Cleveland Review - negative

KeeponJammin

Not surprising from a shitty paper that didn't even reivew the album or the Tool album in favor of writing a crappy article about the Goo Goo Dolls.

http://www.cleveland.com/music/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1148286741156840.xml&coll=2

soulshine

That was way harsh.

Cleveland rocked.

BrokenGlass

Nothing is worse than for a reviewer to go into a show with preconceptions. This guy obviously had his mind made up that Pearl Jam were washed up, and wrote a review confirming his own preconception. It's hard to believe he was even in the same arena with us. The band was crackling with energy, and the crowd was so into it that Ed said "thanks for welcoming us to loudville".

bootlegger10

Personally, I didn't think the crowd was all that great. To me it looked liked the band was just going through motions for the first set (because of the crowd). It seemed to pick-up in the encores though. This may be like it is everywhere because I'm used to having 10c seats and not really noticing what the crowd is doing around me that much. During the call and response in the middle of Porch the crowd was non-existant. I could hear more talking from the crowd during Gone than the band almost.

DPAtty

Let me preface this by saying i was (and am) upset about the new fan club tix scheme. then again, that horse has been whipped more than Barbaro pre-broken leg, so i'll leave it at that...but that particular snafu does have a direct bearing on my experience at the Cleveland show. instead of sitting in fan club-quality seats, i had to buy general sale seats that put me in section 224, 15th row...mike's side, directly to the side of the stage and about 6 rows from the top of the arena. from up there, i must confess i felt a range of emotions...i thought "maybe it's just me and i'm getting old at 30, and it's not the show but my REACTION to the show. maybe it's just because my wife's pregnant - largely so! - and so 'growing up' is more real this time around. maybe it's the band. no, can't be the band! maybe it's just being this far removed from the stage and even decent sound quality." the final assumption is the one i'm going with...the set list (i thought) was bad ass, especially "thumbing my way" and i loved the daughter tag as well as the version of porch they played. the shite quality of my seats was made vivid to me, however, when the rest of my group decided it was time for us to leave during "smile", and i agreed to do so. mind you, i've NEVER left a PJ show early...i consider it blasphemy;-) but i agreed, we made our way down to the concourse level, and while waiting for the others to take a trip to the restrooms, ducked back in to the show at that level...MAJOR difference. saw Why Go from that vantage point, and it made me even more depressed to realize the energy level WAS there, at least on the lower levels. it just didn't translate into the upper reaches of the arena. up there, it was hard to hear any words being said - lyrics or otherwise - and i spent the majority of the show moving and rockin' out - in my seat. something i've never done before, and never want to do again.

i guess my point is this; the concert reviewer's impression of the concert could have been drastically different depending on where he sat for the show. had i been in seats commensurate with my 10C # (167xxx), it sounds as if i would have had some bitchin' seats, and would have been witness (pardon the LeBron marketing campaign pun) to one of my best shows yet. as it was, however, i caught only a slight taste of the "real" show and spent the rest alternatively rubbing my wife's belly to "connect" PJ with the boy, and contemplating if i was too old to truly appreciate the concerts anymore.

i'm headed to detroit for tonight's show, with 10C seats awaiting, so hopefully it's a different story tonight. keeping my fingers crossed.

by the way, any huge fans in columbus looking for a ticket buddy? my second just had an emergency pop up and can't go now, not relishing the idea of driving to d-town and back alone tonight...if so, post a reply here, and let me know how to contact you, or hit me with a private message.


Buck

jezebeloria

Was he at the same show I was???

Kutty723

.... http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/14633186.htm

This was from the Akron Beacon Journal.

Pearl Jam jam pleases masses
Voracious crowd eats up hard-rocking show of more than 25 songs
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal staff writer
It's been 15 years since Pearl Jam became the second-most-

famous grunge band in the world. In that time the Seattle quintet has perfected the reluctant rock star pose, fought and lost a battle with a corporate ticketing monolith, spoke out and supported various political issues, released eight albums' worth of its earnest, mostly arena-ready guitar rock and garnered loyal and dedicated fans who have grown up with the band.

The bulk of the band's albums don't reach the lofty heights of the 1991 debut, Ten, but they have transformed themselves into a monster touring act, selling out arenas and recording and releasing nearly every show for the last four years on CD to a still-

voracious fan base.

Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the band of forty-somethings played to a near-capacity audience and gave the screaming masses their money's worth with an array of more than 25 songs from Pearl Jam's entire career. Singer and setlist-maker Eddie Vedder front-loaded the set with a few of the concise, hard-rocking tunes from the bands' recently released Pearl Jam. But the band began the show with a pair of old chestnuts -- Given To Fly and Betterman, to which the audience happily sang the first verse and chorus accompanied only by Vedder's solo guitar.

For much of the first half of the 2 ½-hour show, the band, known to turn the `Jam' in its name into a verb, was a straightfoward rock 'n' roll machine, playing exacting versions of several new upbeat tunes including Life Wasted, Severed Hand andthe anti-war single, World Wide Suicide.

While much of the audience seemed familiar with the new songs, it was longtime fan favorites such as Daughter from the second album, Vs., and Immortality that drew the most attention.

The first setlist ended masterfully with a foursome of hard-rocking and punk-

influenced songs that included Lukin, Do The Evolution and Spin The Black Circle, leading into an extended You that allowed guitarist Mike McCready the first real chance to show off his facile fret work.

Vedder kept his comments brief and mostly apolitical, offering a well-received ``Pistons suck!'' and commenting on the job market in Northeast Ohio before Unemployable.

Earlier, opening act My Morning Jacket made a favorable impression on the then-still-growing crowd with its take on Southern-fried, '70s-influenced rock taken mostly from the most recent album, Z, and the 2003 breakthrough, It Still Moves.


.....PS. I was Section 3 Row S, and everybody was Rocking out from beginning to end, no one ever sat down once or stoppped singing for that matter...great show, lots of energy!!!!!

mkay0

I dont really mind if a reviewer from a newspaper doesnt love PJ as much as we do. I do mind that every negative review says "Man, they used to be great, and they got older and changed the sound, so now they suck."

1PRLJAMohio

Hey, I was at the Cleveland show and I also was witness (couldn't help it guys) to one of the most fabulous PJ shows ever. I keep thinking I'm going to go and be dissappointed. Hell, at some point being a mother of 2 is going to affect the way I see things. The hassle, the sqished in seats, the drunk falling on me...etc.. But every time I get some tickets, fan club or not, stinky seats or not...I have a moment. A wonderful, haironthebackofmyneckstandingup moment where I get the chills, scream as loud as I can, and thank God I made it to another show. So instead of singing Laurie Berkner songs today in the car, my two year old and I sang," I just want to scream....HELLO!" She loves it, and I'm glad.

Who cares what the dorks at the paper write? We know the truth.
Take Care, hope to see some of you in Detroit tonight!!!!!!!!

stuckinline

1PRLJAMohio wrote:

Hey, I was at the Cleveland show and I also was witness (couldn't help it guys) to one of the most fabulous PJ shows ever. I keep thinking I'm going to go and be dissappointed. Hell, at some point being a mother of 2 is going to affect the way I see things. The hassle, the sqished in seats, the drunk falling on me...etc.. But every time I get some tickets, fan club or not, stinky seats or not...I have a moment. A wonderful, haironthebackofmyneckstandingup moment where I get the chills, scream as loud as I can, and thank God I made it to another show. So instead of singing Laurie Berkner songs today in the car, my two year old and I sang," I just want to scream....HELLO!" She loves it, and I'm glad.

Who cares what the dorks at the paper write? We know the truth.
Take Care, hope to see some of you in Detroit tonight!!!!!!!!

great 1st post, and i agree about the "haironthebackofmyneckstandingup moment where I get the chills, scream as loud as I can, and thank God I made it to another show" statement

i agree, who cares what people write, we were there it was magical!!!

lanners

1PRLJAMohio wrote:

Hey, I was at the Cleveland show and I also was witness (couldn't help it guys) to one of the most fabulous PJ shows ever. I keep thinking I'm going to go and be dissappointed. Hell, at some point being a mother of 2 is going to affect the way I see things. The hassle, the sqished in seats, the drunk falling on me...etc.. But every time I get some tickets, fan club or not, stinky seats or not...I have a moment. A wonderful, haironthebackofmyneckstandingup moment where I get the chills, scream as loud as I can, and thank God I made it to another show. So instead of singing Laurie Berkner songs today in the car, my two year old and I sang," I just want to scream....HELLO!" She loves it, and I'm glad.

Who cares what the dorks at the paper write? We know the truth.
Take Care, hope to see some of you in Detroit tonight!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a great post. I wish most people would take that approach because it's awfully hard for those of us who can't get to every show on a tour, or who only just experienced their first show after 15 years of being a fan, to listen to because we don't have the luxury of having something to bitch about.

I hope you get to go to many more shows and be thankful and share that joy with us because it just seems like people have been bitching so much lately.

(BTW--one of my best haironthebackofmyneckstandingup moment EVER was in Halifax during Small Town when everyone screamed "I just want to scream...HELLO!!! My god it's been so long...never dreamed you'd return." only thing is, i had never dreamed they would come my way, period.)

kellyj3

KeeponJammin wrote:

Not surprising from a shitty paper that didn't even reivew the album or the Tool album in favor of writing a crappy article about the Goo Goo Dolls.

http://www.cleveland.com/music/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1148286741156840.xml&coll=2

Just another prime example of where the music industry is heading. If the "band" is not on the easy listening radio station every hour with the same song, they are classified as aging rockers trying to live in the past. It was a bullshit article and from what the boards are saying it was an amazing show and any true fan of live rock music would have realized this!!!

PearlJamminJason

PLEASE DONT TAKE THIS ARTICLE SERIOUS AT ALL IT IS FROM CLEVELAND AFTER ALL!!!!! and the guy is from lakewood he is prolly more into culture club

NEXT!

motherlovebone

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee