*** Buffalo Fanviews Here 10/12/13 ***

CB167195

new, extended corduroy?

TalonTedd

That was a great show. A lot of my personal wishes came true in Buffalo.
First of all, that was my first time in the GA area and being so close to the band was a real treat. I've always had seats in the rafters for all the previous shows I have been at. My wife saw not only her first PJ show live but it was her first real rock concert of any serious magnitude. She is from Poland and had never been to a concert like that. Can you imagine, your first rock concert ever and its PJ, GA 40 feet from the stage. To see and feel her energy and excitement grow from beginning to end was deeply satisfying for me. Near the end of the show she asked me to lift her up on my shoulders (during baba) so she could wave a silk scarf at the band....it was totally my pleasure. I felt compelled to apologize to some fans behind us if we blocked the view a little, they were very understanding.
Speaking of the fans everyone was really energized and well mannered and that great vibe from everyone really added to the experience. We made some new friends. First was a really nice couple, Jeremy and April. We met them at an Olive Garden because of our T-shirts, as a matter of fact 4 or five other people in different areas of the restaurant either waved or said a few words because we were all wearing PJ colors. Its nice to be a member of a family. Anyway, Jeremy gave Evelina and I a ride back to the arena and we took photos and exchanged numbers. Then we met two guys in the GA area from our own town (Bolton Ontario). Wow, a town of 25000 people and we are standing beside each other on the floor of an arena in Buffalo. A lot of Canadians there tonight for sure.
The one song I hoped for was comatose, got it, well some of it, Ed missed a verse or so; not a problem I was singing it anyway.
Wished to hear lots of the new album, got it, six to eight of them. Got to check the set list again. Sirens will be a classic. This show reminded me of the Riot Act tour and the show I saw at the Toronto amphitheater; they played lots of new music (at the time) at that show. I remember leaving the show and a girl was lamenting about not hearing her fav classics and I responded how great it was because we got all the new stuff. Its kind of nice when the whole crowd doesn't know all the lyrics and we just hear the band play.
One last comment about seeing PJ up close for the first time. I used to always say that I didn't need to be up front for the shows because its not like watching Kiss or some other act that banks on a little more of a spectacle...PJ has always sounded great each and every time. After seeing how animated and intimate the guys get with the crowd, I hope that won't be the last time I'm lucky enough to be up front like that. Next time I'm gonna bring my young son Talon, and the next will be my youngest Dustin. Great events like this should be shared with family as well as friends.

Oh I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love.

Thanks PJ, 10c and especially my Zona.

smarchee

CB167195 wrote:

new, extended corduroy?

nope, regular old way

scratched vinyl

FitPearl wrote:

mjb wrote:

Came on around 8:20 (so much for the 7:30 call mentioned in the email from 10c) and played until 11:00. I thought the crowd was really loud. Very happy vibe in the building and in the City. Such a beautiful fall nite. I appear to be in the minority but some songs fell a little flat on the setlist, mainly the new material that didn't seem to excite the entire arena. After Wrigley and tonight, I feel like Ed is losing his hold on setlist flow. Can't put my finger on it, but I feel like the shows have had far worse natural progression, especially from the loud to midtempo material. Hard to get into a zone and stay there. Also haven't seen it mentioned that the boys were sloppy last night. Miscues, missed verses, stopped starts (happened for about 5 songs in a row in the middle of the set). Ed also had problems with his monitors all night and tore them out of his ear twice. So...a fun night, but not one I am betting the boys consider for a marquee DVD release Thanks for hosting all the Canadians Buffalo, and nice to see the development going on in the downtown core. Oh and the best slice of arena pizza I have ever had.

this.

It was a very wonderful night, but i dont get why people keep saying it was a perfect night.... because it wasn't. A lot of sound problem, guys looked a little bit stressed out, for exemple, just before Immortality... Ed even "called" his soundman during a song. Between 2 lines, litteraly..........

He was stressed before Immortality because it wasn't on the setlist. He got confused during DTE, like he looked really rattled, then after he had all the crew stop bringing out instruments for what I think was going to be My Father's Son, and told the band he needed a minute, then told them to do Immortality. That's why he made the speech about pacing themselves. It looked like he was going a bit hard and over heated or something, and needed a slow song to get back on track. Same with the insertion of I Got ID. Rats also was (an amazing!) last second addition.
Definitely not the tightest set, but still perfect.

SF11987

awilkins wrote:

What was the GA line-up/door/early-entrance/designated entrance situation like??

So I showed up late to pick up my GA tickets and wristbands. At that time there was already a lineup of about 50-70 people right beside the Will Call window. I asked the security guy if this was the GA standing area and he said yes. I also asked if that line got in earlier than the other gates and he said, "no, they all get in at the same time". Hmm. That's what happened in Pittsburgh.

So a buddy and I decided to go have a beer rather than line up. We went to one of the pre-show parties and had a drink, and then went for a walk around the arena. On the walk, we ran into someone we knew at the back of the arena who had just spotted Mike McCready! He had been out chatting with fans.

We continued around the arena and found ANOTHER much shorter line to get in on the West side of the arena. As someone else already commented it was hidden away by all the construction outside. It was only about 15-20 people deep when we got into line at 5:30 pm.

Doors opened at 6:05 pm to the NEXT lineup inside the building. They had about 8 rope gates where lines formed. We were about 4th in line in our rope gate.

At 6:30 they opened those gates and there was mass confusion. Security guy number 1 wanted to scan your ticket. About 10 yards further up, Security guy #2 wanted to mark your ticket with a Sharpie. And then 5 yards further up they wanted to see your wristband. If you hadn't completed all the steps properly they gave you a different wristband. It was weird.

After all that I ended up about 4 rows deep on McCready's side where we proceeded to stand for the next 90 minutes. I think that was a pretty good result for getting into line at 5:30 pm. My advice to you - familiarize yourself with your surroundings and don't be a sheep.

BLACK35

Night 2...another great show. Pre-party was great at the Pearl Street Pub....we went downstairs, just as busy as the upstairs. Met a couple of great guys from Toronto area that we enjoyed some beers with (they also met us after the show as well and enjoyed a few more) Met up with smarchee again, DURP, talked with Yefa when we were heading out and briefly met up with Caveeve, his wife and brother (sounds like he had a great time..cool), met up with Shorty and elwayvedder while they waiting in line for GA. Hope to bump into Shorty again, like to enjoy a few beers with you before a show Like other people have mentioned on here...shit ton of us Canadians were representing last night
Liked Pittsburgh a little bit better (only cause they played my favs)...but Buffalo was rocking just a hard. Pendulum is a sweet opener. Again nice mix of the new tunes played...infallible, lightning bolt, future days.
Getting Low Light, Rats was special. Like the little story on I Got Id
Not sure if anyone else felt it, But especially during Alive and DTE...could you feel the vibrations in the floor. We were in section 117 and I could feel the concrete vibrating....crazy.
Guess my tour is over for the year now, I hope they make a stop in Canada next year.
Thanks to a couple of the local Buffolonians for hooking a brother up before the show and sharing a couple of beers with me and the wife. Not sure if anyone else saw these people, they were the ones with the 4 carved PJ pumpkins sitting on their car....they were pretty cool. The one fellow (bad with names :oops: ) had a tour shirt from 93, still in great shape It have Dave A. on the front of it...classic.

For all the people going to shows here in the near future....Your going to be real happy, the boys are rocking hard

nevmiles

Time for my in-depth review, so please bear with me.

Since seeing the guys live for the first time 1998, I have literally had dozens dreams where I am at a Pearl Jam show, it is GA, and I am right up front, at or near the barricade, and are so close that I can see the sweat of their faces and can interact with the guys. Over the 15 years since that show, I always thought it would remain that: a dream. Never would the opportunity arise to actually get to experience a show from right up close. But that all changed on Saturday night. People use the expression all the time and it never really applies, but this time it does. IT LITERALLY WAS A DREAM COME TRUE for me on Saturday night. I spent the entire show 2 to 3 people deep in the pit, directly in front of Jeff's mic stand. Right between Eddie & Mike in a prime position. You can never fully understand and appreciate what it is like from this vantage point until you experience it. It changes the entire show. From random eye contact with Ed, to interacting with Mike and having him point and smile at me and respond to my calls of "You rock, McCready" and "Yeaaah, Mikey!", to being constantly showered with pics, it is truly amazing. Now let me walk you through my whole experience from start to finish and let you relive a truly memorable night with me. Let me start by recounting what happened to us leading up to showtime, then I'll put in a concert review in a different post. Don't want it to be too long ;-)

My buddy and I left Ottawa bright and early at 7am and got the our hotel in Buffalo around 1:00. We were early, but they had a room ready and managed to book us in. My plan was to get to the venue around 4pm, just to hopefully get in line to get a decent spot on the floor. Rather than hang around the hotel until then, we decided to head straight downtown around 1:30, grab a drink and a bite to eat before going to the venue. We had a great cab ride with a very interesting cab driver (who swears constantly, but then does a sign of the cross when we pass a church? Our cab driver, that's who! But I digress). he dropped us off at the Pearl St. pub where we thought we'd check out the pre-party for a bit. The pre-party wasn't too busy, so we had a couple of beers and ate. When we left to walk to the venue at 3:45, the party had picked up a bit, but we wanted to get to the venue.

When we got there around 4:00 we noticed a line by the box office doors. GA line we assumed, so my buddy got in that line while I got my tickets. We were maybe 100/150th in line at this point. I suggested he talk to people in line to make sure it was the right line etc. When I got back to my buddy, he was chatting with a couple of women who siad that apparently there was another GA line on the other side of the pavillion. They had sent their husbands on a recon mission to check it out. They came back and told their wives that the other line was tiny . . . . 5 to 10 people in it TOPS. So they booked it to the other side. And we decided to follow. Sure enough, when we got there, we asked the security guard if this was a GA line and he said yes, so we joined it. We were 15th/20th in line at this point. This was great, we thought. We'll be one of the first through the doors.

The thing is, they are building a parking garage/harbour centre or something there now and it was next to impossible to access the opposite side of the pavillion from the box office side. It was hard to see, let alone know that there was another line there. so we were lucky to have met our fellow Canadians in line and have the inside info that nobody was on the other side!

So we were in line at 4, just chatting with fellow fans and killing time. We were able to leave and hit the washrooms/grab some water etc. which was great too. Finally around 6:00 they opened the pavillion doors to let us file in. And this is where the madness began. We all filed through and went passed the little security tables they had set up, then we all were forced to stand in front of a line of "gates" inside the pavillion where they would scan our tickets to let us in. They had let our side AND the other side in, so by this point there were HUNDREDS of people jammed into the pavillion. Luckily, we were 3rd and 4th in line at a gate, behind a couple of guys who were hardcore into planning what they would do once they let us in :-) We all waited there for a while. The ticket scanners walked up to all the gates around 6:20 and the guy at our gate prescanned some of our tickets so we could get in quicker (I assume) . . . . and then right at 6:30 it all broke loose.

They opened the gates and we just ran straight ahead to the big doors leading to the floor. We figured we'd just be straight onto the floor and into the pit but inexplicably, they had TWO employees only, yes TWO, right by those big doors trying to mark everyon'es GA/floor ticket with an "X" for some reason. Everybody had to slow up and try to get their ticket marked. It was chaos as people were thrusting their tickets into the TWO guys faces, desperately trying to get their ticket marked. I cannot understand what the point of this was, seeing as you needed a wristband to access the floor as well. It seemed ridiculous and only caused mass panic and bottlenecks. It slowed my buddy and I down, but we got our tickets marked, then ran again. TWO more checkpoints waited for us (where they checked for our wristbands) and we were finally on the arena floor, and headed up the side aisle to back of the pit. It wasn't bad when we got to the pit and we ran. My buddy was ahead of me and I told him to run to Jeff' and Mike's side, pointing out the people he should go stand behind. We nestled into a spot 2 to 3 people deep right in fron of Jeff's mic stand and I was thrilled that we we so close. Within about 1 minute, the pit was already 20 people deep, so we were pretty lucky to be where we were considering the craziness inside the pavillion.

We chatted with the fans we were around, but then the worst part of the whole afternoon started as we had to stand in the pit for 2 more hours before showtime. The first little while was okay, but it soon got very stuffy and we hadn't had any water since about 4:30. I wondered if I would make it to showtime! Luckily the guy beside me had been given a big cup of water by some girl behind him and he was kind enough to give us a sip, which helped a bit. Everyone around us was clock watching for those two hours and the minutes seemed to crawl by. But finally, the lights dimmed at about 8:10 and the guys walked out about 10 minutes later. Then, the adrenaline kicked in and all the stuffiness and thirst and wonders of whether I'd have to be pulled out of the pit due to exhaustion vanished, and I was ready to be blown away...... concert review to come in a bit....

nevmiles

SF11987 wrote:

We continued around the arena and found ANOTHER much shorter line to get in on the West side of the arena. As someone else already commented it was hidden away by all the construction outside. It was only about 15-20 people deep when we got into line at 5:30 pm.

What do you look like? We were in the same line, and the line was short at 5:30 (we got in that line at 4) so we must have seen you.... we were about 15th/20th in line when we got there!

I had my Team McCready shirt on (and have red hair and a beard!)...

kbuchholtz

He was stressed before Immortality because it wasn't on the setlist."

Actually it was on the set list. It was supposed to be in the encore I believe. There is a twitter pic of the set list and it's definitely on there.

I agree this wasn't their best by a mile. Asking us how a Pearl Jam show is is kind of like asking a junkie how their blow is. Even the bad stuff is still good. They were off, and sloppy at times. Calling out to the sound girl twice between lines of Off He Goes hasn't happened that I've seen. There were definitely equipment problems for Ed all night. You could see the frustration on his face the whole night. It was actually kind of cool to see, that he still takes so much pride in his craft that he gets angry when things aren't going right.

I don't blame anyone, but this show isn't going to be put out on DVD. Still psyched they came to my hometown, and I'll be back every time they come around. Can't wait for the bootleg.

GD274660

Again I'll mention I think Jeff got banged up. He struggled to get up and down the stairs prior to the final encore.

The comments about being 'off' is pretty accurate, with the exception of Mike. Mike nailed it all night.

After Buffalo and Pittsburgh I will say the band was better overall in Pittsburgh, but the crowd was better in Buffalo.

stukatz

Ten Club seats were great, 7 rows up in 117, I can't complain.

As for the performance, they were definitely off, miscues, stoppages, and that little break in the first set was most likely them giving their heads a shake and saying f**k the mistakes, let's do this b*tch, for the fans! Because after that, they were pretty awesome...Set list, for me, was a little up and down, no real flow. It was a treat to hear Sometimes, Rats and Baba.

The crowd was awesome except for the new songs...Come on people, the band had it streaming for about a week and a half FOR FREE, so there's no excuse for not knowing the new music and jamming along with them. Mind your Manners, Lightning Bolt and Pendulum were awesome, and even better live!

My third time this year, but I have to say it ranks in at number 3 for me. London was probably the best show I've been to hands down (out of the 15) and Wrigley was special and I will always have stories to tell about that night.

If rumours are true and they do a Canadian tour, I will be a very happy fan and hopefully they can pull their sh*t together to make this one of their best tours ever!

BTW, the new album is phenomenal, so glad they played most of it in Buffalo!.

Can't wait til the next one!

Kricket

SF11987 wrote:

awilkins wrote:

What was the GA line-up/door/early-entrance/designated entrance situation like??

So I showed up late to pick up my GA tickets and wristbands. At that time there was already a lineup of about 50-70 people right beside the Will Call window. I asked the security guy if this was the GA standing area and he said yes. I also asked if that line got in earlier than the other gates and he said, "no, they all get in at the same time". Hmm. That's what happened in Pittsburgh.

So a buddy and I decided to go have a beer rather than line up. We went to one of the pre-show parties and had a drink, and then went for a walk around the arena. On the walk, we ran into someone we knew at the back of the arena who had just spotted Mike McCready! He had been out chatting with fans.

We continued around the arena and found ANOTHER much shorter line to get in on the West side of the arena. As someone else already commented it was hidden away by all the construction outside. It was only about 15-20 people deep when we got into line at 5:30 pm.

Doors opened at 6:05 pm to the NEXT lineup inside the building. They had about 8 rope gates where lines formed. We were about 4th in line in our rope gate.

At 6:30 they opened those gates and there was mass confusion. Security guy number 1 wanted to scan your ticket. About 10 yards further up, Security guy #2 wanted to mark your ticket with a Sharpie. And then 5 yards further up they wanted to see your wristband. If you hadn't completed all the steps properly they gave you a different wristband. It was weird.

After all that I ended up about 4 rows deep on McCready's side where we proceeded to stand for the next 90 minutes. I think that was a pretty good result for getting into line at 5:30 pm. My advice to you - familiarize yourself with your surroundings and don't be a sheep.

Your Buffalo story was my exact story for Pitts.

In Buffalo I luckily got the rail between Ed and Jeff but that was utter craziness that they brought ppl in to form 8 lines that all got released into that hallway at the same time. I was first in line at the scanning line, didn't get my stub X, didn't get a wristband, that whole ordeal was just nuts.

Break The Sky

Kricket wrote:

SF11987 wrote:

awilkins wrote:

What was the GA line-up/door/early-entrance/designated entrance situation like??

So I showed up late to pick up my GA tickets and wristbands. At that time there was already a lineup of about 50-70 people right beside the Will Call window. I asked the security guy if this was the GA standing area and he said yes. I also asked if that line got in earlier than the other gates and he said, "no, they all get in at the same time". Hmm. That's what happened in Pittsburgh.

So a buddy and I decided to go have a beer rather than line up. We went to one of the pre-show parties and had a drink, and then went for a walk around the arena. On the walk, we ran into someone we knew at the back of the arena who had just spotted Mike McCready! He had been out chatting with fans.

We continued around the arena and found ANOTHER much shorter line to get in on the West side of the arena. As someone else already commented it was hidden away by all the construction outside. It was only about 15-20 people deep when we got into line at 5:30 pm.

Doors opened at 6:05 pm to the NEXT lineup inside the building. They had about 8 rope gates where lines formed. We were about 4th in line in our rope gate.

At 6:30 they opened those gates and there was mass confusion. Security guy number 1 wanted to scan your ticket. About 10 yards further up, Security guy #2 wanted to mark your ticket with a Sharpie. And then 5 yards further up they wanted to see your wristband. If you hadn't completed all the steps properly they gave you a different wristband. It was weird.

After all that I ended up about 4 rows deep on McCready's side where we proceeded to stand for the next 90 minutes. I think that was a pretty good result for getting into line at 5:30 pm. My advice to you - familiarize yourself with your surroundings and don't be a sheep.

Your Buffalo story was my exact story for Pitts.

In Buffalo I luckily got the rail between Ed and Jeff but that was utter craziness that they brought ppl in to form 8 lines that all got released into that hallway at the same time. I was first in line at the scanning line, didn't get my stub X, didn't get a wristband, that whole ordeal was just nuts.

First Niagara fucked this one up badly, and even though I got to stand right in front of Eddie, and he gave me a pick, and a tambourine, and thumped his chest when he saw my stickman tattoo, it's all because I got lucky. There were two people from Kentucky that got to the arena at SIX AM and they ended up three lines back on Mike's side. What a fucking shitstorm. They were the nicest people, and I spent all morning talking to them, and people that lined up at 5:30 were against the rail, and they weren't. It was a life-changing night for me, and there were people outside of the venue who were coming up to me and saying, "hey, you're front row guy," but everyone I was standing with for the full twelve hours before the show so we could be against the rail were some of the nicest people I've ever met, and some of them waited all that time for nothing. First Niagara Arena security staff is braindead, and someone really could have gotten injured in the clusterfuck that was getting in the arena. Things worked out for me, but those people from Kentucky deserved to have things work out for them as well, and it didn't because the arena was too incompetent to stick to a simple, pragmatic plan. I'm calling the arena today during my lunch break, and even though I know there will be no repercussions for those who let that madness happen last night, someone needs to complain. When you line people up in eight rows and essentially encourage them to compete with everyone they're looking at, that's how people die. People have been trampled to death at concerts before, and we're honestly lucky that didn't happen in Buffalo. I don't think I could be more euphoric and livid at the same time, but that's where I'm at today. If anyone from the 8 a.m. GA line is reading this, it really was the biggest honor to get to know all of you and spend my day with you.

GD274660

...were you the guy in the red shirt and dark hair singing his lungs out all night?

FitPearl

GD274660 wrote:

After Buffalo and Pittsburgh I will say the band was better overall in Pittsburgh, but the crowd was better in Buffalo.

i think it depends of where you were, and people around you....

four us, the crowd was kinda boring in Buffalo. At least around us.

spacekaddette

 

guitar101

Amazing night. Great crowd and really enjoyed the setlist. I was surprised by how well Pendulum worked as an opener. Anyone else see the idiot w/ the light up sign in the crowd? Some night club / electronic music website he was promoting. Was distracting at times ....but thankfully he wasnt RIGHT by us. I saw someone grab the sign from him at one point but somehow he got it back.

Break The Sky

GD274660 wrote:

...were you the guy in the red shirt and dark hair singing his lungs out all night?

Guilty. Guess everyone saw it then?

GD274660

Break The Sky wrote:

GD274660 wrote:

...were you the guy in the red shirt and dark hair singing his lungs out all night?

Guilty. Guess everyone saw it then?

You were awesome! They had you more than a few times on the big screen. Could tell you knew the lyrics to the new songs already. Good for you, sir. Very well done.

Rossum20

mookieblalock wrote:

Show number 23 for me.

Quite frankly, I was disappointed. Average show for pearl jam. I do think playing 9 new songs subdued a crowd that was ready to rock. I thought when sometimes was played 3rd, "this could be an interesting night." Oh well. Onto Worcester.

I felt the same way....there was no flow to the set list, but my biggest complaint was their sound, which would seem to fall on their crew's shoulders. Being my 27th show and 3rd at that arena in Buffalo, I can't remember ever hearing such a muddied sound overall. I still enjoyed the show...the band was certainly into it and the crowd seemed to be as well at times. Just a very strange show overall, and a forgettable one for me. It's going to be hard to get people on board with the new songs if they either play too many of them each night and it disrupts the flow, or we can't hear them clearly enough! The latter being more important, obviously.

At first I thought it was all in my head until I started talking with a lot of other fans who felt that way. And for the record, I dig the new album, so this is by no means a veiled shot at the band or the album. With that being said, fix the f***ing sound. The crew gets an F for this show.

Just to end on a more positive note, how great is present tense live?