Why does Pearl Jam totally disregard Binaural?

Gern Blansten

2-feign-reluctance said:

Gern Blansten said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I mean shit, Evacuation comes to mind. Weird tuning, time shifts and a vocal stretch that might not be Ed friendly. They've botched the shit out of it the last handful of times they've tried playing it.

They are professionals....all it takes is a few practice runs....like a sound check?  Similar to the sound check of Army Reserve that I listened to the other night.

What's your take on why then?

Unfortunately I think they are playing to the casual fan.  

2-feign-reluctance

Gern Blansten said:

wnh1977 said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I mean shit, Evacuation comes to mind. Weird tuning, time shifts and a vocal stretch that might not be Ed friendly. They've botched the shit out of it the last handful of times they've tried playing it.

Agreed.  I've seen that get butchered live plenty.  "Gods' Dice" as well, mostly lyrics, but I've seen the whole thing just collapse (Toronto 2011, maybe?).  Getting an average tune to begin with, then seeing it get butchered, ugh.

Yet they play Hail Hail....which is basically the same tune.  It's all about practice.  If a song needs practice you figure it out during a sound check.  Or in the lounge before you take the stage.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you about what it would take for them to rehearse the songs.

cwja

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

2-feign-reluctance

Gern Blansten said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

Gern Blansten said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I mean shit, Evacuation comes to mind. Weird tuning, time shifts and a vocal stretch that might not be Ed friendly. They've botched the shit out of it the last handful of times they've tried playing it.

They are professionals....all it takes is a few practice runs....like a sound check?  Similar to the sound check of Army Reserve that I listened to the other night.

What's your take on why then?

Unfortunately I think they are playing to the casual fan.  

How did the 16' stadium shows stack up with RA and Binaural? Maybe they ignored them largely because Ed has said he looks at what was played last time (no clue if this is still a consideration in how he writes set lists currently)?

mcgruff10

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

Ray J. T.

2-feign-reluctance said:

Another thought is that those records weren't as 'popular' so they stay with material that is mostly familiar even to the casual fan.

How is Binaural not on more of the fans radar? The casual fan needs to pick this album up ASAP. One of the best albums in their catalogue. I would love to see a Binaural tour in the future like how U2 just recently did a Joshua Tree tour covering the album. More Binaural love please. Top 3 favorite album for me easily. 

Tristelune

Matt likes complex patterns actually. Parting ways, of the girl and Thin air are simple songs and could be played more often easily. Insignificance has been a bit forgotten lately but it’s tougher, especially on the vocal side. I don’t think it’s based on individual technicity but songs like gods dice, breakerfall, evacuation, or insignificance require a certain level of focus from the band while being vocally demanding.

bobby dazzlers

yosi said:

Agreed. I also don't love that cover songs are the second most represented songs...

Thats why the QC show was tops!
Less filler, more killer!  

Gern Blansten

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Me too....as a musician I would rather destroy the place with Insignificance vs playing U or RITFW

wnh1977

Gern Blansten said:

wnh1977 said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I mean shit, Evacuation comes to mind. Weird tuning, time shifts and a vocal stretch that might not be Ed friendly. They've botched the shit out of it the last handful of times they've tried playing it.

Agreed.  I've seen that get butchered live plenty.  "Gods' Dice" as well, mostly lyrics, but I've seen the whole thing just collapse (Toronto 2011, maybe?).  Getting an average tune to begin with, then seeing it get butchered, ugh.

Yet they play Hail Hail....which is basically the same tune.  It's all about practice.  If a song needs practice you figure it out during a sound check.  Or in the lounge before you take the stage.

"Hail, Hail", for me, is WAYYYY better than "Evacuation" or "Gods' Dice".

2-feign-reluctance

Gern Blansten said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Me too....as a musician I would rather destroy the place with Insignificance vs playing U or RITFW

Not much Ed / crowd interaction on that deep cut there.

cwja

mcgruff10 said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

It’s admittedly all based on personal tastes. For example, I was at the Ten and Binaural shows that year. Philly crowd was insane for the Ten show, Toronto crowd was dead for the Binaural show. I’d still take the Binaural show, sounds like you’d prefer the Ten. Just different, not better or worse, preferences.

MD190661

> Parting ways, of the girl and Thin air
Saw these 3 this summer in the 2 shows I saw; London 1 and Seattle 2. 

kid canada

cwja said:

mcgruff10 said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

It’s admittedly all based on personal tastes. For example, I was at the Ten and Binaural shows that year. Philly crowd was insane for the Ten show, Toronto crowd was dead for the Binaural show. I’d still take the Binaural show, sounds like you’d prefer the Ten. Just different, not better or worse, preferences.

I was at the Binaural show with a friend who is a PJ fan but not a diehard by any means. When God's Dice came on after Breakerfall I knew what was about to happen and was pretty stoked - but for my friend, the next hour or so was a stretch of songs she didn't know or at best barely knew, and other than Grievance and maybe Insignificance none of them are fast-paced rock songs. So she was really bummed for that entire stretch. Then they played Corduroy/Once/RVM to close the set, first encore had Even Flow, Better Man and Porch and the second encore was Small Town/GTF/SOLAT/Black/Real Me/Alive/RITFW and she had the time of her life.  

Milestone

I was tired of Binaural after the 2000 tour. Now I’m starving for it. 
Ive read/heard that this era was not the happiest for the band and that it’s not one of their favorite albums. They were in a dark place and then of course Roskild Festival. 

Gern Blansten

Milestone said:

I was tired of Binaural after the 2000 tour. Now I’m starving for it. 
Ive read/heard that this era was not the happiest for the band and that it’s not one of their favorite albums. They were in a dark place and then of course Roskild Festival. 

you might have hit the nail on the head there

mcgruff10

I think one of the reasons people want to hear binaural and riot act is because they are rarely played; but perhaps rare doesn’t mean good. Who knows, Maybe pj hates both albums or has flashbacks to Denmark.  
I know in the pj20 film mike comments how people stopped liking them as much when binaural came out. And then riot act was even further down.  You want to talk about getting tickets pretty easy?  Man some of you should have been around in 00 and 03.
So maybe pj isn’t particular proud of these two albums.  Maybe ed can’t sing them or maybe they just don’t want to play them. 

canuck79

kid canada said:

cwja said:

mcgruff10 said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

It’s admittedly all based on personal tastes. For example, I was at the Ten and Binaural shows that year. Philly crowd was insane for the Ten show, Toronto crowd was dead for the Binaural show. I’d still take the Binaural show, sounds like you’d prefer the Ten. Just different, not better or worse, preferences.

I was at the Binaural show with a friend who is a PJ fan but not a diehard by any means. When God's Dice came on after Breakerfall I knew what was about to happen and was pretty stoked - but for my friend, the next hour or so was a stretch of songs she didn't know or at best barely knew, and other than Grievance and maybe Insignificance none of them are fast-paced rock songs. So she was really bummed for that entire stretch. Then they played Corduroy/Once/RVM to close the set, first encore had Even Flow, Better Man and Porch and the second encore was Small Town/GTF/SOLAT/Black/Real Me/Alive/RITFW and she had the time of her life.  

I was at the Binaural show as well with 10C seats.  So everyone around me had a decent knowledge of PJ's catalogue.  When they played God's Dice and I/we realized what was happening everyone around us was pretty excited.  I honestly don't remember the crowd being dead, but I was excited enough for 20,000. 

ikiT

Evacuation is hard to sing

cp3iverson

It was a dark time for a few of them before Roskilde so yeah maybe they just want to move on sometimes 

ForceofNature101

It could simply also just be that they perfer a bunch of other tunes more than God's Dice, Evacuation, Grievance, etc.  

But yeah it would be kickass to have NAIS played more often, or Thin Air.  Binaural has some kickass tunes on it

Get_Right

Totally agree. Please switch out all the ten songs for Binaural songs *ducks*

helplessdancer

Sleight of Hand...i wet my pants a little every single time i get to witness this song played live

danny

agree 100% i personally think ten is played way to much i would have binaural anyday 

CantKeepmedown

I followed them around on both the Binaural and Riot Act tours, so I've seen each album in full.  But I just don't see them playing more than 1-2 songs from each during a show, especially in a stadium. If they ever (which I'm sure won't happen) do a fanclub type only run of shows, then I'm sure they'd pull that stuff out. But these stadium shows with 40K people, they'd lose 3/4 of the crowd.  The 2 from Riot Act last night were probably the most fan friendly (maybe Can't Keep to open) songs they could play in a stadium.  From Binaural, maybe Of the Girl to open, then Insignificance or Grievance and that's about it.  

I cringed when they started Arms Aloft last night because the place was absolutely buzzing with the GTF, Animal, Save You start.  I was in a fanclub section, and barely anybody knew AA.  

mace1229

mcgruff10 said:

I think one of the reasons people want to hear binaural and riot act is because they are rarely played; but perhaps rare doesn’t mean good. Who knows, Maybe pj hates both albums or has flashbacks to Denmark.  
I know in the pj20 film mike comments how people stopped liking them as much when binaural came out. And then riot act was even further down.  You want to talk about getting tickets pretty easy?  Man some of you should have been around in 00 and 03.
So maybe pj isn’t particular proud of these two albums.  Maybe ed can’t sing them or maybe they just don’t want to play them. 

I've said the same thing a bunch. I remember getting tickets to San Diego, LA and Vegas from 2000 - 2009 with almost no problem. When PJ played 4 nights in LA for the 2009 tour, you could only request 1 10c show at the time. Had zero problem getting the other 3.

First time I really remember people complaining about tickets was PJ20, and every show since.

PB11041

yosi said:

Agreed. I also don't love that cover songs are the second most represented songs...

That is sort of just the sheer nature of them doing a lot of 1-2x covers every tour though.  

PB11041

mcgruff10 said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

Sometimes, the crowd can be bland by sections though, especially as you get into these larger outdoor venues, and your experience as to where you are can impact your overall mode of the event. 

As as example I went to Fenway 2 in 2016 and this year.  Both were fun, excellent shows in their own right, but 2016 to me, far more memorable.  I think the general section I was in last night was pretty bland.   

Brisk.

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

You always know the drill :P

darwinstheory

kid canada said:

cwja said:

mcgruff10 said:

cwja said:

rummy said:

I know mega-fans at the Binaural show in Toronto 2016 would disagree but, trying to speak objectively, the crowd was pretty subdued during its performance. The energy picked up afterwards.

Pretty subdued is an understatement. Personally I’d choose a great set over a great crowd though. Especially in North America. If you’re looking to pay money to watch a crowd, go to Argentina.

Disagree completely.  You need a balance. Newark 2010 has a fantastic set list but the crowd absolutely sucked which equated to a pretty bad show. Hartford 2010 wasn’t the greatest setlist but my god the crowd!  That show is still one of my favorites.  

It’s admittedly all based on personal tastes. For example, I was at the Ten and Binaural shows that year. Philly crowd was insane for the Ten show, Toronto crowd was dead for the Binaural show. I’d still take the Binaural show, sounds like you’d prefer the Ten. Just different, not better or worse, preferences.

I was at the Binaural show with a friend who is a PJ fan but not a diehard by any means. When God's Dice came on after Breakerfall I knew what was about to happen and was pretty stoked - but for my friend, the next hour or so was a stretch of songs she didn't know or at best barely knew, and other than Grievance and maybe Insignificance none of them are fast-paced rock songs. So she was really bummed for that entire stretch. Then they played Corduroy/Once/RVM to close the set, first encore had Even Flow, Better Man and Porch and the second encore was Small Town/GTF/SOLAT/Black/Real Me/Alive/RITFW and she had the time of her life.  

How does your friend feel about Binaural now after time to reflect? Does she enjoy it or does she not really pay it much attention?

Just wondered. I would guess at the time she wasn't into it because she didn't know it. But after seeing PJ live, I always MUST get a copy of the show. If she did, she probably listened to it a lot, then gained a deeper appreciation for what she was there to witness.