Fenway vs. Wrigley ~ Let's get it on.

The Camaros Hood

Some did one weekend. Some did both. Let's debate it. Which weekend was better? What city experience was the best. Merch situations. Weather. Whatever. All angles should be considered. Would love to hear you all's thoughts. Go!!

bootleg

Fenway 1 better than Wrigley 1. Wrigley 2 better than Fenway 2. I was only at both Fenway

JH6056

I'm really only going to be interested in the views of either the people who were actually at all 4 shows, or the people who were at none of them but periscoped all 4. That's the only way to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, cuz once you were at only 1 or 2 of them, your view is skewed (can be good or bad skew-ing, but it's different).

Suziemay

**To clarify upfront, I was really pleased with the shows, am just responding because OP asked. Not shitting on any one show.**

I was at Fenway 1, 2 and Wrigley 1. Fenway 1 felt "better" than Wrigley 1 to me, in that Ed just seemed giddy with happiness. Wrigley 1 didn't really feel like a Wrigley show until close to the end of the show. Ed referenced the storm 3 years ago and they did Rain, but at both Fenway shows, there were so many baseball references and homages. Fenway 2 was the best of the 3 for me. Not going to give an opinion about Wrigley 2 because I wasn't there, and I think it's silly when people think they can give an opinion about a show just based on setlist.

Edited to add: But Wrigley 1 wins for best moment of the 3 shows with Steve Gleason and Inside Job.

jkalman

Fenway 2 blew away the other three shows, IMHO.

JC29856

Delete your account

HailHailVitalogy

Fenway 2 hands down, no contest

jkalman

It was sort of cool tonight when Eddie stopped in the middle of a song to kick some douche out who was manhandling his GF.

MG79478

Was at all 4. Have to rank them F2, W1, F1, W2. Tonight could have been special with just a few tweeks to the set list, but the early momentum died hard about last kiss.

jkalman

MG79478 said:

Was at all 4. Have to rank them F2, W1, F1, W2. Tonight could have been special with just a few tweeks to the set list, but the early momentum died hard about last kiss.

Sounds about right, except I'd almost say W1 and F1 were a wash. Agree completely on W2.

HailHailVitalogy

MG79478 said:

Was at all 4. Have to rank them F2, W1, F1, W2. Tonight could have been special with just a few tweeks to the set list, but the early momentum died hard about last kiss.

Yeah something happened once last kiss started. The GA pit completely died, could barely hear Stone's guitar, Even Flow sounded weird as hell, and the order of songs was just off. Main set was fantastic though, the pit was so into it.

But Fenway 2 was special. Out of 35 shows it ranks top 5, maybe top 3.

sarahnist

I went to Wrigley 1 and Fenway 1. Thought sound was way better at Fenway (could have just been where I was sitting). There was also more talking at Fenway 1, and more baseball stuff. They really incorporated Boston into the set. I felt like Wrigley 1 was a lot of hit after hit after hit - less talking. Steve Gleason at Wrigley was amazing and so was the Cubs song. Nice how Wrigley let them play after 11 as well. Fenway curfew was lame.

Merch at Fenway was a breeze and was a complete debacle at Wrigley. At Wrigley I missed Jeremy, Daughter and Better Man to wait in line for a poster that was sold out. At Fenway I got everything I wanted with little to no wait.

Sad I missed Fenway 2...

JojoRice

All 4 shows were great in their own way. However, if I had to pick just one, it would be Fenway 2.

JH6056

JojoRice said:

All 4 shows were great in their own way. However, if I had to pick just one, it would be Fenway 2.

Can you say more about why? Would love to hear more details!

SVRDhand13

im not saying which was better I'm just happy I did Fenway because the rare songs were more suited to my tastes. Sad I missed of the earth again though.

Bant

I'm still don't get how people are saying Fenway 2 was better than Fenway 1.

SVRDhand13

Bant said:

I'm still don't get how people are saying Fenway 2 was better than Fenway 1.

Well 2 was like 20 minutes longer

I loved both and can't choose one over another. They're like my children haha

Bant

SVRDhand13 said:

Bant said:

I'm still don't get how people are saying Fenway 2 was better than Fenway 1.

Well 2 was like 20 minutes longer

I loved both and can't choose one over another. They're like my children haha

Yes, but that is the only thing it has over night 1.

jkalman

Bant said:

SVRDhand13 said:

Bant said:

I'm still don't get how people are saying Fenway 2 was better than Fenway 1.

Well 2 was like 20 minutes longer

I loved both and can't choose one over another. They're like my children haha

Yes, but that is the only thing it has over night 1.

I wouldn't say so. The whole experience was more cohesive. Set flow, band flow, fan interactivity/energy. That was my experience at least between F2 the other three shows.

bootleg

Bant said:

I'm still don't get how people are saying Fenway 2 was better than Fenway 1.

I'm with you on that but we definitely seem to be in the minority. I think it depends on what types of sets you like. For me F2 had more of the hits and F1 had more obscure. Also for me F1 had a bunch of songs I haven't heard before which is hard to do 25 shows in (Strangest Tribe, MOW, Patriot, Society, SBM, CN, Draw the Line, I've got a Feeling). F2 only had one (Angel) so I think that has a lot to do with it.

ComeToTX

Fenway 2 was the only one I went to. Looks like that was a great choice.

Merkin Baller

After periscoping much of both Wrigley shows, and looking at the setlists, I'm glad I went to the Fenway shows.

Fenway 1 was awesome, but Fenway 2 was far & away a better show. It was up there with Hartford '13 as the two best shows I've seen this band perform.

I'm definitely interested to hear more opinions from people who were at all four as I can't properly comment on the Wrigley shows.

CantKeepmedown

I think Fenway 2 was the best overall show. I was only at the Fenway shows, so there is a certain bias there. But even on paper, I think the Fenway setlists were better. Out of the songs that were unique to each city, Fenway had the better songs for me, personally.

But overall, all 4 shows were great in their own right and I can't wait to relive by CD and DVD! People that even made it to 1 show should consider themselves lucky.

jkalman

Merkin Baller said:

After periscoping much of both Wrigley shows, and looking at the setlists, I'm glad I went to the Fenway shows.

Fenway 1 was awesome, but Fenway 2 was far & away a better show. It was up there with Hartford '13 as the two best shows I've seen this band perform.

I'm definitely interested to hear more opinions from people who were at all four as I can't properly comment on the Wrigley shows.

Yeah, Hartford '13 was phenomenal.

JimmyV

Posted this in another thread but it is just as relevant here, too.

There are strengths and weaknesses to all four shows. Personal tastes will differ. "I was there" and recency biases will come into play as well. I really expected Wrigley 1 to be the best of the bunch because it was a Saturday night in Eddie's hometown. Failing that my second guess would have been Wrigley 2 because it was last and the band probably wanted to leave everything on the field (no pun intended.) Now I don't think either one was. For me, looking top to bottom, Fenway 2 was the best of these shows. It started hot, it finished hot, the encores were awesome, the band was on fire and so was the crowd. Fenway 2 is tough to beat.

vant0037

Every show anyone went to was the best show for some reason. I'm seeing a lot of "I went to only this show but not that show," which is exactly what OP wasnt looking for.

Whether you went to all four or not, its going to come down to subjective factors, such as: who youre with, where youre sitting, who youre sitting by, how youre feeling, what songs you like, whether youre phone is out or not, whether youre drunk or sober and how you believe that inhibits or enhances your experience, and a myriad of other reasons that have nothing to do with the objective merits of a given performance (assuming such a thing exists; a certain bassist might argue that art is inherently subjective, meaning if music is art, then judgment or comparison on a given performance is meaningless, but I digress).

I just find these questions very strange. Who thinks Fenway was better? Who thinks Wrigley was better? How many times does it happen that two people view the same thing and take away entirely different experiences? Who cares? I mean really...why are we interested in determining which show was "better?"

The only honest and accurate answer any of us could give to the question of which show was better is and always will be "the one I was at."

jkalman

Subjective factors do come into play to some extent, but the band actually does play better on some nights than others, and the set lists do flow better on some nights than others. Likewise, the crowd can differ significantly based on nights of the week and geographic location. What causes people to say their one show was the best is often termed confirmation bias. Additionally, some people don't have an acute degree of musical aptitude to notice when the band is in a flow/peak state (AKA the zone) versus all over the place and out of synch (see Johnson O'Connor Institute for info on musical aptitudes). Wrigley 2 they were out of that flow state quite a bit. Fenway 1 and Wrigley 1 they had intermittent flow state and a few extended peaks. Fenway 2 was insane with flow state through most of the show.

JH6056

vant0037 said:

Every show anyone went to was the best show for some reason. I'm seeing a lot of "I went to only this show but not that show," which is exactly what OP wasnt looking for.

Whether you went to all four or not, its going to come down to subjective factors, such as: who youre with, where youre sitting, who youre sitting by, how youre feeling, what songs you like, whether youre phone is out or not, whether youre drunk or sober and how you believe that inhibits or enhances your experience, and a myriad of other reasons that have nothing to do with the objective merits of a given performance (assuming such a thing exists; a certain bassist might argue that art is inherently subjective, meaning if music is art, then judgment or comparison on a given performance is meaningless, but I digress).

I just find these questions very strange. Who thinks Fenway was better? Who thinks Wrigley was better? How many times does it happen that two people view the same thing and take away entirely different experiences? Who cares? I mean really...why are we interested in determining which show was "better?"

The only honest and accurate answer any of us could give to the question of which show was better is and always will be "the one I was at."

I'm not OP, but that last comment is exactly why I said that for me, only opinions of people who were at all 4, or at none but periscoped all 4, are really relevant.

Sure, even if you were at all 4, there are many factors (you list most of them) that will also affect your experience of the show. But it is still fascinating to many of us to hear people's reasons for loving/hating/being thrilled/being disappointed in any given show - in comparison to the other shows.

We're also mostly adults though, so we each know that when someone says the setlist of X show blew them away, and I look at the setlist and there are mostly songs that aren't my favorite, that's cool, setlist didn't work for me but glad someone else was thrilled. Or when people have different moments that stand out as most magical. No doubt, some of my most special moments aren't going to be special to others, but those special moments add to my sense that X show was the best.

It's all subjective, we all get that. But it's fun to compare and contrast, to trade stories, and for those who went to all 4 it is VERY interesting to know what they thought was the best show and why.

JimmyV

I've certainly been at a show before that was not the best.

JH6056

JimmyV said:

I've certainly been at a show before that was not the best.

Me too, absolutely!

LC

The best way to settle this needs to be an 8 disc, 4 concert official blu ray