Moline Vs. Milwaukee

whoanelly15

In an effort to settle the debate between which of these two monumental shows from the 2014 tour were better, I am here to offer my totally un-professional, admittedly-biased and inconsequential opinion. My approach is not systematic. It is not comprehensive, nor is it all-inclusive, exclusive or conclusive. One more time, THIS IS JUST FOR FUN.

So, without further ado, the Much-disputed Irrelevant Best Show (MIBS) title belt goes to... (no actual belt)

MIBS Criteria #1: PRESENCE BIAS = +1 for Milwaukee
Simple. I was at the Milwaukee show and I wasn't at the Moline show, so MKE wins. Why is this one point? I have no idea, but my rulings are final, so don't bother arguing.

#2 VENUE = +1 for Moline
Never been there, but I live in MKE, and I consider Alpine Valley my concert home. Plus, I'd wager that most people never heard of Moline until PJ went there, and that's pretty cool.

#3 CROWD = Wash / +1 for both
PJ crowds are the best.

#4 OPENER = +1 for Milwaukee
Not for Pendulum over Small Town, cause it's kinda cool that they opened with Small Town in what I'm assuming is actually a small town, but really because Milwaukee got Pendulum, MYM, Corduroy, LB and Baba before the Yield run-through. Both openers were perfect for the setlists that followed. And let's be honest, they could lead with Row, Row, Row Your Boat and you'd be thrilled to see them on stage.

#5 FULL ALBUM; aka No Code vs. Yield (not to be confused with No Code, Vs., Yield - ok now I'm confused) = +1 Moline
You could argue this one either way. Strongest argument is that Moline had their concert first so it was more of a surprise, but that doesn't matter. It's such a rare thing for any band to do, which makes them both special. Probably not as big of a deal as it's been made out to be, because both albums are so diverse, flow really well and sound great live, but still. This band could do this with any album and the crowd would love it.

Side note: I was chatting with a gentleman and his wife in the Merch line before the show that were at like 6 or 7 shows on the fall tour. He had a Yield shirt on, and said he was really hoping they'd play the whole album. I was like, "yeah that'd be cool", but was really thinking "yeah right, they'll never do it". -1 for me.

#6 BOOTLEG QUALITY = +1 Moline
Not the band or crew's fault. The Bradley Center just doesn't lend itself all that well to concerts and never really has. That said, my friends and I all agreed that no matter where we were sitting, it sounded great at the show, which was a pleasant surprise. The crowd noise was incredible at both and the boots have just enough of it to not detract from just how ON the band was at both shows.

#7 COVERS = +1 to Milwaukee
Fuckin' Up at both = Wash. Interstellar Overdrive is an instrumental and doesn't really count in my book. If anything, it sort of takes away from the shock value of those first few notes of Corduroy, which are incredible. In the interest of fairness, I won't count Baba in the 5-hole even though Rick Nielsen is awesome. And I've only ever heard Crazy Mary by PJ. Bottom line, I'll take I Won't Back Down over Imagine. Not necessarily historically, but at those shows, after Happy B-Day Tom Petty? Yeah, Milwaukee +1.

#8 OMISSIONS = -1 to Milwaukee
So this is based on limited intel/research (obviously), but I saw that Strangest Tribe and Hard to Imagine were cut from MKE, and Ed referenced that they cut Sirens from Moline in the boot. I LOVE Strangest Tribe, so that's a negative to Milwaukee, rather than a plus to Moline. Maybe there were others cut from Moline that I'm unaware of, but I don't care. I'd love to hear Strangest Tribe the next time they're at Alpine Valley. Yellow Moon too.

#9 COMMON GROUND = +1 Milwaukee
Small Town, Given to Fly, Corduroy, MYM, Brain of J, Evenflow, In Hiding, DTE, Jeremy, Porch, Alive, F'n Up, YL were all played at both. +2 for MKE for these two reasons - the Corduroy and Jeremy performances in Milwaukee were INSANE!

#10 UNCOMMON GROUND = +1 Moline
Ed wrote a song the day of the show for the city and venue.

#11 BANTER = +0 for both
Ed was more chatty in MKE. And I loved the Old Milwaukee story, especially the resounding "So, now I drink wine", but I definitely laughed out loud at times in both. When it comes down to it, this doesn't have any impact on my enjoyment of a show, live or on bootleg, but it's fun.

#12 ENCORES = +1 Milwaukee
I love Why Go to close the first encore set in Moline and missed it in MKE. And even though I'd like to give an edge to RVM closing the first set in MKE, because RVM is my favorite song ever, I realize it's not really an encore. Still, the last 3 of Encore 2 are a wash, and that run of Got Some, Jeremy, Lukin, Porch is bonkers! Point to MKE.

MIBS Title Winner = Neither because this is pointless and I didn't even bother to add them up. Everybody wins and nobody loses at Pearl Jam concerts, whether it's at Moline, Milwaukee or on the freaking moon... 2015? 10C only? Hmmm... I wonder what weightlessness does to sound quality. Any astronauts in the forum that can weigh in on this?). The lesson learned is that you should go to each and every PJ show that you can.

Thanks for reading.

iwasatpj20

I'll respond for fun
Criteria #1 - Presence Bias, wash for me since I was at both shows
Criteria #2 - Moline; I've been to four shows there and the sound is always great inside the arena
Criteria #3 - Wash
Criteria #4 - Moline; I was at five shows and four had Pendulum
Criteria #5 - Moline; I enjoy No Code a bit more than Yield, but both albums are great
Criteria #6 - Wash for the time being until I get them and listen fully
Criteria #7 - Wash
Criteria #8 - Moline; since Milwaukee had Strangest Tribe, Parachutes, and Hard to Imagine removed; Moline only had Love Reign O'er Me
Criteria #9 - Moline; Garden of Stone
Criteria #10 - Moline, love Eddie's new song he wrote just for that show
Criteria #11 - Wash; I did enjoy the 'hot date' about Moline and Old Milwaukee about Milwaukee
Criteria #12 - Milwaukee; great version of Crazy Mary

In the end, I enjoyed both shows a lot

Ice Bowl Survivor

That is a great thread. I only go to about one show a year but I went to two shows on this tour because we have some good friends in Moline, so I went to Moline and Milwaukee. Two pretty good shows to see I guess. My vote is split: Milwaukee because I like Yield better, its my hometown, I was in GA and I liked the set list a little better. But Moline was first with that whole- lets play the entire record idea, the venue was way better, and they played a new original song, Yeah, its a tie for sure.

Eddieshometown

I went to three shows St Louis, Moline, and Milwaukee and loved all three but a Moline was the special one.

St. Louis had the buzz around the Cardinals having a come from behind victory during he show which Eddie gave musical updates throughout the concert (game was in LA or else downtown would have been insane), there was also tension around Ferguson which Eddie didn't directly address but played an extended tag of WMA. Crowd was generally great but there were notably more jerks than I tend to see in the 10c seats. Way too many people talking during songs.

Moline had the buzz of being the Special show of the tour being in such a small venue and it lived up to the buzz. It's my favorite concert I ever attended for lots of reasons: only time in ga, Great crowd (except a few jerks in Merch line), and No Code is an awesome album (one that many people hated when first released but aged better as we aged with it).

Milwaukee had a great crowd, most friendly of the three, the Merch line was handled really well, Rick Nielson rocks (Moline only got to see his guitar), Yield is no No Code (though was psyched to hear All Those Yesterdays), that TomPetty thing was just odd (did they ever put the video happy birthday card online?). Loved the Old Milwaukee stories. Wisconsin and Illinois have a (mostly) friendly rivalry so eddie loves talking junk from his Chicago/evanston days. Crowd didn't like it much when he refused to put the cheesehead on (couldn't believe how loud the boos were) but he did make it up by wearing a Packers jersey at the end. Should of asked the crowd where he could find a good fish fry.

chitownp76

First of all, I would like to give props to the thread...great topic. Personally, I think you have to go with Moline. Both were awesome shows. Here is my breakdown.
#1 Moline (got to go to a place i have never heard of)
#2 Moline Kick ass venue, felt like I was in a D2 college basketball arena
#3 Milwaukee, I felt like I saw a lot of people at the Moline show that were locals that werent crazy about the band and just were going because there is not much else to do in moline
#4 Moline by a long shot. Elderly woman to open a show, come on it doesn't get better than that. Also, Pendulum was a pretty consistent opener for the european/fall tour
#5 Moline, just bc I prefer No Code over Yield
#6 Moline, the venue itself produces better sound than the Bradley center
#7 Pretty damn close, I love the cover of Imagine, but props to the Tom Petty b-day
#8 Wash
#9Indifferent
#10 ed writing a song ten min before coming on stage stricly for that venue, I cant remember that happening ever, so defiantly moline on that one

Indifference71

They were both great shows, but I gotta go with Moline. Small venue like that on a Friday night and they come out and play No Code?!? That was insane.

HughFreakingDillon

St Paul: +1 because it was the bologna in the Milwaukee/Moline sandwich.