Eddies voice in 2013/2014

Spiritual_Chaos

Listen to Release from Verona 2006. And the to Release from Stockholm 2014.

I'm a bit worried actually. Everything seems _much_ more strained lately - noticed it during the 2x 2013 boots I got. Even on the first couple of songs, and the last encores are pretty rough voice-wise even on songs that always have sounded great like Crazy Mary, Indifference etc. Now, even at the start of the show you get the out of breath, squeaking, voice disappearing etc.

Tired subject, I know. But yeah, his voice are starting to get really rough. And you can defend it to some degree with the shows being longer etc. But still, maybe time for an all acoustic Pearl Jam tour...

pjsteelerfan

8 years is a long time. Ed's voice was also a lot different in 1998 vs 2006. Still think it sounds good and does most of the time. Not a lot of singers can make it through a 3 hour show.

Gmoney

Yea... It's all about vocal rest... certain shows where he's had a few days off he sounds great, back to back shows sound rough. I imagine if we heard him sing today, he'd blow us away.

tino_11

I honestly thought he sounded better in the latest euro tour compared to Euro 2012. Manchester 2 in 2012 was the worst I've heard him.

But in all the three shows I saw this time, I thought he sounded great! Looking forward to hearing the boots.

narnia

He was also battling a cold first part of the tour 2013. It's not surprising his voice is changing over the years though, but I still think it's terrific.

I think he stopped smoking (he's been singing "think I'll throw these smokes away" in "Down"), and that's gotta help.

JimmyV

narnia said:

I think he stopped smoking (he's been singing "think I'll throw these smokes away" in "Down"), and that's gotta help.

I soooooo hope you are right about this.

jumbojet

tino_11 said:

I honestly thought he sounded better in the latest euro tour compared to Euro 2012. Manchester 2 in 2012 was the worst I've heard him.

Agree with this. Not only Eddie but all of them seem to be in much better shape in 2013-2014, compared to prior few years.
Don't know with Stokholm Release but Milan's Release was face-melting, this year.
Also Release is a difficult song to perform live, IMO. I think the Verona-06 version the OP is talking about, also isn't that smooth and putting some strain on Eddie, at that time.

Versus13

To me, Eddie, Stone, Mike, Jeff, Matt and Boom are improving and improving with age, much like a good wine

GeoScott

Probably all of that screaming in "Blood" and "Save You" during the '03 tour
\m/

High Fidelity 2000

Ed's voice was WAY rougher in 2008-2012. Last year it was pretty good. Still some straining but much less of the breathy "H" sounds in the middle of words and he doesn't do the "bird howl" at the end of lines. I'm willing to bet a vocal coach or someone told him that was bad if he's trying to save his voice. Think he cut down on cigarettes for sure (amazing how that works huh?). Haven't heard any of the boots from this year. But 2013 was a huge improvement over the past few years.

pdalowsky

If he continues to sound anywhere near as good as he has these last few years I wont be worrying at all

Chrisilein

pdalowsky said:

If he continues to sound anywhere near as good as he has these last few years I wont be worrying at all

imo his voice sounded much better this euro tour compared to 2008 - 2012!

veddertown

I thought he sounded ok in 2012 but was pretty rough on the Backspacer tour. He still sounds good now although I'd say he is a pale shadow of the singer he was from 98-05.

PeArLgOoNeR

I can't figure out a pattern as to when he sounds great and when he sounds strained.. Berlin 2 2012 was unbelievable and much better than night 1..
This year I've heard Dam 1+2, Vienna and Berlin.. Vienna is easily the best vocal performance and that came with a bit of rest prior..

vant0037

tino_11 said:

I honestly thought he sounded better in the latest euro tour compared to Euro 2012. Manchester 2 in 2012 was the worst I've heard him.

But in all the three shows I saw this time, I thought he sounded great! Looking forward to hearing the boots.

Agreed.

mookieb10

PeArLgOoNeR said:

I can't figure out a pattern as to when he sounds great and when he sounds strained.. Berlin 2 2012 was unbelievable and much better than night 1..
This year I've heard Dam 1+2, Vienna and Berlin.. Vienna is easily the best vocal performance and that came with a bit of rest prior..

Im in the same boat. I can't figure it out. I do though 12-13 were much better on the whole than 09 as far as eds vocals.

i_lov_it

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Listen to Release from Verona 2006. And the to Release from Stockholm 2014.

I'm a bit worried actually. Everything seems _much_ more strained lately - noticed it during the 2x 2013 boots I got. Even on the first couple of songs, and the last encores are pretty rough voice-wise even on songs that always have sounded great like Crazy Mary, Indifference etc. Now, even at the start of the show you get the out of breath, squeaking, voice disappearing etc.

Tired subject, I know. But yeah, his voice are starting to get really rough. And you can defend it to some degree with the shows being longer etc. But still, maybe time for an all acoustic Pearl Jam tour...

I do agree with you I think Ed's voice is not as Good as it was in 2006 but I have to admit it has improved since say 2009...and after listening to a couple of 2013 US shows and the Australian BDO shows it was Good

Gardenparty

its natural. dudes pushing 50 (or is he 50 already).
nows the time for PJ to chill it out a bit and find songs that fit his current voice.

ChadsStillAlive

Ed's a surfer and an extremist (I can relate), so he tends to push himself to and beyond his limits, including his vocals. This has provided both great and shaky moments throughout PJ's history. I personally love his voice on the '06 tour. While I love the '03 tour and the Live at the Garden DVD, he sings off-key for A LOT of that show. But if you listen to the Mansfield III acoustic set, he sounds fantastic. So it varies, sometimes within a period of days. '09 was very rough. Your favorite Ed vocal era really depends on what you're looking for. The songs in the lower register obviously suit him better these days, while he of course has never and will never match his growls and screams from '91-'94. I agree with the previous poster that they really need to start writing songs that match his new range and stop trying to over-reach. While Infallible is great on record, he just can't do that live anymore. The same goes for some of his sometimes strange live habits, which I saw mentioned a few times in this thread. You don't have to kill yourself to do the "Do the Evolution" screams justice, dude.

My father has critcized guys like McCartney and Daltrey for screaming so much that they "ruined" their vocals for their later years, and my response is always to ask wasn't it worth it?? So what if Paul doesn't sound great today if we got "I've Got a Feeling", "Oh! Darling", "Helter Skelter", "Hey Jude", etc. So what if Roger doesn't sound great if we got "Love, Reign O'er Me", "Won't Get Fooled Again","Baba", etc. So what if Eddie's voice is in decline or if he can't hit the high notes anymore as he fast approaches 50? We got many great versions of "Blood", "Spin the Black Circle", "Deep", "Comatose", etc.

PJ_Soul

He doesn't sound the same but he sounds great. I have been pretty thrilled with every show I've been to, and have enjoyed many recent boots, so it couldn't be that bad.

Dazzler

Release was a struggle on the Stockholm boot, and there were many vocal issues on the Amsterdam night 2 boot. Vienna seems to be stronger, and many of the 2013 boots were good vocally (just many forgotten lyrics - usually on new songs). I was at the Milton Keynes show and I only noticed an issue with Nothingman (song 3 - although the boot may highlight others). It is worrying to a certain extent, as he seemed unable to control his voice in the higher registers on this European tour - listen to Last Kiss in Oslo (song 3 again!!)

HesCalledDyer

I think he sounded better last year than the last time I saw them in 08. The strain is definitely there, but the dude's on the verge of 50 and still sounds way better than my non-smoking ass at 37.

Spiritual_Chaos

Gardenparty said:

its natural. dudes pushing 50 (or is he 50 already).
nows the time for PJ to chill it out a bit and find songs that fit his current voice.

Riot Act was a great step in that regard. Then they just had to Comatose their way back to the punk and squeeling...

ForceofNature101

Honestly I think he sounds great, I love his vocal style of the 2013/2014 shows in general

I am not just saying that either, I would have no problem admitting if he sounded bad. But he doesn't

YLed2

What's great about Ed's voice is that is has changed over time, and there is a certain "sound" of his voice in each era. You can distinctly tell what year or time period it is when you hear his voice on a boot. I like the evolution and his voice is still phenomenal.

My favorite Ed voice is No Code / Yield era.

yieldtrack11

Charlottesville, Va (October 29, 2013) is the best I've heard him in years. Get that boot.

hrd2imgn

a lot more cracking, high pitched squeels at times, and way way too much multi-syllable singing of single syllable words. The become Th---ah. I hate when he pulls out blood it just trashes his voice the rest of the night sometimes. I still love his voice and hope the smoking rumor is true, I think that has take a tremendous toll on his singing and stamina

EnterThanman

veddertown said:

I thought he sounded ok in 2012 but was pretty rough on the Backspacer tour. He still sounds good now although I'd say he is a pale shadow of the singer he was from 98-05.

91-05 . I honestly never notice any vocal issues during the shows, so I'm not worried at all.

For the smoking rumours, I thought I'd read that he quit, but it was actually that he just doesn't do it all the time:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-eddie-vedder-on-pearl-jams-new-lp-and-hate-watching-the-vmas-20130927

He doesn't smoke during Even Flow anymore so that has to say something.

tremorman10

It sounds great to me still. i know its not 1994 but it has its own greatness. The end of Release can get off a bit and infallible. maybe a few others but if you mess up 2 or 3 hell you got 28 other songs to make up for it.

i_lov_it

hrd2imgn said:

a lot more cracking, high pitched squeels at times, and way way too much multi-syllable singing of single syllable words. The become Th---ah. I hate when he pulls out blood it just trashes his voice the rest of the night sometimes. I still love his voice and hope the smoking rumor is true, I think that has take a tremendous toll on his singing and stamina

Yeah I've heard that before about the Multi-Syllable singing on Single-Syllable words and I agree...The recent Bootlegs I've listened to the 2013 US Tour and the Australian BDO shows there was less of it which is good

Dazzler

Just listened to the SiriusXM version of Werchter Festival and Ed's voice held up really well and was strong throughout. None of the scratchiness that was noticed in Amsterdam 2 and Oslo. I guess he wasn't in perfect health after his leg injury and his voice improved across the tour.