Which bootlegs are you listening to right now?

23scidoo

Vienna 2014

kce8

YLed2 said:

Milan 2014

The opening Release and Nothingman is beautiful and powerful.

Release the fucking Wrigley boots please.

Perhaps Wrigley will be a new Vault # sometimes.....

emjot

Berlin 2014

I just can't stop listening to it

boyo79

jumbojet said:

boyo79 said:

Trieste '14

Overall I think I preferred Trieste over Milano. Both good shows though probably not better than the Amsterdam boots for me.

This proves audio boots and actual experience of a show are so different things. There are no words to describe the energy of that crowd in Trieste that day. All 30.000 people of a stadium on their feet, dancing, rocking and singing 3-hour long. Eddie also acknowledges this "You win the award for choreography", which was an understatement IMO because there was also significant sing-alongs on the crowd part. But very little of all this magic is reflected in the audio boot and becomes comparable to Amsterdam show, where, according to critics, the crowd was dead. (Except RVM in Night-1, I guess)

Crowd participation is never a factor for me. I couldn't care less whether the crowd is rocking or not at a gig, it's down to the performance of the band. I certainly wouldn't rate a gig simply on how the crowd is. At a gig, as long as I enjoy myself that is all that matters. Listening to a boot is all down to enjoying the boot itself.

Pap

23scidoo said:

Vienna 2014

mcgruff10

Milano 2014.

jumbojet

boyo79 said:

Crowd participation is never a factor for me. I couldn't care less whether the crowd is rocking or not at a gig, it's down to the performance of the band. I certainly wouldn't rate a gig simply on how the crowd is. At a gig, as long as I enjoy myself that is all that matters. Listening to a boot is all down to enjoying the boot itself.

I tend to disagree with these ideas. I think the band feeds off significantly from the energy of the crowd in terms of intensity and creativity.

At least, it is apparently a turn-on for Ed and the band. And he has openly criticized crowds with less energy. When the crowd is on and rocking, the band seems to enjoy the gig more.

But it wasn't my aim to discuss how important the crowd energy is. I just wanted to point out the difference between listening to audio boot and being at the gig.

Certainly there are pros to listening to audio. You might have a life changing experience in a gig but still have no idea about how the band has performed from technical and creative point of view. That's why we cannot wait for the bootlegs of the shows we've been to.

YLed2

Crowd as well plays a big part for me too - of course actually being at the show in person, and on a bootleg. I love to hear and "feel" a crowd come through on a bootleg. And you're right, especially Ed, absolutely feed off of the crowd.

papa_pearls_jam.pj20

Trieste 2014

BLACK35

Sydney 2014

YLed2

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

PeArLgOoNeR

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

Agreed! and I thought Ed struggled along the way on the 2nd night as well.. without having heard Milan or Trieste, I was stunned that boyo ranked the Amsterdam shows above them..

Vienna is still on repeat here btw

RS151862

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

I agree 100%. I thought Ed sounded pretty rough night 1. A lot of squeaking and squealing in his voice. But he quickly knocked the rust off, and I thought he sounded great night 2. He seems to get better and better each show, Vienna was exceptional.

boyo79

Vienna '14

Long Road opens thus making it's only appearance of the tour. As always, it's a strong performance. Can't Keep follows and likewise is making it's only appearance. Love Can't Keep and Riot Act but it doesn't hit me hear. Black - wonderful. Loving it being early in the set, really works. The tempo kicks in with Last Exit (where the drums start very strangely) and an excellent Why Go. They continue at a frantic pace with Spin The Black Circle, Hail Hail and Got Some. After 8 songs the band finally played one from the new album - the title track and Mind Your Manners follows off the back of it. Like it's Merkinball companion, I Got Shit also makes it's only appearance of the tour here and a good performance it is too. Ed rambles abit in describing what Amongst The Waves, it's quite amusing really. Rain us busted out again - Ed says at the request of Mike - but I've gotta be honest this cover does little for me (I got it at both Amsterdam I and Milton Keynes on this tour) and ruins the momentum I feel. Even Flow quickly picks that momentum back up though, as you'd expect. The solo here is just awesome, favourite of the tour so far. Matt also sneaks in a brief drum solo before the song resumes into the chorus. Rats following off the back of Wishlist is cool, the funk levels rising. Public Image is simply a song I wish would not grace a Pearl Jam setlist. Main set is completed by Rearviewmirror.

At the start of the first encore, Ed tells the crowd that during soundcheck they thought the venue was one of the worst sounding places they had been in but with the crowd in the venue it's now sounding great. Ed then covers The Needle And The Damage Done, played for the first time since 2009. This is a wonderful cover. Speed Of Sound then makes it debut outside of the US. It's very comparable to the San Diego '13 performance, very good. Footsteps continues the camp-fire vibe; I love that this is getting played more again. The laidback songs of Small Town and Daughter from Vs made back-to-back appearances with Atomic Dog being tagged onto the latter. The high tempo kicks in with State Of Love and Trust and Brain Of J, the latter being immense. Porch closes the encore on a fantastic note - real quality performance.

Ed introduces Jeff as being the 'glue' in the band and Stone being 'way more funkier than all of us' before the start of Smile to kick off the second encore. Fuckin' Up is brought out for the only time on the tour, another quality cover of the Neil Young song. Alive is off the scale, as ever. There's time for one more cover in the form of Baba O'Riley before Indifference closes the show.

From the 5 boots so far this probably just edges out on top. Just. Every show has been top quality.

boyo79

PeArLgOoNeR said:

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

Agreed! and I thought Ed struggled along the way on the 2nd night as well.. without having heard Milan or Trieste, I was stunned that boyo ranked the Amsterdam shows above them..

Vienna is still on repeat here btw

Personal preference isn't it? And if you haven't heard them yet, how can you be stunned ha ha!??!

PeArLgOoNeR

boyo79 said:

PeArLgOoNeR said:

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

Agreed! and I thought Ed struggled along the way on the 2nd night as well.. without having heard Milan or Trieste, I was stunned that boyo ranked the Amsterdam shows above them..

Vienna is still on repeat here btw

Personal preference isn't it? And if you haven't heard them yet, how can you be stunned ha ha!??!

because I thought both Amsterdam boots were below average in terms of performance TBH.. I can only imagine Milan and Trieste being better, considering how tight they were in Vienna

boyo79

PeArLgOoNeR said:

boyo79 said:

PeArLgOoNeR said:

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

Agreed! and I thought Ed struggled along the way on the 2nd night as well.. without having heard Milan or Trieste, I was stunned that boyo ranked the Amsterdam shows above them..

Vienna is still on repeat here btw

Personal preference isn't it? And if you haven't heard them yet, how can you be stunned ha ha!??!

because I thought both Amsterdam boots were below average in terms of performance TBH.. I can only imagine Milan and Trieste being better, considering how tight they were in Vienna

Interesting. Did you come away from the Amsterdam shows thinking they were below average?

I couldn't really split the 2 shows after the gigs and the same with the boots. Milan and Trieste were also good. I enjoyed Trieste more than Milan though, alot really.

23scidoo

Seattle 1 2000

RS151862

Pinkpop 2000

PeArLgOoNeR

boyo79 said:

PeArLgOoNeR said:

boyo79 said:

PeArLgOoNeR said:

YLed2 said:

Just finished up Amsterdam 1 2014 and moving on to Amsterdam 2 today. I do have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Amsterdam 1. Band sounded a little sloppy, which you expect being the first show of the tour. Ed also sounded a little off, which again, expected given he was dealing with his knee injury and the first show of the tour.

Agreed! and I thought Ed struggled along the way on the 2nd night as well.. without having heard Milan or Trieste, I was stunned that boyo ranked the Amsterdam shows above them..

Vienna is still on repeat here btw

Personal preference isn't it? And if you haven't heard them yet, how can you be stunned ha ha!??!

because I thought both Amsterdam boots were below average in terms of performance TBH.. I can only imagine Milan and Trieste being better, considering how tight they were in Vienna

Interesting. Did you come away from the Amsterdam shows thinking they were below average?

I couldn't really split the 2 shows after the gigs and the same with the boots. Milan and Trieste were also good. I enjoyed Trieste more than Milan though, alot really.

night 1 I thought was a dissapointment.. Ed was drunk when he hit the stage and I thought his performance reflected that.. (he was pretty funny though )

I liked night 2 a lot better.. more focused and intense.. the boot didn't live up to it

Vienna blew both the Amsterdam gigs away within ten minutes to tell you the truth.. and the boot is incredible IMO.. but as you said it's all personal preference