled the Garden paid the price.
First, there was no video projection system. From the back wall of the Garden to the lip of the stage, it's almost a quarter-mile, so the majority of the audience was denied any real visual detail. Did Vedder contort his kisser into the ugly face when he sang "Severed Hand" early in the set? You'd have to ask somebody who sat up front; even the eagle-eyed would have a hard time confirming it was actually Vedder up there.
"Eddie Vedder didn't speak up for Pearl Jam!"
The band's sound system was another problem. The acoustics weren't just a little muddy, they were the Mississippi. Lyrics were mostly indiscernible during the set, which ran for more than 30 songs.
It wasn't so bad on tunes such as "Jeremy" and "Leash," two of the band's best-known numbers. On those, what we couldn't hear with our ears we heard in our heads. But on the less familiar, deep-vault cuts, Vedder's lyrics were little more than garbled jibber-jabber, more noise than poetry.
Other than the shirtless, drunk, fat guy in my far-back section who broke a seat by jumping on it, the fan reaction cooled the farther you were from the stage.
The exceptions came during the night's two brightest songs: a cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and Pearl Jam's own anthem "Alive," which was played in the show's last breaths. These two songs illustrated why Pearl Jam still matters -- but for the most part, Pearl Jam and Vedder coulda been better.
Again, it's just a commentary on the NYPOST and it's background. Nothing more, nothing less. And I'm quite relaxed, especially after 3 shows this week.
The thing is, the NY Post is a lousy paper with very, very poor journalistic standards, so it's easy to have a negative commentary. It is a paper that is very mockable, no matter what they say about Pearl Jam. The two issues are probably mutually exclusive.
According to Glenn Beck's chalkboard somewhere, Pearl Jam played a bad show because Eddie Vedder is the lead singer, who is friends with Sean Penn, who is friends with Hugo Chavez, who is a freedom-hating socialist, therefore, Pearl Jam played a bad show.
Member Number: 437xxx
Pearl Jam:
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013
Eddie Vedder Solo:
Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
I actually don't like projection screens at shows, takes away from the stage.
Jersey's Star Ledger ran an article reviewing the Newark show saying how great the concert was and how they don't need to rely on gimmicks nor screen projection because the music is just that powerful. Regardless, at any concert I go to I'm not gonna be watching the screen projection. If I wanted to do that, then I would just stay home and watch Live at the Garden on my TV.
And come on now...Leash is one of their most well-known songs? Really? Leash?
Beavis: All my friends are brown and red? What does that mean?
Butthead: It means that his friends are like turds and that they like suck.
Beavis: Heh heh. Oh yeah. Yeah! Get those spoons out of my face before I shove them up your butt!
Butthead: Huh huh.
I actually don't like projection screens at shows, takes away from the stage.
Jersey's Star Ledger ran an article reviewing the Newark show saying how great the concert was and how they don't need to rely on gimmicks nor screen projection because the music is just that powerful. Regardless, at any concert I go to I'm not gonna be watching the screen projection. If I wanted to do that, then I would just stay home and watch Live at the Garden on my TV.
And come on now...Leash is one of their most well-known songs? Really? Leash?
+1 this guy from the post just hasn't gotten laid in a long time.
People here are hilarious. I don't see where this review slagged off Pearl Jam or their actual performance.
I think most bands manage to have some kind of video screen when they play arenas. Pearl Jam is just one that doesn't so really, I can understand that complaint. I'm sure a lot of casual fans want to see as much as hear.
As for the sound, someone here posted how PJ was really unhappy about it before the gig and had to pay in order to try to sort it out during the "dark" hour between 6 and 7pm. Perhaps they couldn't get it right in time.
Honestly, I don't see what the problem is here.
He said the band was great, good energy but had too complaints. Concerning MSG I I agree with him. Makes sense to have a screen. And the sound was bad until the first encore was over. Me and another random person next to me both noticed this.
MSG II was fine from the first chord.
Jones Beach II (2000), Holmdel (2003), Camden I, East Rutherford II, Gorge I, Gorge II (2006), MSG I, Boston II (2008), Spectrum II, Spectrum III, Spectrum IV (2009), MSG I, MSG II (2010), Prague (2012), Philly I (2013), Philly I, Philly II, Fenway I (2016), Fenway I (2018), MSG (2022), MSG I, Fenway 1 (2024)
Sounds more like a bad review of MSG as a concert venue than anything else. Doesn't say how PJ performed, how crowd reacted to setlist, etc. Very strange angle to take on the reviewer's part.
Boston II 94 Boston II 06 Mansfield I 08 Mansfield II 08 Seattle I 09 Seattle II 09
Hartford 10 Boston 10 Wrigley 13 Worcester I 13 Worcester II 13 Hartford 13
NYC I 16 NYC II 16 Fenway I 16 Fenway II 16 Fenway 1 18 Fenway II 18
E.V. Boston II 08 E.V. Albany II 09 E.V. Providence 11, E.V. Boston 11
Troubled Souls Unite
I actually don't like projection screens at shows, takes away from the stage.
me either.. i mean you go to the show to watch the band, not TV
Then again.. I've gotten picky about my concert tickets.. so I'll rarely go unless I get somewhat decent tickets (which usually works out, because they release decent tix for most concerts closer to the show date, if you didn't score decent ones at first).
Comments
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I was in dection 96 on friday and it was a little better. The vocals were louder but very muddy. Even when there was no music playing and eddie was "talking" you couldn't really understand everything he said. You kind of had to guess.
It was a joke. I think they should fire their sound people. I actually brought 3 non pearl jam fans to the show on friday night. They weren't impressed. They were impressed with the crowd but not the fucking music which is why we are all there ... right?
http://www.totaldanger.com/td_pages/res ... esume.html
really? i was in section 124 as well and i didn't have any problem with the sound.
I've followed his column for years, you should see his review of PJ in 03 - it was glowing and hes been holdng PJ up as the live standard bearers for years.
I felt very smilarly about the show, it was a dud until the encores which couldn't save a show that was in its last breaths.
Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch right-wing conspiracy lunacy everyone's out to get Pearl Jam!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmgphotos/4731512142/" title="PJ Banner2 by Mister J Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/4731512142_258f2d6ab4_b.jpg" width="630" height="112" alt="PJ Banner2" /></a>
Music Review
A Solid Rock of the Ages, Mixing New and Vintage
By NATE CHINEN
Published: May 21, 2010
Pearl Jam began its first encore at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night with a portrait of ailment, fraught with emotion. Eddie Vedder, the band’s lead singer, returned alone to the stage, where a string quartet had assembled. “This is one of the sadder songs we know,” he said, referring to “The End,” from “Backspacer” (Monkeywrench), Pearl Jam’s most recent album. Finger-picking an acoustic guitar, he sang the song’s first line in a tentative quaver: “What were all those dreams we shared those many years ago?”
These lyrics assumed an outside perspective — that of a dying man addressing his wife — but they also functioned as rock rhetoric, a question of mileage shared with fans. As if to acknowledge that bond, Mr. Vedder and company generously stocked the rest of the show with vintage songs, including five from their 1991 debut, “Ten.” They all landed proud, stretched out and revved up, the furthest thing from sickly or faltering.
Pearl Jam hasn’t budged over the years, unlike most of its old contemporaries. Lately the reunion trail is crowded with grunge or proto-grunge bands, from Alice in Chains and Jane’s Addiction to Stone Temple Pilots, which has a new album coming out on Tuesday. Last month Soundgarden played its first show since 1997, in advance of a headlining slot at Lollapalooza. Meanwhile the Pearl Jam lineup has been doggedly consistent, with Mr. Vedder, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard on guitars, Jeff Ament on bass and Matt Cameron, the only non-original member, on drums. (Mr. Cameron, who came to Pearl Jam from the rubble of Soundgarden, is going to have a busy summer.)
Longevity can be a mixed blessing for a rock band, but Pearl Jam has endured the rough patches, hardening its sound but not its approach, and widening its scope. Punk and garage-rock are two subtexts of “Backspacer,” as they were in hardy stretches of the show. There were also nods to formative powers: “I Got Id,” from a collaboration with Neil Young, and one song apiece by the Who and the Ramones. (There was also a customary Victoria Williams cover, featuring the band’s touring keyboardist, Boom Gaspar.)
Ever the conscientious frontman, Mr. Vedder worked hard to maintain a sense of connection both onstage and out in the room. His barrel-chested baritone still radiates masculine sincerity, along with the traces of self-doubt or indignation that his songs often require. He can be moralistic, but here he held back, letting those songs do the work.
Two from the new album felt emblematic: “The Fixer,” a hard-rock stomper about his endless good intentions, and “Just Breathe,” a ballad of gratitude and renewed devotion. “Just Breathe” opens and closes with an intimation of mortality, and in that sense it’s a complement to “The End,” which concludes with the line “I’m here — but not much longer.”
Mr. Vedder savored the cheers for each song, but he also made sure to provide a rejoinder near the show’s end, with an extravagantly raging version of “Alive,” from “Ten.” The chorus of that tune, like the title, is a simple but vital declaration — an insistence, really — and the arena roared its fist-pumping assent.
Pearl Jam’s European tour starts on June 22; pearljam.com/tour.
A version of this review appeared in print on May 22, 2010, on page C5 of the New York edition.
www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Yup
Here we go too funny. Shouldn't this be in moving train. I am sure RM called his music editors and told them to be sure to trash the Big Evil PJ. LMAO!!! One Guys opinion you need to relax dude and not find a conspiracy in everything too funny.
www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Depending on how you look at it, or how you twist things to suit your own personal point of view, things could make sense, considering Pearl Jam trashed Bush at every chance they got.
I'm sure your uncle is good..... but that web design is nauseating. Tell him to FLASH forward to the new decade.
ya not sure why his site is so far behind
wouldn't exactly call this TRASHING them...
Pearl Jam:
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013
Eddie Vedder Solo:
Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
Jersey's Star Ledger ran an article reviewing the Newark show saying how great the concert was and how they don't need to rely on gimmicks nor screen projection because the music is just that powerful. Regardless, at any concert I go to I'm not gonna be watching the screen projection. If I wanted to do that, then I would just stay home and watch Live at the Garden on my TV.
And come on now...Leash is one of their most well-known songs? Really? Leash?
Butthead: It means that his friends are like turds and that they like suck.
Beavis: Heh heh. Oh yeah. Yeah! Get those spoons out of my face before I shove them up your butt!
Butthead: Huh huh.
He said the band was great, good energy but had too complaints. Concerning MSG I I agree with him. Makes sense to have a screen. And the sound was bad until the first encore was over. Me and another random person next to me both noticed this.
MSG II was fine from the first chord.
Hartford 10 Boston 10 Wrigley 13 Worcester I 13 Worcester II 13 Hartford 13
NYC I 16 NYC II 16 Fenway I 16 Fenway II 16 Fenway 1 18 Fenway II 18
E.V. Boston II 08 E.V. Albany II 09 E.V. Providence 11, E.V. Boston 11
Troubled Souls Unite
Two separate issues... possiby... but the NY Post is and has always been trash... aka absolute garbage.
If I knew where it was I would take you there. There's much more than this
me either.. i mean you go to the show to watch the band, not TV
Then again.. I've gotten picky about my concert tickets.. so I'll rarely go unless I get somewhat decent tickets (which usually works out, because they release decent tix for most concerts closer to the show date, if you didn't score decent ones at first).
Maybe Scott Stapp writes for them now