Improvs: tasty live gem or set killer?

HughFreakingDillon

SVRDhand13

I love seeing an improv live!

I never got one and would like that to change, but they rarely do improvs now.

HughFreakingDillon

the jury is out for me on it. I've been listening to a few, and the crowd seems particularly dead during and after an improv, and usually just claps politely before the band rips into something familiar.

SJD3232

I love seeing an improv live!

the best improv IMO is hands down State College 03

FoxyRedLa

I love seeing an improv live!

HughFreakingDillon said:

the jury is out for me on it. I've been listening to a few, and the crowd seems particularly dead during and after an improv, and usually just claps politely before the band rips into something familiar.

This may be the majority but I thoroughly enjoy

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

The more creativity and spontaneity the better.

yellowwho

I love seeing an improv live!

love them

2-feign-reluctance

I love seeing an improv live!

SVRDhand13 said:

I never got one and would like that to change, but they rarely do improvs now.

St.Louis 2014

FrankieG

I love seeing an improv live!

I have never seen one live that i can remember.

But all my favorites are my favorites because I have listened to that boot many times over, so I'm not sure if I would get the same enjoyment with it being new...

23scidoo

I love seeing an improv live!

SJD3232 said:

the best improv IMO is hands down State College 03

The one before RVM..i love this..

PSUS2H

I love seeing an improv live!

My favorite improv so far has been at UCB NYC.....oh wait, I guess you're not talking about comedy.... :-(

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

2-feign-reluctance said:

SVRDhand13 said:

I never got one and would like that to change, but they rarely do improvs now.

St.Louis 2014

Vancouver 2013 had a cool one too.

Nami

totally depends (feel free to elaborate)

if its a well known song then yes its great but no otherwise. buzz kill imo

Abe Froman

I love seeing an improv live!

PJ_Soul said:

The more creativity and spontaneity the better.

Agreed.

jjflash

I love seeing an improv live!

Love live improvs from capable bands. The crowd and the band together get to witness the new sounds emerge The casual listener may get lost but those engaged w/ the band's music have their attention further magnetized to what's being created on stage.

elwayvedder

SJD3232 said:

the best improv IMO is hands down State College 03

can't argue with this one!

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

My favorite is Altar - Melbourne 95. It's rather beautiful. If anyone hasn't heard it, PM me, I've got the mp3.

KC138045

no, it muddies up the set and loses the crowd!

Got one in Columbus '03. Out of all the shows I've been to this one ranks last for me. Not the best set IMO and the crowd sucked. The improve did not help and I didn't know what the hell he was singing about until I listened to the boot.

EDIT: Went back and looked at the set. Go, Red Mosquito, Not For You , Footsteps, Jeremy, and Dimi's white whale Ghost. I would take any and all of these in a set today and love it. it was a buzz kill crowd that night with a lot of people leaving right after Fucking Up before they came back out with YL.

Hobbes

Nagoya '03. Improv leading into Immortality.

mca47

I love seeing an improv live!

Hobbes said:

Nagoya '03. Improv leading into Immortality.

Yeah, that one is fantastic!

KV4053

I love seeing an improv live!

jjflash said:

Love live improvs from capable bands. The crowd and the band together get to witness the new sounds emerge The casual listener may get lost but those engaged w/ the band's music have their attention further magnetized to what's being created on stage.

+1
It illustrates the creative process in a tiny way.

Who doesn't love SVT?

ckravitz

totally depends (feel free to elaborate)

I put improvs and rarities in to more or less the same category. While they are great to hear/experience for us crazies, they are usually lost on the audience as a whole. Since one of the most enjoyable things about live Pearl Jam for me is the overall vibe and how the audience gets in to it, I think sometimes the impovs/rarities can have a weird effect. That said, it's hard not to like something new or something that isn't played frequently, so I guess I'm firmly on the fence.

ldent42

I love seeing an improv live!

ckravitz said:

I put improvs and rarities in to more or less the same category. While they are great to hear/experience for us crazies, they are usually lost on the audience as a whole. Since one of the most enjoyable things about live Pearl Jam for me is the overall vibe and how the audience gets in to it, I think sometimes the impovs/rarities can have a weird effect. That said, it's hard not to like something new or something that isn't played frequently, so I guess I'm firmly on the fence.

I wanna add a quick thing on to this. I've found that being in a 10c section, whether it's GA or seats, gives the rarities/improvs a much better experience. Being in general sale seating people are less into it than us crazies, which can negatively impact the experience when they start yapping and acting stupid. The first example comes to mind in Wrigley, when Bugs was played I was sitting in the reserved seats on the field and I squeed so loud I got looks from people nearby. That said, everyone was in the moment and witnessing the performance even if they didn't really care for the song. In Amsterdam, I wound up with a seat for the added show from the general sale. They played All or None, which is one of my absolute favorite songs - and a quiet one. The kids next to me started having a whole full volume conversation. There was a language barrier so I couldn't be like 'shut up i love this song and I can hear you over them' but through facial expressions they got the message and lowered their voices. I know most people will say not to worry about what people around you are doing and just enjoy the show, but that's not always possible when I can heard people around me OVER the guy on stage.There was a similar experience with a different band in a general sale setting. They were actually performing a cover song and these drunken doushelords were just screaming at them to play the hit song the whole time. Obviously PJ fans do shit like that too, but I've found it to be less frequent in the 10c sections.

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

I believe "SSSHHHHHH!" is universal.
But yeah, it's definitely not always possible to ignore some idiot next to you at a show. E.g. I had pretty much the most obnoxious, trashy, horrible, drunk woman right behind me in GA at the Neil Young show, and she really negatively impacted the show for me, my friend, and pretty much everyone within 10 feet of her. One person can do a lot of damage at a concert!

HughFreakingDillon

PJ_Soul said:

I believe "SSSHHHHHH!" is universal.
But yeah, it's definitely not always possible to ignore some idiot next to you at a show. E.g. I had pretty much the most obnoxious, trashy, horrible, drunk woman right behind me in GA at the Neil Young show, and she really negatively impacted the show for me, my friend, and pretty much everyone within 10 feet of her. One person can do a lot of damage at a concert!

I was in row two of a Cornell show for his acoustic tour. the douche in front of me in row 1 was recording every single song on his phone. so I had this glaring light in my eyes for the first several songs. i finally told him to put it the fuck away. he actually asked me why. at least he listened.

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

I believe "SSSHHHHHH!" is universal.
But yeah, it's definitely not always possible to ignore some idiot next to you at a show. E.g. I had pretty much the most obnoxious, trashy, horrible, drunk woman right behind me in GA at the Neil Young show, and she really negatively impacted the show for me, my friend, and pretty much everyone within 10 feet of her. One person can do a lot of damage at a concert!

I was in row two of a Cornell show for his acoustic tour. the douche in front of me in row 1 was recording every single song on his phone. so I had this glaring light in my eyes for the first several songs. i finally told him to put it the fuck away. he actually asked me why. at least he listened.

What was the show where Chris Cornell totally told off some stupid woman in the audience who just wouldn't shut the fuck up? There is a video of it, and it's so awesome, but I can't remember what show it was!

HughFreakingDillon

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

I believe "SSSHHHHHH!" is universal.
But yeah, it's definitely not always possible to ignore some idiot next to you at a show. E.g. I had pretty much the most obnoxious, trashy, horrible, drunk woman right behind me in GA at the Neil Young show, and she really negatively impacted the show for me, my friend, and pretty much everyone within 10 feet of her. One person can do a lot of damage at a concert!

I was in row two of a Cornell show for his acoustic tour. the douche in front of me in row 1 was recording every single song on his phone. so I had this glaring light in my eyes for the first several songs. i finally told him to put it the fuck away. he actually asked me why. at least he listened.

What was the show where Chris Cornell totally told off some stupid woman in the audience who just wouldn't shut the fuck up? There is a video of it, and it's so awesome, but I can't remember what show it was!

not sure. didn't hear about that!

at that same show, one of the people I was with wouldn't shut the fuck up! I was about to turn and tell him to shut his mouth, but the guy who I told off told my buddy off! It was hilarious!

PJ_Soul

I love seeing an improv live!

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

I believe "SSSHHHHHH!" is universal.
But yeah, it's definitely not always possible to ignore some idiot next to you at a show. E.g. I had pretty much the most obnoxious, trashy, horrible, drunk woman right behind me in GA at the Neil Young show, and she really negatively impacted the show for me, my friend, and pretty much everyone within 10 feet of her. One person can do a lot of damage at a concert!

I was in row two of a Cornell show for his acoustic tour. the douche in front of me in row 1 was recording every single song on his phone. so I had this glaring light in my eyes for the first several songs. i finally told him to put it the fuck away. he actually asked me why. at least he listened.

What was the show where Chris Cornell totally told off some stupid woman in the audience who just wouldn't shut the fuck up? There is a video of it, and it's so awesome, but I can't remember what show it was!

not sure. didn't hear about that!

at that same show, one of the people I was with wouldn't shut the fuck up! I was about to turn and tell him to shut his mouth, but the guy who I told off told my buddy off! It was hilarious!

Oh, I'd tell my friend to shut the hell up.

At the recent Glen Hansard show the lovely woman I was next to (who actually got pulled on stage to sing with Glen) said to me right as he came on stage, "Oh, btw, I'm a singer, so I tend to harmonize with the band on stage. Don't mind me!" She was very nice, but I was thinking, "Grreeeaaat." And yes, she did tend to do that throughout the show, and yes, it was annoying the fuck out of everyone around us. I just didn't have the heart to tell her to shut the fuck up because she was nice (and it probably was what made Glen pull her on stage. She was loud enough for him to hear her!.... but to the detriment of several other people who just wanted to enjoy Glen, not Glen and lady with artsy hat.

HesCalledDyer

totally depends (feel free to elaborate)

I don't mind improvs but not all of them are enjoyable. Win some, lose some.

Lost In Ohio

KC138045 said:

Got one in Columbus '03. Out of all the shows I've been to this one ranks last for me. Not the best set IMO and the crowd sucked. The improve did not help and I didn't know what the hell he was singing about until I listened to the boot.

That was my first show, my first "real" concert and (obviously) my first time to that venue. I had no idea what the heck to expect. It was before I knew a lot about the band, only joined 10C that January (and haven't looked back!), but once I knew more about the band, I found myself backtracking to see if Ed did a preset or if there was even a Wishlist pre-party I missed out on.

Heck, I didn't even get my tickets until real super-late, so I was probably pushed back a bit further in my block. 10C seats at the time, members were assigned to certain "blocks" and the earlier you got your tickets, the better in the "block" you were, if I remember things correctly.

How awesome would that have been if flipped? The earlier you got there, the better your block was... better numbers were closer in the blocks? It would have been awesome for the band and fans...different faces up front, but horrible for long-term members...kind of like what the situation is now.

I ended up at the radio station's preparty and scored some free food/drinks, so not all bad. I didn't know a thing about the Buzzcocks, but remembered they were super loud.

Certainly not as strange a setlist as three years prior. During the show, there was a really tall dude who came down and stood in front of me. I have the feeling he was mooching seats to stand beside his buddies and I thought about getting the staff in there to check the guy's ticket, but decided against it.

That sixth song... I'd give it to Dimi if I could. My sixth song I heard live by them is one he's tried to track down probably over 600 shows probably in 60 different countries...or so it seems.

That improv/tag during Not For You is still great, in my book.

No tags during Daughter OR Betterman is STILL weird, but we got an EPIC Wishlist out of it. After three shows, I'm one for three with Wishlist.

I didn't want to hear Black (weird personal reasons at the time) and didn't get it, but got Jeremy and the song I really wanted to hear, Elderly Woman. Happy there. I'm two for three on Black, so that works out great.

It's probably one of the ONLY shows where Daughter, Betterman, Once, OR Alive weren't played. Just take any show and you're almost guaranteed to get two or three of those songs.

And then, Ed introduced the band right before the Neil Young cover. The song was played, and then people started to leave. A LOT of people. My buddy wanted to leave, but I refused. I had a feeling. After what seemed like an eternity, I thought I heard something. No, it couldn't be...but it was. A guitar note. And then another one. And then, the entire band came back for one more... a rare THIRD encore.

Had I known then, what I know now... I probably would have tried to move down several rows. Hey, if they think the show is over and leave, their seats are fair game, right?

But yeah, I do agree. That improv was weird. I didn't know what I was hearing at the time and was talking about it with my ticket buddy on the way out.


NOW, later on that summer... I went back with some other people for Kiss and Aerosmith and have a few stories to tell about THAT night. Oh, baby.

veddertown

I love seeing an improv live!

The improv before Present Tense on the 2000 Salzburg boot is beautiful! The one from Japan before Immortality already mentioned is great too.