A conscious decision to play live songs closer to the studio versions?

RiotZact

This has been mentioned in various Sea.Hear.Now threads so I thought it warranted it’s own discussion. 

It was just one show, but it seems that the band made an obvious attempt at slowing down some of the songs, or even making other small changes that made songs sound closer to their studio versions. Which may have played a small part in the setlist only being 20 songs. 

Here is a short list of some of the things that have been noted by myself and others:

Corduroy - slightly slower than normal AND Matt played the drums at the beginning more on par with the studio version than he usually does 

Present Tense - noticeably slower than recent history

Even Flow - slower than some of the most recent versions, but I personally think people are exaggerating this one a bit. It might be a tick slower, but nothing drastic from what I could tell

Daughter - slower than usual AND the W.M.A. tag was much more encompassing than it usually is

Given to Fly - noticeably slower than recent history

Porch - no extended intro, Eddie still playing guitar, but he ripped right into “what the fuck is this world…” 

Anything else?

I am somewhat of a song chaser, so it does sting a little bit seeing some of those songs that got cut (especially Light Years). But with that being said, I did enjoy several of these songs much more than I usually do because of these changes. 

Thoughts?

F Me In The Brain

I did not go to, nor listen to, the show so I can only comment in general -- and ignorant to what the changes sounded like.

In general, I prefer them to play the songs faster.  There are a few reasons, but mostly because I like to rock out.

Will still love seeing them live but I was one of the (few?) folks loving that they rocked shit out in a different manner than on the records.

SomethingCreative

Very happy to hear this.  State of love and trust, given to fly, and present tense suffer when played at warp speed.  It probably stemmed from being off for so long and actually listening to the tracks more during rehearsals.

cp3iverson

They sounded so much better at Sea Hear Now.  I don’t think it really affected the ability to play more songs tho.  They fixed 3 or 4 songs.  So maybe you lose 4 minutes at the most with the 1.5x speed slowed down to 1.   You could say if they just talked less you’d gain that back too but talking helps them pace themselves.  

2-feign-reluctance

The real answer will come once they play more than a couple of shows. To me it just sounds like they were easing into playing live for the first time in years. 

jimjam1982

That was the slowest I have heard GTF since 2000,  and it kind of bombed for me. Speed it up. 

All the rest were really cool/perfect tempo. I like the 2018 versions of Corduroy with EV getting the crowd into it in the middle.

I don't want the live shows to just turn into studio albums in person.  Part of the fun is how they make it different live.

PT and Daughter are much better slowed down just due to the type of songs they are.

BrainofBGA

I thought Jeff said in an interview recently that they were thinking about / he was hoping they’d slow the songs down to a more album like tempo. I think it’s a conscious decision. Maybe after Ohana we’ll have a bit more evidence to go by. 

Spiritual_Chaos

Guns N Roses slowed down their songs this very tour more to the speed of the albums, and people theorized it had to do with Axl's voice/singing.

Nothing beats the State of Love and Trust from Milan 2006 (on Immagine in Cornice) that goes by at like 300% speed.

tschav

2-feign-reluctance said:

The real answer will come once they play more than a couple of shows. To me it just sounds like they were easing into playing live for the first time in years. 

I'm guessing Spring Tour or even if Ohana Encore has longer sets we'll see them pack in the # of songs and speed things up a little.

cp3iverson

Given to Fly needs to be at 1997 pace.  

Even flow can stay fast but it doesn’t bug me as much

BrainofBGA

I like some of the songs with a quicker tempo for sure but SOLAT is one that is played way too fast. Listen to a gem from Melbourne ‘98 and you forget how great it is live. Lately it has been way too fast. 

mcgruff10

It definitely built up over time but mike's solo during porch was very slow at first.  Lots of slow bends started things off.  I loved it. 

vedpunk

I believe it's less about slowing down the songs and more about bringing the groove back.  Early on in their career, songs like Even Flow, GTF and SOLAT were all songs you could bob your head to and jam out to the groove. Love that they may be consciously going back to that delivery and flow.  That's what many fans were originally drawn to back in the early days.  

Ledbetterman10

Definitely seemed like a conscious decision. It was very evident in Even Flow. I like it. 

Go Animal

vedpunk said:

I believe it's less about slowing down the songs and more about bringing the groove back.  Early on in their career, songs like Even Flow, GTF and SOLAT were all songs you could bob your head to and jam out to the groove. Love that they may be consciously going back to that delivery and flow.  That's what many fans were originally drawn to back in the early days.  

Bingo. #BringThatGrooveBack

OceansJenny

I honestly didn’t notice. Still the same style it’s been played for the past 21 years even if slower.

SOLAT is killer studio and flat live (today) in comparison IMHO. Their style has changed since the early days. I love the grungier, groovier sound of those early tracks but it hasn’t sounded like that in a long long time.

RiotZact

OceansJenny said:

I honestly didn’t notice. Still the same style it’s been played for the past 21 years even if slower.

I honestly didn’t notice it at the show either. It wasn’t until I saw people comment about it on here and watched some of the songs on YouTube. 

2-feign-reluctance

cp3iverson said:

Given to Fly needs to be at 1997 pace.  

Even flow can stay fast but it doesn’t bug me as much

SpeedyFlow, of what I don't wanna know...

PJammer4life

Playing along with the albums at home rather than the band seems a possibility for a change in tempo. 

OceansJenny

PJammer4life said:

Playing along with the albums at home rather than the band seems a possibility for a change in tempo. 

Honestly don’t drums set the tempo? So is this a Matt thing?

2-feign-reluctance

PJammer4life said:

Playing along with the albums at home rather than the band seems a possibility for a change in tempo. 

They rehearsed though, in person ahead of SHN. 

Spiritual_Chaos

Remember when that one dude asked Matt Cameron on Pearl Jam radio to slow down the songs, and  he got scolded on here for his audacity?

Well, now 10 years later - I guess that dude won.

https://youtu.be/iuCbb-0Q-3w

SVRDhand13

Thank god Given to Fly is being slowed down 

studio version is miles better than rushed live versions 

2-feign-reluctance

SVRDhand13 said:

Thank god Given to Fly is being slowed down 

studio version is miles better than rushed live versions 

1998 live though....SO good!!! 

Spiritual_Chaos

Thank god for Jeff Ament. 

I hope we see even more changes than songs being slowed down and Matt changing up his drumming. 

I hope they also change up the setlist structure. Change up that last encore a bit.

nicknyr15

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Remember when that one dude asked Matt Cameron on Pearl Jam radio to slow down the songs, and  he got scolded on here for his audacity?

Well, now 10 years later - I guess that dude won.

https://youtu.be/iuCbb-0Q-3w

If you think MC dictates the tempos and EV just goes a long with it, then you’re nuts. This was a conscious decision by EV or someone in the band. I’ve said this since the night of the night of the show. 

JimmyV

nicknyr15 said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Remember when that one dude asked Matt Cameron on Pearl Jam radio to slow down the songs, and  he got scolded on here for his audacity?

Well, now 10 years later - I guess that dude won.

https://youtu.be/iuCbb-0Q-3w

If you think MC dictates the tempos and EV just goes a long with it, then you’re nuts. This was a conscious decision by EV or someone in the band. I’ve said this since the night of the night of the show. 

Someone in the band...like Matt Cameron?

F Me In The Brain

strilo

Or it could just have been a joint decision by the band. Someone brought it up, maybe several of them had similar thoughts. Then they talked it out as a band and agreed. 

nicknyr15

JimmyV said:

nicknyr15 said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Remember when that one dude asked Matt Cameron on Pearl Jam radio to slow down the songs, and  he got scolded on here for his audacity?

Well, now 10 years later - I guess that dude won.

https://youtu.be/iuCbb-0Q-3w

If you think MC dictates the tempos and EV just goes a long with it, then you’re nuts. This was a conscious decision by EV or someone in the band. I’ve said this since the night of the night of the show. 

Someone in the band...like Matt Cameron?

No way. MC doesn’t drive the band. MC could play any tempo and any time signature. He’s there to play however EV feels comfortable. Obviously this is my opinion but we all who’s in charge 

BrainofBGA

strilo said:

Or it could just have been a joint decision by the band. Someone brought it up, maybe several of them had similar thoughts. Then they talked it out as a band and agreed. 

Probably this. Simple.