Question For People who have seen PJ in non-english speaking countries

nazcanlines

Pearl Jam are known for their stage banter, and I am going to be travelling to italy to see them in September. I am an english Speaker, and obviously English is not the first language of this country, so I am interested to know from anyone who has been what the behaviour of the band is like. Are they still as talkative as they would be in the States for instance, or do they focus more on the music? Also do they play as many rarities as they would in States or do they focus on getting more of the hits out.

How are crowd singalongs in non-english speaking countries? Can i still expect the Italians to be belting out the lyrics to every song, or will that be reserved for the "hits" only?

empty_canvas

I've only been to one concert, Berlin 2000. Ed wasn't as talkative as on some bootlegs I heard, but he did talk a little in English and tried to say something in German, too. When he started talking, he said something like "Can I speak in English? You can sing in English, that's for sure!" So you see that at least in Germany, the crowd sings along, and not only to the hits! Don't know about Italy, though, but I think all the crowds in Europe will be singing along, though they may not get the lyrics right all the time. But hey, Eddie sometimes has a problem with that, too, so who cares!?!

Regarding rarities, I believe that their setlists are very diverse, whether they play in North America, Europe, Australia or anywhere else! The setlists for they festivals might include some more 'hits' than the 'normal' concerts...

redrock

A lot of people in non-english speaking countries speak english....

Spiritual_Chaos

Europe seems to egt some rarities, just check the setlists from 2000? Verona had a good setlistsm, they got Pilate

Buru

Ed talks a little less than usual
although he will speak in english and attempt some phrases in the local language (that's how it was in the south america shows)
The crowds singalong to everything, not just hits

In South America we got mostly hits, very few rarities
I hope Europe gets some rarities!

canes98

I saw them in Katowice, Poland in 2000, the first of two shows there. Ed was fairly talkative and the crowd was pretty incredible. They knew more lyrics than I did in some instances. As for rarities, the one song I heard that night that I haven't heard any of the other 6 times I've seen them was Footsteps.

Jammin909

Most Dutch and Belgians are fluent in English and probably speak better than some natives.

partebcs

I was at Lisbon 2000 and Ed was talkative...He spoke about some episodes on their days in Portugal and that was very cool...And the portuguese crowd sang from the beggining until the very end...Hits and obscure songs..And we even bailed Ed out on Wishlist and Immortality when he missed the lyrics...

And i believe that english is widely spoken throughout the world, not only in english spoken countries..

tachepiranha

Buru wrote:

Ed talks a little less than usual
although he will speak in english and attempt some phrases in the local language (that's how it was in the south america shows)
The crowds singalong to everything, not just hits

In South America we got mostly hits, very few rarities
I hope Europe gets some rarities!

3rd show in 2003 in Mexico city was like an exception, Eddie talked a lot with the audience (english and spanish) and we got some rarities Hunger Strike, Arc and Hard to imagine, but definitely not much of a talker when it comes to non-english speaking countries.

sailorgirlie

I don't think the band should be worried about Europe... I mean the majority of ppl speak here at least 2 foreign languages and English is defo one of them. I know it's hard to imagine but that's just the way it is in Europe. Since there are so many different countries in a fairly small territory (comparing to the US and Canada) ppl need to communicate somehow so hence the knowledge of several foreign languages.

Just to give you an example I'm fluent in English and German and understand a bit of Italian and Spanish too but I'm not expecting anybody to speak Hungarian since only 15 million ppl speak this language in the whole wide world.

So all you English speaking out there not to worry at all This part of the globe is not the end of the world, you'll be understood perfectly fine.

Oh yeah, Ed, pls don't be shy... just bring on the usual banter as always... we sure will have a great time if you turn up here anyways

Spiritual_Chaos

In Sweden we start learning English in 3rd grade, and German/Spanish or French in the 6th I think. Most ppl in Europe speak very good english. But of teh boots I listened to he aspeaks with the crowd ofc but maybe to a bit less extent then in America/Canada/England.

Here is the setlists for their Italian shows in 2000 ( The best boots I think from this leg togeather with Lisbon(due to the crowd).

Verona:
set: Long Road, Grievance, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Animal, Nothing As It Seems, Pilate, Given To Fly, Even Flow, O' Sole Mio, MFC, Habit, Wishlist, Daughter/(Beautiful Way), State of Love and Trust, Once, Lukin, Immortality, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror

enc 1: In the Coliseum improv, Black, Breakerfall, Do The Evolution, Elderly Woman, Better Man, I Got You (Split Enz), Alive, Last Kiss, Porch

enc 2: Soon Forget, Yellow Ledbetter


Milan:
set: Of The Girl, Corduroy, Grievance, God's Dice, Animal, Given To Fly, Rival, Elderly Woman, Even Flow, Not For You, Thin Air, Light Years, MFC, Present Tense, Daughter/5 minute chant with crowd, Jeremy, Go

enc 1: Nothingman, Sleight of Hand, Better Man, Wishlist, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror, Do The Evolution, Garden, State of Love and Trust, Black

enc 2: Smile, Rockin' In The Free World

decides2dream

i REALLY look forward to expereiencing a new/different vibe at a pj concert. :cool: i have seen quite a few bands abroad, but all in london...so yea, no language issue. last year i heard a pj cover band in prague, and man, what an experience! i think i will love being surrounded by italians for some j! hey, who wouldn't enjoy being surrounded by italians, period? haha. anyway, i think there will be many, many people from all over as well....so what a great international vibe!

in regards to speaking english, i always found northern european countries have more english speakers in general, and also the degree of proficiency is higher, overall. of course, always exceptions. when i was in florence many years ago..i found far more who didn't speak english than any other foreign country that i've been to...but it still was excellent, no major issues...so sure to be a blast!

sammer

don't expect italians to speak english, only a minority will understand you and even less people over there can speak it. If you're attending a gig in France prepare yourself to clapping out of the rythm wich can be sometimes annoying. but after a bottle of red wine or champagne you don't bother anymore.