*** Pearl Jam Camden, NJ Fanviews 9/14/22 ***

ceska

JH6056 said:

Get_Right said:

JH6056 said:

Get_Right said:

JH6056 said:

Thanks @kosteva2 & @Get_Right, these lists are great to read and hear about!

So which one is your all time favorite?  Not sure I could ever pick a number one.

My opinion doesn't count for much because I only saw '98 & '00 Philly/Camden shows. But Camden 1 in '98 is a personal favorite show for a whole bunch of reasons. Kills me, I had tix to what turned out to be the Ten show in '16 but I couldn't make it.

Your opinion counts! The tours of 1998-2006 have left indelible marks on me for live music. Personally the album shows have never moved the needle for me. I much prefer a set with a good flow and mix.  The Camden show had it!

Exactly, and I think for '98 show #1 it had been like 8 yrs since PJ had played Philly? It was a long time and a big deal. So big they even played Philadelphia Freedom LOL!  But the energy and the excitement from audience to band and band to audience was incredible.  And I don't know if there's ever been a louder "I just want to scream hello/my god it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return" it had to have been heard on the moon!

Night 1 1998 was my first show as well, and so of course I have a fondness for that set and for this venue. I attended three of the four shows in 2006 and 2008.. It was nice to be back after a long time away and to re-acclimate with the area. The neighborhood did not feel especially unsafe and now that I know the parking shit-show, I will be better prepared in the future.

I really enjoyed this show. On paper the setlist is better than MSG but in no way did it, or could it, match the energy and emotion I felt at MSG. And it didn't need to. These shows were a perfect pair. I had a good spot under a speaker stack on the lawn so it sounded great. The only negative were the people in front of us who smoked and talked incessantly. They left before the end of the main set, thankfully. Because it was a busy week at work for me, I could not arrive early like I prefer to. I left New York around 4:30pm and got home around 3:30am. I wasn't even really tired at all the whole drive home! Til next time = )

PS - Night 1 1998 also included Hard To Imagine, back when it was a genuine rarity! It also featured Off He Goes (my favorite song), and Leaving Here (covered by The Who/High Numbers - my favorite other band). Just a great set all around.

JH6056

ceska said:

JH6056 said:

Get_Right said:

JH6056 said:

Get_Right said:

JH6056 said:

Thanks @kosteva2 & @Get_Right, these lists are great to read and hear about!

So which one is your all time favorite?  Not sure I could ever pick a number one.

My opinion doesn't count for much because I only saw '98 & '00 Philly/Camden shows. But Camden 1 in '98 is a personal favorite show for a whole bunch of reasons. Kills me, I had tix to what turned out to be the Ten show in '16 but I couldn't make it.

Your opinion counts! The tours of 1998-2006 have left indelible marks on me for live music. Personally the album shows have never moved the needle for me. I much prefer a set with a good flow and mix.  The Camden show had it!

Exactly, and I think for '98 show #1 it had been like 8 yrs since PJ had played Philly? It was a long time and a big deal. So big they even played Philadelphia Freedom LOL!  But the energy and the excitement from audience to band and band to audience was incredible.  And I don't know if there's ever been a louder "I just want to scream hello/my god it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return" it had to have been heard on the moon!

Night 1 1998 was my first show as well, and so of course I have a fondness for that set and for this venue. I attended three of the four shows in 2006 and 2008.. It was nice to be back after a long time away and to re-acclimate with the area. The neighborhood did not feel especially unsafe and now that I know the parking shit-show, I will be better prepared in the future.

I really enjoyed this show. On paper the setlist is better than MSG but in no way did it, or could it, match the energy and emotion I felt at MSG. And it didn't need to. These shows were a perfect pair. I had a good spot under a speaker stack on the lawn so it sounded great. The only negative were the people in front of us who smoked and talked incessantly. They left before the end of the main set, thankfully. Because it was a busy week at work for me, I could not arrive early like I prefer to. I left New York around 4:30pm and got home around 3:30am. I wasn't even really tired at all the whole drive home! Til next time = )

PS - Night 1 1998 also included Hard To Imagine, back when it was a genuine rarity! It also featured Off He Goes (my favorite song), and Leaving Here (covered by The Who/High Numbers - my favorite other band). Just a great set all around.

Love your comments! And you named one of the specific reasons I hold Camden 1 '98 as my most favorite PJ show if I had to pick... That version of Leaving Here that they did, before they played it Ed dedicated it to me! There's video of what he says, he talks about going into the audience during Mudhoney's set and meeting a young woman "...and, well you know who you are, so you know what this means. Everyone else, this song is called "Leaving Here""  And as awesome as that moment was (and Leaving Here is one of my most favorite covers that they do, always was), there were even MORE reasons to love this show so much.  So yeah, that Leaving Here was super special to me too, thanks for calling it out!

ceska

Oh that is so awesome that Leaving Here was dedicated to you! I am going to dig out that CD now and listen to it.

Mikebkny78

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

JH6056

Mikebkny78 said:

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

Yeah, I always wonder how it goes later for those who see a kick-ass, incredible show for their 1st show. But keep going, you'll see other kick-ass shows eventually, PJ or other bands.  But yeah, I"d worry about the same!

Johnny Abruzzo

Mikebkny78 said:

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

Maybe, perhaps, possibly, one of my 12 shows has been something in the neighborhood of a "letdown". And the first one was with lottery-won 2nd row seats.

1STmammal2wearPants

Mikebkny78 said:

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

I hear you - I saw Mansfield, MA Show 3 in 2003 when they did the acoustic opener....for themselves, as part of three nights of no repeats. But this was by far up there, so go for sure haha

HesCalledDyer

Mikebkny78 said:

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

Keep going. My first show was "unbeatable" as well.  So was State College. First trip to Camden was.  Baltimore, the Wrigley shows all were. So was this one. And the great thing is, all the ones in between that I didn't mention were also freakin awesome! Keep going.

MakeUSmile

Mikebkny78 said:

This was my first show! Amazing setlist. I dont know if I want to go to another in fear of a letdown lol!

Absolutely keep it going. My first show was 9/29/96 Randall’s island.  Tough one to follow up for sure! But have seen so many great ones over the last 25 years!!

MakeUSmile

Took this from Camden pit with my iPhone 13 pro and edited on phone. As a family/newborn  photographer, it Amazes me how good of a picture a cellphone can take these days. 

steven87

MakeUSmile said:

Took this from Camden pit with my iPhone 13 pro and edited on phone. As a family/newborn  photographer, it Amazes me how good of a picture a cellphone can take these days. 

Incredible shot! Can’t wait for the boot to come out in a few weeks so I can relive this amazing show!

PM223785

I was pissed I missed the MSG show. Had to sell my tix because was overseas but what a set list! Also caught two picks from Mike. Almost a tambourine. Should of taken the ferry from Philly. Parking was ridiculous. We didn’t get out of the lot until 130am. Work was rough the next day but worth it! Probably top 5 show for me. Pit was great except for the guy who had his shirt off and the girl who screamed in my ear all night. 

100 Pacer

PM223785 said:

I was pissed I missed the MSG show. Had to sell my tix because was overseas but what a set list! Also caught two picks from Mike. Almost a tambourine. Should of taken the ferry from Philly. Parking was ridiculous. We didn’t get out of the lot until 130am. Work was rough the next day but worth it! Probably top 5 show for me. Pit was great except for the guy who had his shirt off and the girl who screamed in my ear all night. 

I was right next to you alongside that clearly delusional/over the top girl screaming like a drunk mess…felt bad for her husband. He turns to me at one, apologetically, telling me she’s a “big McCready fan” as if that explained her antisocial behaviour. Ironically during Inside Job she acted liked she didn’t even know the song.

bigbiggzy

THAT’S MY MOM!!

lastexitlondon

100 Pacer said:

PM223785 said:

I was pissed I missed the MSG show. Had to sell my tix because was overseas but what a set list! Also caught two picks from Mike. Almost a tambourine. Should of taken the ferry from Philly. Parking was ridiculous. We didn’t get out of the lot until 130am. Work was rough the next day but worth it! Probably top 5 show for me. Pit was great except for the guy who had his shirt off and the girl who screamed in my ear all night. 

I was right next to you alongside that clearly delusional/over the top girl screaming like a drunk mess…felt bad for her husband. He turns to me at one, apologetically, telling me she’s a “big McCready fan” as if that explained her antisocial behaviour. Ironically during Inside Job she acted liked she didn’t even know the song.

She wanted  picks my guess

ontheroad

The boot sounds incredible. Being there the crowd was awesome. Love how the recording does it justice. Also the outro of HTI is an all timer. 

wcadle

Great show, crowd was intense. Had good seats from tenclub. It seemed like Ed was a bit out of it. Like he just woke up or had Covid or something. The best part of the night was taking my 17 year old daughter to her first show. She really enjoyed it, singing, dancing. Good times. She's into a lot of music she hears me playing. I took her to her second show ever to see Sunny Day Real Estate 2 weeks after this show. Really cool.

ontheroad

I thought Ed was on fire this night. So engaged and pumped up. Had decent 10c seats. Found him almost mesmerizing at times. 

allstar340

Wanted some time to process this concert and listen back to give my full thoughts on how incredible this experience was. Drove from NYC to Camden early-ish in the day. Scored lawn tix through the 10 Club but got lucky through the fan to fan exchange and ended up in the lower seated section. Getting in to the parking lots was chaotic but once we were parked and in the venue it was an absolutely gorgeous night out. Our seats had an awesome view of the stage and awesome sound mix. 

Josh as an opener was more effective here than he was in NYC. The MSG set was disjointed and sloppy but here he sounded focused and great, with Mike helping out on a particularly cool version of Nutshell. 

The anticipation was building heavily by the time PJ came on stage. To say they came out on fire would be a massive understatement. Getting a Wash opener was really cool for me given that I hadn’t gotten the song in any of my previous 17 shows over the span of 14 years and the version played was one of those surreal moments that inspire me to see more. This was followed by my 2nd ever Oceans, having only seen this played in 2018 at the second night of the Home Shows. Daughter fit in the third slot and I was really hoping that the boys would bust into the full “It’s Ok” tag to give us another real treat early but they had a script they were sticking to clearly and followed up the frequently played jam with Hard To Imagine - one of my favorite rarities. This song holds a special place in my heart since it was the first song I ever heard the band play and I hadn’t heard it since that fateful moment at MSG in 2008. They really sounded awesome on the ending jam sequence here with Josh contributing extra instrumentation. This was followed by a killer version of Animal with the largest 2022 US crowd worked up into a frenzy singing along. The vibe around the venue was a bit chaotic as it can tend to be in Camden. This first 5 songs is one of the best I’ll ever see at a Pearl Jam show for sure.

MYM cooled things down for me (and I’m sure a portion of the crowd) as I tend to not be as big of a fan of the Lightning Bolt material. A well executed DTE picked everything right back up with the crowd once again singing along full throated. Deep followed and I thought it sounded incredible going into Interstellar / Corduroy which I was hoping to get at MSG and very glad to hear once again. I really love that interstellar jam pre-Corduroy and wish they would drag it out for minutes. Given To Fly with a Dr J dedication and “court as his floor” lyric rewrite followed which I enjoyed more than the version at MSG where Eddie got a little too excited and forgot the start of the second verse.

Enter the Gigaton material : I thought Quick Escape was one of the better Gigaton songs live when I first heard it at SHN. I was reminded how great it is hearing it again and was really thrilled to get Retrograde immediately after, which I hadn’t heard before and I think I like even more. The end jam of Retrograde after Eddie yells “IS THERE A CROWD” kicks ass and I don’t know how anyone could complain about this setlist location on the Gigaton tour.

The often played Even flow followed which gave me a chance to recenter myself for what was to follow. I really love Untitled/MFC and thought both were  great versions following Eddie’s anti mask/pro face speech - loved the U2 All I Want is You interpolation at the end of Untitled and thought the band really locked in during MFC shaking off Eddie trying (accidentally) to extend that first chorus. Not for You got underway with a rocky start with a hybrid lyric first verse but really picked up energy and emotion as it carried and ended with a heartfelt speech from Eddie and an awesome Modern Girl tag with the band playing some light accompaniment.

Who Ever Said is another Gigaton song I think translates live very well. This was followed by Mike ripping up Eruption in response to Eddie’s story of dreaming of a volcano in Philly, and solid versions of the staples Why Go and Porch (though I thought the versions from MSG outdid them in terms of the energy captured in the arena that night).

Just when I thought we were done getting treated to rarities and gems, the encore started with Inside Job - one of my favorite Avocado songs musically and lyrically and they really played an awesome version. How I choose to feel is how I am. Sounded like Mike was having some difficulty with feedback/distortion at the start but it really ended up sounding amazing. This went into high energy versions of SOLAT and Breath which both sounded great. Crazy Mary is another personal favorite and it was cool to see Boom get an extended solo in lieu of the usual McCready/Boom duel at the end. The crowd singing along to this and Leash immediately following was on point. I was pleasantly shocked to get such a late Leash and loved the energy from the crowd and band. The show closed with Alive and RITFW, two more staples - tried and true. 

Overall if you were asking me to rate it I’d give the show a solid 8 / weak 9 out of 10, one of the better shows that I have been to for sure. But I don’t know what else more I could ask for from these guys. I love the setlist variety and the sound of their current set up. Can’t wait for the next tour! 

ddeschler

Nice write up.  I think Ed yells "Is there a crowd?" to get a rise out of the crowd after the lyric "Could be thunder/Or a crowd."

Untitled, Modern Girl, and Inside Job really got me feeling emotional.  Probably the best show of the fall.