This was my only show in 2013 and after seeing LA1 and SD sets, I was preparing to be hit by a falling penis in a tour where it was raining vaginas. But I was pleasantly surprised on many fronts. One being that I've never seen them play with such intensity. What may look typical on paper came across in person amazingly well. LB is a great album and the songs live were great. Infallible in particular had the place dancing and rocking. LB is amazing live. No way and Breath were insane. Great show.
As for seats, it appears that on leg 2, non GA is up the sides. I am thankful for that. Mid 250k and great view from Stone's side.
As for sound, I saw Ozzy at the Sports Arena with Randy Rhoades on New Years Eve 1981 becoming 1982 and the sound was muddy then. It is still muddy now. I can't wait for the boots to hear the details of what they played.
Oh- Mother was insanely great.
I wanted to add to my earlier fanview as that one was done on a Blackberry late at night.
One point I want to make is I can totally understand the Sirens guitar frustration. On occasions at my work, I write come courses and teach them. There is a ton of work in doing that and many things have to go right. When I am mid-stream, "on tour sort-of" facilitating these, all the bugs should be worked out and it is frustrating and embarrassing when stupid mistakes are made and you're up there looking like a fool. This is Ed's passion and he is passionate about getting it right. This is serious stuff and he has every right to be pissed. I probably would have handed the guirat to the tech and railed on him back-stage instead of dropping it. But maybe this is one of a string of mistakes and has gotten to the point where that reaction couldn't have been avoided.
I saw a lot of posts where people are saying there were a lot of problems and Ed was pissed the whole time. From where I was in Sec30 R6 (25xxxx by the way), I saw a couple of frustrations but I saw Ed very animated, expressive, happy, etc. He is at prime and all the surfing has made him a great physical performer on stage. In 2003, he was much more confined to his spot and didn't move around as much. He was all over the place. He has become a wonderful frontman. I couldn't have said this if he was pissed all the time as others have described. These were very isolated and the overall performance was amazing.
About the set. The set itself was like No Code. Hard soft hard soft hard soft. No code is one of my favorite albums so maybe it catered to me more than others. My luck has been that when they played multiple shows, the other show, not mine was the stellar set, and I got the leftover scraps, or compulsory material. I was expecting this because of the LA1 and San Diego sets. I was expecting 2-2.5 hours, all compulsory stuff. A couple of things happened. Like someone else said, Breath made it. This is the song with the sign petition, they finally played it in 2000 in Philadelphia, rarely played in 2003, and in my top-5. Rare AND top-5 for me. Bee Girl is rare but to me, a turd in the punchbowl as a song. So I got Breath which is unthinkable. No Way was just a shock. I was playing it just last week on repeat. Totally unexpected. Mother was riveting. PJ performed it 10x better than Floyd ever did. Mike Gilmour aced the solo. Ed took it to another dimension. For the other songs, on any other tour standard songs like Betterman were Betterman. This year it was BETTERMAN! I always said I liked the studio versions of a lot of songs better. This time around, the band is at some level of intensity I have never seen. I mean, seriously, unblievable. Immortality and Present Tense are like I have never seen before. You can't be a casual setlist watcher booing common songs this year. It's a whole new experience. The LB songs are great live. SBM was great too. I'm in the "I like SBM club" and a proud member. MFS probably needs to be studied and re-engineered for "live". Infallible. I mean INFALLIBLE. Geez- the whole place was rocking.
As for the comments about them cutting the 1st set. Blood was the 20th song. What was everybody expecting? I think they went 20 or so songs in LA1 and San Diego. From 2003-2009, the standard 1st set was 16-17 songs, and the shows averaged maybe 2 hours 15 minutes. These guys are in great shape but remember they are in their late 40's/early 50's. This was a 20 song 1st set and Evolution, MYM and Blood are not easy. In the last 3 shows, PJ played about 9 1/2 hours. Most bands do that in 5 shows. This was a 3 hour show with I think 32 songs. Old averages were 25, 26, 27 and the like except for State College and special shows. I think LA2 was longer/larger than Seattle 2 of 2000. I think some people are acting like bears after you run out of marshmallows. I appreciate and am thankful for putting in such an intense effort and achieving such a great show. Leaving me feeling as I feel.
I thought LA was going to get crowned for a 2nd time based on how Ed was paying hommage to his past and the others in the band, etc. Surprised that was Betterman after that intro. Again, Betterman was intense.
Liked the thank-yous at the end. Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Gene Simmons, Mar Cameron, Stone Gossard. Funny.
By the way, Carpeteria is a Carpet Store. Carpenteria is a small town south of Santa Barbara. Mention of Reseda was throwing a bone to Tom Petty whose origins were in that area of the San Fernando Valley. Ventura Blbd cuts just south of Reseda. You can hear a bit about the local geography in "Free Fallin".
Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
Wife and I were behind the stage tonight after our two 10c shows in San Diego and LA1 and were checking out the set list before the show started. Something happened with the set list about six songs in and they skipped Evenflow. After that it was a scramble the rest of the evening as to which song they would play next. They had arrows all over the place on the set list the rest of the night and were juggling the songs the rest of the way. Their techs didn't know which song was coming next. Was on McCready's side and he even had to go get the right guitar out of his box himself (an acoustic)for one of the songs. Never seen that before. Seemed to throw all of them off just a bit. I think they cut the first set short because they were all mixed up and and went back to reorganize. Set list had Lukin and Better Man to end first set. They also had Crazy Mary on the list to start the second encore and we missed it but got some others instead. With that said, I still thought the show was great. Yeah, we get Eddie mad on some nights but that is because this guy is so passionate about his craft and is also why he has given us so many great angry songs that we all seem to love. I think there is a lot of nitpicking going on in these fan views. All three shows kicked ass were amazing live rock concerts. People, they played three hours on two of the nights and three and a half the other, what else can we ask for? I just wish it wasn't going to be another three years before we get to see them here again. Thanks for three incredible nights PJ, you guys bring it every time you hit the stage.
So Cal Trifecta complete! I'll keep this short because I don't have the brain power to write a long review of my own personal PJ weekend. Crazy, one song away(Deep) from hearing the full TEN album.
San Diego and LA1 are neck and neck IMO, totally different shows/vibes, but both great. Being from the area, I was happy to see that LA can still rock with the best of them, because you never know with LA. I heard just about everything I was hoping for, minus Hard to Imagine, Of The Earth, Crown of Thorns....not complaining though...can't wait for the boots.
Met some cool people from all over the country/world....namely Dave from SD, Vascu(sp) from New Orleans, Christian and Jerry from SoCal, Steve from Chicago, met a guy from Oslo, Norway, Christina from VA. Thanks to all for making it a special weekend.
For those who have tickets to upcoming shows, the band is on fire with these setlists, enjoy!!
-PJ KEVIN
PS....LA Sports Arena...you've been hosting events for 50+years, and you still haven't figured out how to properly streamline cars out of the parking lot? Absurd that they have one exit for the parking lot. :oops: :fp:
As for the comments about them cutting the 1st set. Blood was the 20th song. What was everybody expecting?
The set list confirms that they did cut two songs after Blood. Lukin and Betterman. As I suspected in my original remarks last night, Betterman was moved to the start of the encore.
In my opinion, these most recent longer reviews are getting more accurate than the negative ones.
Too bad i havn't had the opportunity to be able to compare MULTIPLE PJ shows over the most recent past, but if i am going to compare this PJ show to 100's of other rock and roll concerts that i have witnessed, i will have to say it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Great crowd, great songs, spectacular video monitors (have never seen video that good), good enough sound for the sports arena, etc
Sure, it probably wasn't perfect for some of you out there, but damm......
That band is going off these days. Holy shit!!!!
Doesn't really get much better than that for a rock and roll arena show folks.
I had great 10c seats and could see the whole thing go down.
There was definitely some wine bottle(s) being consumed, which i personally enjoyed seeing.
There was definitely multiple audibles being called by Ed regarding song choices
There was definitely lots of scrambling with guitar changes between every song and during songs
There was definitely a very busy tech chasing Ed around, untangling his mic cable
And, I'm pretty sure i saw smoke coming from underneath Mike's shoes!!!!! Home boy MUST have had big red ants in his pants. He was on fire. So much fun watching/listening to the whole thing go down.
3 hours went by way too fast.
I will have to agree with previous posts that the slightly late start may have rushed some songs and that it was one of those "had to be there" shows to see for yourself what really happened
Regardless, the band is very very strong.
The intensity, the energy, the passion are all right there, right now
Enjoy it while you can, nothing lasts forever.........except traffic jams in L.A.
10/28/00 - San Bernardino - PJ 10/28/03 - SB BOWL - PJ 7/13/06 - SB BOWL - PJ 4/10/08 - SB ARLINGTON - EV 7/9/11 - SB BOWL - EV 10/31/12 - LAS VEGAS - EV 11/1/12 - LAS VEGAS - EV 11/24/13 - LA SPORTS ARENA - PJ 8/18/18 - WRIGLEY - PJ 8/20/18 - WRIGLEY - PJ
Great set of shows at the LA Sports Arena!! Band was definately pumped. The SD show , though a great setlist, felt more like a reunion of sorts, which effected the intensity level. The band brought it for both shows. Ed told us Bruce said you can get this place rocking, and thats is why they played it. The place did rock!! Performance matters (more than setlist), and each night had an intensity not felt in SD. Mike was on fire, again. At times during his solos, Jeff, Matt and Stone are just watching him, in AWE!!
Mid/ back GA both nights, tons of energy and dancing!! Lots of fun. Thanks TC, see you in Oakland & Portland.
Ed said "see you.......... next time" (rather than "it'll be a while" ), maybe a sooner return to LA than 4+ years? Coachella?
In my opinion, these most recent longer reviews are getting more accurate than the negative ones.
Too bad i havn't had the opportunity to be able to compare MULTIPLE PJ shows over the most recent past, but if i am going to compare this PJ show to 100's of other rock and roll concerts that i have witnessed, i will have to say it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Great crowd, great songs, spectacular video monitors (have never seen video that good), good enough sound for the sports arena, etc
Sure, it probably wasn't perfect for some of you out there, but damm......
That band is going off these days. Holy shit!!!!
Doesn't really get much better than that for a rock and roll arena show folks.
I had great 10c seats and could see the whole thing go down.
There was definitely some wine bottle(s) being consumed, which i personally enjoyed seeing.
There was definitely multiple audibles being called by Ed regarding song choices
There was definitely lots of scrambling with guitar changes between every song and during songs
There was definitely a very busy tech chasing Ed around, untangling his mic cable
And, I'm pretty sure i saw smoke coming from underneath Mike's shoes!!!!! Home boy MUST have had big red ants in his pants. He was on fire. So much fun watching/listening to the whole thing go down.
3 hours went by way too fast.
I will have to agree with previous posts that the slightly late start may have rushed some songs and that it was one of those "had to be there" shows to see for yourself what really happened
Regardless, the band is very very strong.
The intensity, the energy, the passion are all right there, right now
Enjoy it while you can, nothing lasts forever.........except traffic jams in L.A.
Exactly........Perfectly said....enjoy it while you can!!!
Last post.... saw Jerry Cantrell saturday night, looking like a Rock Star... Asked him if he had plans to join them onstage (a la Gibson 3/4) He said" Nahh.....I think they got it handled...
you know why ed was yelling at the band members in between songs? it wasn't cause he was angry, it's cause four other people on stage needed to know what song was next and it was loud in there.
from 3rd row stone side it was pretty clear there were none of these anger issues. yes, ed was pissed at his guitar tech when sirens guitar didn't work, but guess what, the guitar tech's job is to make sure the guitar works.
i will say ed was pretty drunk. dumped a lot of wine on his head during RITFW.
great show. anyone who thinks ed's divorcing the band is severly overreacting.
I totally agree. I was sitting just a couple of rows behind you and didn't see any of the anger that others are reporting other than that dropping of the guitar. When Eddie went over to Stone's side of the stage I didn't see him talking to the front of house person, what I did see him doing was talking to another woman who was sitting there with a little girl (maybe Jill and his daughter?). The woman an girl didn't sit there for the whole show, they watched a few songs from that position, left, and then came back later. During the tambourine throwing at the end of the show he threw a tambourine and the little girl caught it and Eddie busted up laughing. He also came off the stage on Stone side an posed for pictures with 2 kids that were sitting in the audience (which totally stoked the kids!) Somebody mentioned that Ed was angry when he kicked the beach (soccer) ball - to me it looked like he was trying to quickly kick the ball in time to get back to the mic for the next line of the song and he happened to do a crummy job kicking the ball (and happened to kick it in to the back of a guy working security!) and he barely made it back to the mic in time for the next line.
It was clear throughout the show that Eddie was calling audible's on the set list and he absolutely cut the band off after Blood and he absolutely signaled Mike when he was ready for RITFW to end - but he was also out of tambourines and it was 11:27 in a building that probably has an 11:30 curfew. Overall I thought the show was fantastic.
So those were my observations from Stone's side of the stage. See you guys on the road!
I saw SD and LA1 and LA2 was the best show of the three in my estimation. To me the set list flowed quite nicely, and the crowd was totally vibing with the band all night. I was 10 deep in the pit, and it was just cool looking over to see Judd Apatow totally into it and dancing and Craig Ferguson groving. The show was epic and special.
After being in the cheap seats (which actually weren't that cheap) for LA1, we were down on the floor 4 rows behind GA (10C 416XXX) and the energy and sound was night and day for us. No one around us napping, everyone going apeshit for the rarities, etc. Mike's guitar was much clearer down there and the sound much more balanced overall. I think the acoustics of that arena are just, you know, 60 years old. Not a lot you can do about that.
Highlights were definitely No Way, Immortality was particularly incredible, Breath was awesome, Mike nailed the hell out of the Mother solo, and I'm always a sucker for Go, Blood, Present Tense, and Oceans. As far as the vibe goes, I think at points it was noticeable that things were being switched around on the fly, but I didn't ever feel like it was ruining the flow of the show or that Eddie was in a bad mood. As far as the guitar toss on Sirens, I agree with everyone that I think he was just pissed that the guitar was either not working or out of tune. I didn't read into that or see that as a the climax of anger issues coming to a head. I think that's more of one person standing in front of 15,000 people going to play a guitar at a point in the song where it's a prominent part and it not working. Combine that with the bottle of wine he had already consumed and yeah, I'd be snippy too. Not sure what happened to Mike's guitar at the end of Alive, but that's what prompted him to crowd surf, so I'm all for it.
As far as the setlist goes, I thought it was just great. I could make arguments about this or that, but over the course of two nights, we got an awful lot of goodness/rarities/incredible performances from this band. I've definitely been sitting at work or at home quietly watching setlist threads (more than I care to admit) and judging them based on what I'm reading, but everyone who posts here knows that there is a major difference between reading a setlist thread and being there live. Are you more likely to have an emotional response from watching a really good movie or from reading a review about a really good movie?
Anyways, good times, great energy, great set, and I'm glad I went to both shows. Hopefully we'll see PJ in LA again in less than four years!
Sidenote: LA Sports arena has to do something about that parking garage. One exit out of there is not gonna cut the mustard.
you know why ed was yelling at the band members in between songs? it wasn't cause he was angry, it's cause four other people on stage needed to know what song was next and it was loud in there.
from 3rd row stone side it was pretty clear there were none of these anger issues. yes, ed was pissed at his guitar tech when sirens guitar didn't work, but guess what, the guitar tech's job is to make sure the guitar works.
i will say ed was pretty drunk. dumped a lot of wine on his head during RITFW.
great show. anyone who thinks ed's divorcing the band is severly overreacting.
I totally agree. I was sitting just a couple of rows behind you and didn't see any of the anger that others are reporting other than that dropping of the guitar. When Eddie went over to Stone's side of the stage I didn't see him talking to the front of house person, what I did see him doing was talking to another woman who was sitting there with a little girl (maybe Jill and his daughter?). The woman an girl didn't sit there for the whole show, they watched a few songs from that position, left, and then came back later. During the tambourine throwing at the end of the show he threw a tambourine and the little girl caught it and Eddie busted up laughing. He also came off the stage on Stone side an posed for pictures with 2 kids that were sitting in the audience (which totally stoked the kids!) Somebody mentioned that Ed was angry when he kicked the beach (soccer) ball - to me it looked like he was trying to quickly kick the ball in time to get back to the mic for the next line of the song and he happened to do a crummy job kicking the ball (and happened to kick it in to the back of a guy working security!) and he barely made it back to the mic in time for the next line.
It was clear throughout the show that Eddie was calling audible's on the set list and he absolutely cut the band off after Blood and he absolutely signaled Mike when he was ready for RITFW to end - but he was also out of tambourines and it was 11:27 in a building that probably has an 11:30 curfew. Overall I thought the show was fantastic.
So those were my observations from Stone's side of the stage. See you guys on the road!
Yeah I didn't get the "Ed was pissed the whole time" vibe others got. He was definitely less talkative than LA1 but I think the Sirens thing pissed him off the most
A solid show--checked a few boxes on the "would like to see that one someday list," and got to take a long-long-time concert buddy to his very first PJ show. But I don't think it was close to the Philly1 show I saw last month (basically from the same GA spot on Mike's side for both.) The main set last night (to me) had a few more ebbs than flows, though the encores more than made up for it. The Philly show main set was a 20 song non-stop attack on the senses--we needed an acoustic break to recover a bit afterwards.
I'm nitpicking though--this band is going for epic every night, and is playing at a very high level. SO many spots in the set where you have no idea what's coming next. I appreciate that they're challenging themselves and us every single night.
Did someone post a pic of the setlist? I was commenting to my seat partner Kat that there seemed to a lot of audibles called during the show, especially the second half of the first set and the beginning of the second. Thought it was odd when they originally brought out the chairs and stools for the "soft" second set and then promptly removed them before bringing them back a few songs later. I also noted the choppiness of the opening set but loved whatever they decided to sing. I really enjoyed many of the LB songs live. LB (really rocks live and the crowd was super into it), Infallible, Swallowed Whole, Getaway (from night 1). Mind Your Manners both nights seemed a bit washed out sonically but still a fun song to jam to. Ed botched the lyrics to MFS several times but that's song has been growing on me and the live version was even better, lyrics issue not withstanding. I'm not so much into some of the covers, maybe just a tad young to appreciate Mother, LROM, Lou Reed, etc, but Ed's singing on those is fantastic and enjoyed it just the same. Would have loved Crazy Mary though. There were a few comments about Hard to Imagine. Was that on the original set list? That would have been amazing. I did feel the sort of down vibe from the stage a bit due to some of the technical issues. And Ed definitely seemed to have some moments where he sang with a little extra vitriol than usual. Sound overall definitely seemed off compared to the night before but I originally chalked that up to being on the opposite side of the arena. Still, even with the technical issues it was a great show and I really enjoyed my So Cal trifecta (SD and LA1 probably my favs). 10c hooked us up with some great tickets. Was thankful to be on the sides and not behind GA.
And speaking of the arena, I agree with an earlier comment about the parking. I was pissed on night one that I ended up paying $40 for parking across the street in a small lot (my bad for not knowing the area better) but getting out of there was a thousand percent faster than exiting the underground lot behind the arena after night 2. I was literally stopped 2 floors down for 30 minutes until cars were rerouted to a different exit. Heard there may have been an accident outside the arena somewhere.
11-7-95 San Diego Sports Arena (originally 6-7-95 in Del Mar)7-14-98 LA
6-3-03 Irvine7-7-06 San Diego7-9/10-06 LA7-13-06 Santa Barbara7-16-06 San Francisco7-22/23-06 Gorge12-2-06 Honolulu4-10-08 Santa Barbara (Ed)4-13-08 LA (Ed)
Great show, had awesome seats. Practically first row on Mikes side. Thank you so much, ten club. I almost wore my Kiss shirt last night and wtf do u think sat behind us? Yep Gene Simmons. That was surreal. The set list was great. Immortality was a highlight for me. And Mind your manners is great and fun in concert. Reign oer me is incredibly beautiful. Ed was nowhere near as upbeat and talkative as San Diego, but there were some sweet moments when he looked over and sang to his wife. Mike mccready was crazy on fire but we were kind of saying that these last few show have beat him up! He was cut on his head on Saturday, in San Diego he fell onstage and just turned it into a somersault and last night he tried to come up into our section and ended up stuck in those fucking folding chairs and I hope he didn't get hurt but he struggled to get out. What a bummer because he would've been playing right next to me. But it was a joy to see him and hear him play all night. I love Mike. Last night was one of my most memorable shows. Thank you Pearl Jam and Ten club!!!!
Anyone who is saying that Ed wasn't having some major problems last night likely just didn't have the same vantage point I had. Yes, there were times when he was having fun, but there was also times where he was supremely pissed off and angry, gesturing angrily and running off stage. This was my 17th show and I've never seen him do anything like that.
Been lucky enough to see 9 shows on this tour and LA2 was the last for now and the end of a great weekend doubleheader. I've given up trying to compare shows but love reading all of the different viewpoints. The Betterman/Daughter change up was a nice change of pace on the first encore last night. And Mother - wow.
No other band is consistently providing their fans with such variety and energy night after night. PJ is at the pinnacle of live music entertainment right now.
Thanks to the 10c and the band for making it reasonable for the fans. Under 100 bucks per show - come on, that's almost unheard of these days!
Have a great remaining shows and thank you for a memorable past month!
I have a favor to ask - I was in the pit, about 8 heads back and dead center in front of Ed. I tried taking some pics just to have a few as its the closest Ive ever been, but my phone blows and everything was blurry. A lot of people in my immediate vacinity were taking some nice pics of the band, and I was hoping someone would be kind enough to be willing to email me a few (doesnt need to be a lot ) of the photos they took from that area. If anyone is willing, please PM me.
I have a favor to ask - I was in the pit, about 8 heads back and dead center in front of Ed. I tried taking some pics just to have a few as its the closest Ive ever been, but my phone blows and everything was blurry. A lot of people in my immediate vacinity were taking some nice pics of the band, and I was hoping someone would be kind enough to be willing to email me a few (doesnt need to be a lot ) of the photos they took from that area. If anyone is willing, please PM me.
Anyone who is saying that Ed wasn't having some major problems last night likely just didn't have the same vantage point I had. Yes, there were times when he was having fun, but there was also times where he was supremely pissed off and angry, gesturing angrily and running off stage. This was my 17th show and I've never seen him do anything like that.
He was erratic last night.
I don't know. I was right behind the stage and had a good view the whole time. He only really seemed "angry" for the Sirens thing. The rest of the time it really just more seemed like he was making sure everyone else knew what song they were playing next and/or when they were done with the set.
To those complaining about difficulty getting out of the parking lot, I sympathize, but let it be a lesson learned for you. At my second-ever Pearl Jam show, at Randall's Island in 1996, getting out of the parking lot was a three-hour clusterfuck. Since then-- and I've been to 50 Pearl Jam shows and hundreds of other shows by other bands since then-- I always have an exit strategy. In a situation like last night's, you have a few options. First, you can bolt out as the last note sounds so that you get to your car before everyone else does. Second, you can look for alternative parking. There were four USC lots available last night within a 10-15 minute walk from the Sports Arena. There is also street parking around the campus. (And, yes, it's safe.) Finally, there is the Metro. Park your car at the Metro and ride in. If you're on the west side, park and ride on the Expo Line. If you're in the Valley, park and ride on the Red Line from North Hollywood or Universal City. Or park downtown and ride a few stops down to the arena. Planning ahead and knowing your options will save you a lot of frustration. I live in Sherman Oaks, took the Metro and cruised home both nights.
On a totally different note, some of Ed's apparent frustration last night may have been aimed at himself. He flubbed the lyrics to four different "Lightning Bolt" songs ("Swallowed Whole"; "My Father's Son"; "Infallible"; "Future Days"). After screwing up the lyrics to "Sirens" in San Diego and L.A. 1, he got the lyrics right and then his guitar was out of tune. I don't know why he's screwing up the lyrics, but I don't think it's the drinking-- although if that really is wine in those bottles, I don't know he's coherent by the end of the night-- because he tends to be fine on the lyrics to most of the older songs. It seems to me like he's not practicing the songs enough. By way of comparison, Pearl Jam is my favorite band; I've seen them 52 times. Wilco is my second-favorite band; I've seen them 35 times. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco writes some of the most complicated and abstract lyrics in rock music, but he almost never flubs a line, and it's because Wilco practices, practices, and practices some more. It's not clear to me how much Pearl Jam has played these new songs before hitting the road in October-- although the rest of the band seems to hit all their notes.
Mostly just confirmation from me. I was in SD and LA1, and to me this show was very good but nowhere near the energy of those, especially SD. A lot of it may be explained by whatever was going on. My friend, who was at his first PJ show but goes to lots of concerts, remarked at the lack of organization between the band and the techs. I think some of that is normal, as in improvised, but last night was not normal, and it showed even to non-fanatics.
I still loved the show, especially Mike's performances and I liked the setlist. Will see them in Oakland to finish my tour. Should be interesting to see if Ed's guitar tech is there.
San Diego 10/25/00, Mountain View 6/1/03, Santa Barbara 10/28/03, Northwest School 3/18/05, San Diego 7/7/06, Los Angeles 7/9/06, 7/10/06, Honolulu (U2) 12/9/06, Santa Barbara (EV) 4/10/08, Los Angeles (EV) 4/12/08, Hartford 6/27/08, Mansfield 6/28/08, VH1 Rock Honors The Who 7/12/08, Seattle 9/21/09, Universal City 9/30/09, 10/1/09, 10/6/09, 10/7/09, San Diego 10/9/09, Los Angeles (EV) 7/8/11, Santa Barbara (EV) 7/9/11, Chicago 7/19/13, San Diego 11/21/13, Los Angeles 11/23/13, 11/24/13, Oakland 11/26/13, Chicago 8/22/16, Missoula 8/13/18, Boston 9/2/18, Los Angeles 2/25/22 (EV), San Diego 5/3/22, Los Angeles 5/6/22, 5/7/22, Imola 6/25/22, Los Angeles 5/21/24, [London 6/29/24], [Boston 9/15/24]
I have a favor to ask - I was in the pit, about 8 heads back and dead center in front of Ed. I tried taking some pics just to have a few as its the closest Ive ever been, but my phone blows and everything was blurry. A lot of people in my immediate vacinity were taking some nice pics of the band, and I was hoping someone would be kind enough to be willing to email me a few (doesnt need to be a lot ) of the photos they took from that area. If anyone is willing, please PM me.
Real life is so boring after the past 4 days. SD, LA1 and LA2.
I was in GA for SD and LA1.
LA2 10c seats were ok- but made me long to be back in the thick of it in pit.
Thanks for the shows and thanks to all the great people in GA!
Post edited by toridanioth on
Lolla Alpine Valley 8/29/92 ,Key Arena 11/5/00 , Key Arena 11/6/00, NOLAJazzfest 5/1/10, Wrigley 7/19(20)/13, SD 11/21/13, LA 11/23/13, LA 11/24/13, Bridge School 2014, Wrigley 8/20/16, Wrigley 8/22/16, Seattle 2018 both nights! Chicago 9/5/23 and 9/7/23
EV Long Beach 7/6/11 , LA Wiltern (miracled in) 7/8/11, EV Benaroya Hall 10/24/23
I saw SD and LA1 and LA2 was the best show of the three in my estimation. To me the set list flowed quite nicely, and the crowd was totally vibing with the band all night. I was 10 deep in the pit, and it was just cool looking over to see Judd Apatow totally into it and dancing and Craig Ferguson groving. The show was epic and special.
All this said, I'm a bit worried about Ed. In LA1, when he was throwing that girl out, he had a look in his eyes that I've seen before. And I've only ever seen it in people who were struggling with a problem I won't be specific about here because I want to be respectful. And last night, his erratic, emotional behavior did nothing to assuage my concerns. The endless bottles of wine are one thing, but I think something else may be going on.
I hope after Seattle in December Eddie settles down and takes some stock.
Very interesting post. The forum seems split 50/50 between being seriously concerned and not being concerned at all. I think with all the issues people have mentioned, the show would have rated far below what people have rated it. It like they're saying there were so many issues with instruments, setlist changes, vibe etc. but the show didn't suffer at all from it. Really weird.
What a great show last night! Thank you for my tix Ten Club! Haven't been that close since 95. Fun getting to know other PJ Fans like Steve and his wife (they played both songs you wanted Immortality and My Fathers Son) hope you had fun. Bizzybozzy have fun in Seattle. Andy sorry we didn't say goodbye. Definitely in my top 3 shows! Off to Oakland we go for my last night on this tour.
What a great show last night! Thank you for my tix Ten Club! Haven't been that close since 95. Fun getting to know other PJ Fans like Steve and his wife (they played both songs you wanted Immortality and My Fathers Son) hope you had fun. Bizzybozzy have fun in Seattle. Andy sorry we didn't say goodbye. Definitely in my top 3 shows! Off to Oakland we go for my last night on this tour.
Comments
I wanted to add to my earlier fanview as that one was done on a Blackberry late at night.
One point I want to make is I can totally understand the Sirens guitar frustration. On occasions at my work, I write come courses and teach them. There is a ton of work in doing that and many things have to go right. When I am mid-stream, "on tour sort-of" facilitating these, all the bugs should be worked out and it is frustrating and embarrassing when stupid mistakes are made and you're up there looking like a fool. This is Ed's passion and he is passionate about getting it right. This is serious stuff and he has every right to be pissed. I probably would have handed the guirat to the tech and railed on him back-stage instead of dropping it. But maybe this is one of a string of mistakes and has gotten to the point where that reaction couldn't have been avoided.
I saw a lot of posts where people are saying there were a lot of problems and Ed was pissed the whole time. From where I was in Sec30 R6 (25xxxx by the way), I saw a couple of frustrations but I saw Ed very animated, expressive, happy, etc. He is at prime and all the surfing has made him a great physical performer on stage. In 2003, he was much more confined to his spot and didn't move around as much. He was all over the place. He has become a wonderful frontman. I couldn't have said this if he was pissed all the time as others have described. These were very isolated and the overall performance was amazing.
About the set. The set itself was like No Code. Hard soft hard soft hard soft. No code is one of my favorite albums so maybe it catered to me more than others. My luck has been that when they played multiple shows, the other show, not mine was the stellar set, and I got the leftover scraps, or compulsory material. I was expecting this because of the LA1 and San Diego sets. I was expecting 2-2.5 hours, all compulsory stuff. A couple of things happened. Like someone else said, Breath made it. This is the song with the sign petition, they finally played it in 2000 in Philadelphia, rarely played in 2003, and in my top-5. Rare AND top-5 for me. Bee Girl is rare but to me, a turd in the punchbowl as a song. So I got Breath which is unthinkable. No Way was just a shock. I was playing it just last week on repeat. Totally unexpected. Mother was riveting. PJ performed it 10x better than Floyd ever did. Mike Gilmour aced the solo. Ed took it to another dimension. For the other songs, on any other tour standard songs like Betterman were Betterman. This year it was BETTERMAN! I always said I liked the studio versions of a lot of songs better. This time around, the band is at some level of intensity I have never seen. I mean, seriously, unblievable. Immortality and Present Tense are like I have never seen before. You can't be a casual setlist watcher booing common songs this year. It's a whole new experience. The LB songs are great live. SBM was great too. I'm in the "I like SBM club" and a proud member. MFS probably needs to be studied and re-engineered for "live". Infallible. I mean INFALLIBLE. Geez- the whole place was rocking.
As for the comments about them cutting the 1st set. Blood was the 20th song. What was everybody expecting? I think they went 20 or so songs in LA1 and San Diego. From 2003-2009, the standard 1st set was 16-17 songs, and the shows averaged maybe 2 hours 15 minutes. These guys are in great shape but remember they are in their late 40's/early 50's. This was a 20 song 1st set and Evolution, MYM and Blood are not easy. In the last 3 shows, PJ played about 9 1/2 hours. Most bands do that in 5 shows. This was a 3 hour show with I think 32 songs. Old averages were 25, 26, 27 and the like except for State College and special shows. I think LA2 was longer/larger than Seattle 2 of 2000. I think some people are acting like bears after you run out of marshmallows. I appreciate and am thankful for putting in such an intense effort and achieving such a great show. Leaving me feeling as I feel.
I thought LA was going to get crowned for a 2nd time based on how Ed was paying hommage to his past and the others in the band, etc. Surprised that was Betterman after that intro. Again, Betterman was intense.
Liked the thank-yous at the end. Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Gene Simmons, Mar Cameron, Stone Gossard. Funny.
By the way, Carpeteria is a Carpet Store. Carpenteria is a small town south of Santa Barbara. Mention of Reseda was throwing a bone to Tom Petty whose origins were in that area of the San Fernando Valley. Ventura Blbd cuts just south of Reseda. You can hear a bit about the local geography in "Free Fallin".
San Diego and LA1 are neck and neck IMO, totally different shows/vibes, but both great. Being from the area, I was happy to see that LA can still rock with the best of them, because you never know with LA. I heard just about everything I was hoping for, minus Hard to Imagine, Of The Earth, Crown of Thorns....not complaining though...can't wait for the boots.
Met some cool people from all over the country/world....namely Dave from SD, Vascu(sp) from New Orleans, Christian and Jerry from SoCal, Steve from Chicago, met a guy from Oslo, Norway, Christina from VA. Thanks to all for making it a special weekend.
For those who have tickets to upcoming shows, the band is on fire with these setlists, enjoy!!
-PJ KEVIN
PS....LA Sports Arena...you've been hosting events for 50+years, and you still haven't figured out how to properly streamline cars out of the parking lot? Absurd that they have one exit for the parking lot. :oops: :fp:
The set list confirms that they did cut two songs after Blood. Lukin and Betterman. As I suspected in my original remarks last night, Betterman was moved to the start of the encore.
Less Wine, More Rock!
Too bad i havn't had the opportunity to be able to compare MULTIPLE PJ shows over the most recent past, but if i am going to compare this PJ show to 100's of other rock and roll concerts that i have witnessed, i will have to say it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Great crowd, great songs, spectacular video monitors (have never seen video that good), good enough sound for the sports arena, etc
Sure, it probably wasn't perfect for some of you out there, but damm......
That band is going off these days. Holy shit!!!!
Doesn't really get much better than that for a rock and roll arena show folks.
I had great 10c seats and could see the whole thing go down.
There was definitely some wine bottle(s) being consumed, which i personally enjoyed seeing.
There was definitely multiple audibles being called by Ed regarding song choices
There was definitely lots of scrambling with guitar changes between every song and during songs
There was definitely a very busy tech chasing Ed around, untangling his mic cable
And, I'm pretty sure i saw smoke coming from underneath Mike's shoes!!!!! Home boy MUST have had big red ants in his pants. He was on fire. So much fun watching/listening to the whole thing go down.
3 hours went by way too fast.
I will have to agree with previous posts that the slightly late start may have rushed some songs and that it was one of those "had to be there" shows to see for yourself what really happened
Regardless, the band is very very strong.
The intensity, the energy, the passion are all right there, right now
Enjoy it while you can, nothing lasts forever.........except traffic jams in L.A.
10/28/03 - SB BOWL - PJ
7/13/06 - SB BOWL - PJ
4/10/08 - SB ARLINGTON - EV
7/9/11 - SB BOWL - EV
10/31/12 - LAS VEGAS - EV
11/1/12 - LAS VEGAS - EV
11/24/13 - LA SPORTS ARENA - PJ
8/18/18 - WRIGLEY - PJ
8/20/18 - WRIGLEY - PJ
Mid/ back GA both nights, tons of energy and dancing!! Lots of fun. Thanks TC, see you in Oakland & Portland.
Ed said "see you.......... next time" (rather than "it'll be a while" ), maybe a sooner return to LA than 4+ years? Coachella?
Exactly........Perfectly said....enjoy it while you can!!!
Well Said Jerry!!
I totally agree. I was sitting just a couple of rows behind you and didn't see any of the anger that others are reporting other than that dropping of the guitar. When Eddie went over to Stone's side of the stage I didn't see him talking to the front of house person, what I did see him doing was talking to another woman who was sitting there with a little girl (maybe Jill and his daughter?). The woman an girl didn't sit there for the whole show, they watched a few songs from that position, left, and then came back later. During the tambourine throwing at the end of the show he threw a tambourine and the little girl caught it and Eddie busted up laughing. He also came off the stage on Stone side an posed for pictures with 2 kids that were sitting in the audience (which totally stoked the kids!) Somebody mentioned that Ed was angry when he kicked the beach (soccer) ball - to me it looked like he was trying to quickly kick the ball in time to get back to the mic for the next line of the song and he happened to do a crummy job kicking the ball (and happened to kick it in to the back of a guy working security!) and he barely made it back to the mic in time for the next line.
It was clear throughout the show that Eddie was calling audible's on the set list and he absolutely cut the band off after Blood and he absolutely signaled Mike when he was ready for RITFW to end - but he was also out of tambourines and it was 11:27 in a building that probably has an 11:30 curfew. Overall I thought the show was fantastic.
So those were my observations from Stone's side of the stage. See you guys on the road!
Highlights were definitely No Way, Immortality was particularly incredible, Breath was awesome, Mike nailed the hell out of the Mother solo, and I'm always a sucker for Go, Blood, Present Tense, and Oceans. As far as the vibe goes, I think at points it was noticeable that things were being switched around on the fly, but I didn't ever feel like it was ruining the flow of the show or that Eddie was in a bad mood. As far as the guitar toss on Sirens, I agree with everyone that I think he was just pissed that the guitar was either not working or out of tune. I didn't read into that or see that as a the climax of anger issues coming to a head. I think that's more of one person standing in front of 15,000 people going to play a guitar at a point in the song where it's a prominent part and it not working. Combine that with the bottle of wine he had already consumed and yeah, I'd be snippy too. Not sure what happened to Mike's guitar at the end of Alive, but that's what prompted him to crowd surf, so I'm all for it.
As far as the setlist goes, I thought it was just great. I could make arguments about this or that, but over the course of two nights, we got an awful lot of goodness/rarities/incredible performances from this band. I've definitely been sitting at work or at home quietly watching setlist threads (more than I care to admit) and judging them based on what I'm reading, but everyone who posts here knows that there is a major difference between reading a setlist thread and being there live. Are you more likely to have an emotional response from watching a really good movie or from reading a review about a really good movie?
Anyways, good times, great energy, great set, and I'm glad I went to both shows. Hopefully we'll see PJ in LA again in less than four years!
Sidenote: LA Sports arena has to do something about that parking garage. One exit out of there is not gonna cut the mustard.
Yeah I didn't get the "Ed was pissed the whole time" vibe others got. He was definitely less talkative than LA1 but I think the Sirens thing pissed him off the most
I'm nitpicking though--this band is going for epic every night, and is playing at a very high level. SO many spots in the set where you have no idea what's coming next. I appreciate that they're challenging themselves and us every single night.
See you all in Oakland...
11-26-91 / 8-2-92 / 3-15-94 / 7-9-95 / 7-11-95 / 8-29-98 / 9-1-00 / 10-25-03
10-23-04 / 10-22-06 / 10-9-09 / 10-23-10 / 10-3-12 / 7-9-13 / 10-21-13
11-24-13 / 11-26-13 / 10-17-14 / 10-20-14 / 10-25-14 / 4-8-16 / 4-9-16
4-28-16 / 4-29-16 / 8-20-16 / 8-22-16 / 8-10-18 / 8-18-18 / 8-20-18
And speaking of the arena, I agree with an earlier comment about the parking. I was pissed on night one that I ended up paying $40 for parking across the street in a small lot (my bad for not knowing the area better) but getting out of there was a thousand percent faster than exiting the underground lot behind the arena after night 2. I was literally stopped 2 floors down for 30 minutes until cars were rerouted to a different exit. Heard there may have been an accident outside the arena somewhere.
6-3-03 Irvine7-7-06 San Diego7-9/10-06 LA7-13-06 Santa Barbara7-16-06 San Francisco7-22/23-06 Gorge12-2-06 Honolulu4-10-08 Santa Barbara (Ed)4-13-08 LA (Ed)
Mind your manners!!!!!
San Diego and LA 2
He was erratic last night.
No other band is consistently providing their fans with such variety and energy night after night. PJ is at the pinnacle of live music entertainment right now.
Thanks to the 10c and the band for making it reasonable for the fans. Under 100 bucks per show - come on, that's almost unheard of these days!
Have a great remaining shows and thank you for a memorable past month!
My Movie/Music Reviews & Sports Blog
Pretty close to that area.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnphardi ... 049242996/
I don't know. I was right behind the stage and had a good view the whole time. He only really seemed "angry" for the Sirens thing. The rest of the time it really just more seemed like he was making sure everyone else knew what song they were playing next and/or when they were done with the set.
On a totally different note, some of Ed's apparent frustration last night may have been aimed at himself. He flubbed the lyrics to four different "Lightning Bolt" songs ("Swallowed Whole"; "My Father's Son"; "Infallible"; "Future Days"). After screwing up the lyrics to "Sirens" in San Diego and L.A. 1, he got the lyrics right and then his guitar was out of tune. I don't know why he's screwing up the lyrics, but I don't think it's the drinking-- although if that really is wine in those bottles, I don't know he's coherent by the end of the night-- because he tends to be fine on the lyrics to most of the older songs. It seems to me like he's not practicing the songs enough. By way of comparison, Pearl Jam is my favorite band; I've seen them 52 times. Wilco is my second-favorite band; I've seen them 35 times. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco writes some of the most complicated and abstract lyrics in rock music, but he almost never flubs a line, and it's because Wilco practices, practices, and practices some more. It's not clear to me how much Pearl Jam has played these new songs before hitting the road in October-- although the rest of the band seems to hit all their notes.
I still loved the show, especially Mike's performances and I liked the setlist. Will see them in Oakland to finish my tour. Should be interesting to see if Ed's guitar tech is there.
Wow this is great. Thanks so much!
My Movie/Music Reviews & Sports Blog
I was in GA for SD and LA1.
LA2 10c seats were ok- but made me long to be back in the thick of it in pit.
Thanks for the shows and thanks to all the great people in GA!
EV Long Beach 7/6/11 , LA Wiltern (miracled in) 7/8/11, EV Benaroya Hall 10/24/23
Very interesting post. The forum seems split 50/50 between being seriously concerned and not being concerned at all. I think with all the issues people have mentioned, the show would have rated far below what people have rated it. It like they're saying there were so many issues with instruments, setlist changes, vibe etc. but the show didn't suffer at all from it. Really weird.
Arrived at 5pm and parked right on MLK Blvd, about two blocks from the venue.
A tip for next time!