NEVER AGAIN?

mfc2006

I can definitely understand where the OP is coming from. I saw most of my PJ shows during the 98,00 and 03 tours. I didn't see them again until 09. My next shows were Portland, Spokane and Seattle in 13. Ohana will be my first show since Seattle 13. After driving all over the country when I was younger, I tend to take extended breaks from seeing PJ & that's fine with me. I still listen to them a ton & love their music, but have been hitting local shows by other bands/artists that I love. That being said, we are very excited for Ohana and I have no problem standing towards the back and wearing a mask. 

Merkin Baller

mcgruff10 said:

pthomn said:

getting old sucks

Yeah I definitely think that is a big part of it.  Also the combination of a big crowd, the pain in the ass parking, the long lines for everything and being in a GA crowd for the first time all adds to it.   I said to my wife last night, "how sad is it that I'm actually looking forward to shn being over."  She agreed with me.  

Hopefully I'll be more fired up with for the Spring arena tour.  

This is more or less where I'm at.

I hope to be ready for shows in the spring, and if not, oh well. 

on2legs

I’m excited for SHN.  I would prefer a PJ only show but the opportunity to see them the first show back is going to be great no matter what. 

As far as crowds go,  we had been very cautious with the pandemic since March of last year.  Going to the supermarket was a huge deal for us as we didn’t spend much time indoors anywhere.  I was very apprehensive about being in a crowd too.  But we kind of lost our minds and went to Disney World for 12 days last month.  That has cured my crowd phobia.  We are still super careful but my apprehension is gone.  

igotid88

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

WindowPaine

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

Right now i have no desire to go to ANY shows. covid is not a reason for me either. but yea pearl jam..no desire. like i said, maybe that will change someday. 

bbiggs

I wish my lack of interest/ excitement was due to reservations of being in crowds.  Oh well.  Maybe the rescheduled shows reel me back in.  I'd still enjoy watching these festivals on a live stream though.

Weston1283

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think the lack of communication or lack of new information and shows after long enough just ends up translating into a loss of interest for some, some of which might remain permanent 

mcgruff10

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

Weston1283

mcgruff10 said:

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

True.  I mean even for the new arena shows, itll
be 32-34 songs on a good night

Do I really want to continue to travel and spend that kind of $$ for 8 gigaton songs, the 10 every nighters, and up to 6-8 cover songs and MAYBE 1-2 deep cuts?

They are still one of the greatest bands at switching up the set there’s no doubt about that.  But from a hardcore fan perspective, the mentality of NEEDING to catch every show so you don’t miss that ONE rare moment has quickly faded

Play the Gorge, play Red Rocks or some other venue that fans have been wanting for years.  PLEASE do something other than arenas and the same 3 baseball stadiums to get us excited again. 

Merkin Baller

mcgruff10 said:

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

 

Agreed. 

SVRDhand13

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

 

Agreed. 

I've noticed this too but I'm way too excited to hear Gigaton debuts to care about that right now

I will admit that Fenway 2018 did not have the same feeling as all my other previous shows (crowd cared more about merch, WAY too much talking from EV, weird ass covers lol, decent sets...)

MayDay10

I get where people are coming from.  At this point, I am as disengaged as a fan than any other time since I became a fan.

A big part of it is probably not seeing them live for 3 years.  My last experience was Wrigley shows in 2018, and I really didnt enjoy the whole stadium tour trend with them.

I have broadened my musical palette quite a bit over the past few years and really dig a lot of lesser known/popular acts who all seem(ed) to tour perpetually.  Smaller venues, smaller crowds, and cheaper.  

The merch thing bucked me off a few years ago.  A bit of over-saturation on everything for my liking.  I get why they do it, and I wont begrudge anyone who collects it all.  But I cannot possibly wear a new Pearl Jam shirt as a 43 year old man.  They should really start to sell/market bluray and/or digital shows.  I see they have been doing some sort of events on that bootleg provider, but I havent gotten into it.

Spiritual_Chaos

Eddie talking too long about whatever his wine-affected brains tell him to talk about > Him swinging on a specially constructed lamp at the same moment during Porch at every show.

ANY 

DAY

OF

THE

WEEK

And yes, spoiled an all that - but switch up the last Encore.

PJNB

I have been excited for Ohana for months now. I am traveling from as far across the continent as you can get and am counting down the days until our trip. The fire is there for me for sure and hope you guys find it again!

JimmyV

Fully plan to buy all four Fall 21 bootlegs if they go onsale. That will get me fired up. I love the live recordings. 

igotid88

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think the lack of communication or lack of new information and shows after long enough just ends up translating into a loss of interest for some, some of which might remain permanent 

Foo Fighters play the same thing and say the same thing. I'm sure it's a good show. 
Maybe you're hesitant about Pearl Jam because it's a festival show and not a proper show? I mean they put out a great album recently and put on great shows. It can't be the ticket prices. Because I barely make any money and I can still afford a show or 2.

Merkin Baller

SVRDhand13 said:

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

 

Agreed. 

I've noticed this too but I'm way too excited to hear Gigaton debuts to care about that right now

I will admit that Fenway 2018 did not have the same feeling as all my other previous shows (crowd cared more about merch, WAY too much talking from EV, weird ass covers lol, decent sets...)

Fenway '18 were fun nights, but definitely not what they were bringing to the table in 2014 or 2016.

I'm not done seeing PJ, but I might be done traveling for them. 

curmudgeoness

While OP mentions feeling this way since 2018, it seems like a lot of people are feeling this way due to the pandemic or just getting older. We sat at home for over a year, going only to the grocery store (didn't even see our kids), and now, on one hand we desperately want some sort of return to normal, and on the other hand we've determined that we just don't like being around other people all that much. Last weekend, we went to the mall for the first time in 18 months, and had we not been mattress shopping I'd have stayed home to shop online. We've all forgotten how to be in public, how to be around others.

And I'm tired. Is it my age? Is it just cumulative stress? (in addition to the pandemic, we've moved across the country TWICE since those 2018 Fenway shows) I don't know.

Unlike OP, my apathy extends to concerts in general. While I initially had seized upon our empty-nest years as an opportunity to go do all the things we couldn't do for so long, now I am taking a hard look at all options, being more selective, weighing decisions against our stated priorities. If an artist's music isn't burned into my internal playlist and playing on endless loop, I'm not inclined to make an effort to go see them.

That said, we have tickets for both Ohana weekends; we'll see how we feel after five days of live music and huge crowds.

Weston1283

Also, I know that they like to keep things private or whatever 

But how pumped did you all get when the rumor threads started rolling and Dimi was allowed to drop us hints?

That honestly got me more excited than anything



I think we just need more “fun” as fans to be honest. 

 Like others have said, we’re to the point where we pretty much know what’s coming from PJ

PJ shows >>> Foo Fighters shows and it’s not close

But The Foos relationship with their fans and their ability to get the excitement going is way ahead of PJ

bbiggs

Pearl Jam seems to have less enthusiasm to be a band, play shows, etc. so it is only fitting that some of the fans' enthusiasm has dwindled as well.

PJNB

Merkin Baller said:

SVRDhand13 said:

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

Weston1283 said:

igotid88 said:

Is it only Pearl Jam or all artists?

For me it’s sadly only Pearl Jam related

Foo Fighters at MSG was one of the most memorable shows I’ve been to recently, and I’m literally counting the days until my TwentyOne Pilots shows hit

SHN and Encore?  Yeah they’ll be cool but I’m just no where near as stoked as I’ve been in the past and I’m not sure why

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of shows we've seen over the years.  PJ switches up the set list but not as much as a band like Phish or DMB. The tags have been the same for years now, the second set is pretty much stagnant, the jams again are pretty much the same now for years and many songs do get carried over from night to night.  

 

Agreed. 

I've noticed this too but I'm way too excited to hear Gigaton debuts to care about that right now

I will admit that Fenway 2018 did not have the same feeling as all my other previous shows (crowd cared more about merch, WAY too much talking from EV, weird ass covers lol, decent sets...)

Fenway '18 were fun nights, but definitely not what they were bringing to the table in 2014 or 2016.

I'm not done seeing PJ, but I might be done traveling for them. 

There were plenty of shows in 2018 that are comparable to 2014 and 2016 runs but their number of songs played per show average had to of been way down compared to previous tours. Fenway 18 were surprisingly shorter sets for ballpark shows from the band and I am hoping that trend does not continue in the future especially if they are playing 8 Gigaton songs a night next spring. I mean we are only talking about 5 extra songs here but sometimes that makes the difference in sets with variety and gems played. 

Just curious if you would be saying the same thing if you saw Seattle 2 18 do you think? 

Weston1283

bbiggs said:

Pearl Jam seems to have less enthusiasm to be a band, play shows, etc. so it is only fitting that some of the fans' enthusiasm has dwindled as well.

My next point was going to be maybe one or more of the band members just doesn’t have it in them anymore and their lack of interest is bringing the rest of the group down

Would not shock me if we eventually heard that Pearl Jam became more of a chore than a band to one of the members

raindog80

Alright, bye bye. 

NDJeff7

I was at both Fenway shows, and while I definitely enjoyed them and had a blast, the sets were only so-so. The big downer for me at least was that everyone knew there was a hard 10:30pm curfew, but both nights they waited forever to come on. That led to songs scratched and an overall vibe of things being rushed. It was great being in CF at Fenway for a couple nights, but I'd prefer an arena any day of the week.

PJNB

NDJeff7 said:

I was at both Fenway shows, and while I definitely enjoyed them and had a blast, the sets were only so-so. The big downer for me at least was that everyone knew there was a hard 10:30pm curfew, but both nights they waited forever to come on. That led to songs scratched and an overall vibe of things being rushed. It was great being in CF at Fenway for a couple nights, but I'd prefer an arena any day of the week.

Exactly! And the fact a lot of the songs that were scratched for night 1 I was ok with to be honest but they actually carried them over for night 2 if I remember correctly. Took a bit of the fun out of night 2 for sure and of course that damn Dirty Frank blue ball tease. 

NDJeff7

I was a little salty over Sonic Reducer getting scratched night 1 and then never making it onto night 2. Been seeing shows since '94 and that's one that I've never caught live.

jimjam1982

I was starting to feel this way about live music in general after the last year of not going to shows.  However, I just went to the Green Day and Weezer show in LA. I am definitely not a super fan of either band and wasn't excited about it going in.  Really just went to visit some friends. Once the show started; both were great live. We had a phenomenal time and really got into it.  It kind of gave me that charge to go see the bands I love again.  Really pumped me up for SHN and Ohana when I wasn't as excited before my warmup concert.

lastexitlondon

cp3iverson said:

Im definitely done with big crowds (concerts/sports) for a while.  Delta is terrible.  

Things change.  Times change.  I used to not sleep for days before seeing Pj.   Maybe it’ll be like that again in 22 or 23.   

Same

Matts3221

WindowPaine said:

Zod said:

Out of context, what concerts would go you go see?

I found PJ tickets were still on the cheaper end compared to their peers (Veteran rock acts who can sell out Arena/Stadiums).   The whole industry (prior to Covid) was experience skyrocketing ticket costs.   PJ's prices went up, but not near as much as some other bands.  What I paid to see GNR and the Stones was ludicrous

PJ are the only band i'd go see in an arena/stadium. I don't know why i give them a pass but i wouldn't see anyone else somewhere that holds more than maybe 2000-3000 people. i want to SEE the band, not a sea of people. 

Same , I would never want to see a band in a Boston venue any larger than House Of Blues and I would prefer something smaller like The Sinclair , Middle East Downstairs or Paradise. I give PJ a pass on those but they are the only band I do that with.

lastexitlondon

Weston1283 said:

Also, I know that they like to keep things private or whatever 

But how pumped did you all get when the rumor threads started rolling and Dimi was allowed to drop us hints?

That honestly got me more excited than anything



I think we just need more “fun” as fans to be honest. 

 Like others have said, we’re to the point where we pretty much know what’s coming from PJ

PJ shows >>> Foo Fighters shows and it’s not close

But The Foos relationship with their fans and their ability to get the excitement going is way ahead of PJ

Mate  dimi is just like you and me. A fan. "Allowed to drop hints "? By who?
He is a normal  man