Which bootlegs are you listening to right now?

Berlin 2 2012

The show kicks off in bright fashion with Oceans, and Jeff's bass and Matt's drums sound profound. The energy gets pounding next with Breakerfall, which is always welcomed early on in any set and it's a brutal combo following Oceans to start a show. Also the only time it's played in 2012. We can tell early on that Ed's voice is a little off and he's struggling a tad from the show the night before with some early cracks, pops, and shrieks - but he does recover a little later on. It doesn't let up with Animal and Save You played one right after another like rapid fire, with a strong version of In Hiding to follow - certainly a lot of energy to get things going and a great sequence of opening 5 songs to start the show. Another more "self reflective" song is next with Elderly Woman to keep the crowd's singing voices in good shape after In Hiding, and then Corduroy follows to bring the tempo back up - which is always a great combination and almost makes it feel like the show is starting over again. Before Corduroy, they play a kind of cool improvised jam that sounds good going into the intro to Corduroy, almost sounding like an Interstellar Overdrive prelude. A nice Amongst The Waves is next followed by a more bluesy than usual Even Flow thanks to Stone and Mike. The Mike McCready tribute continues with the Eruption solo played for the first time ever. It's a fantastic interlude into the guitar intro to Sad which is played next, which makes its only appearance of 2012. Not For You followed by Present Tense and Mike butchers the intro to the song and they have to start over. Down then makes a nice appearance and one that I always welcome in any set. Ed talks about the local Ramones museum in Berlin and naturally plays Come Back dedicated to Johnny Ramone. It's a very strong version of the song and it's always a song that gives me goose bumps when I hear it, and it also offers a nice break up between the up-tempo songs played before and after it in the set. Hail Hail and Go provide a nice combo to close out a fantastic main set. Love the way the main set flows and is essentially very tight. A very well orchestrated main set by Ed.

The first encore begins with a beautiful version of Mother, which Ed has a very slight timing issues early on that is barely noticeable. A strong performance nonetheless, and is followed by the staple first encore Just Breathe. The mellow acoustic continues with a beautifully warm version of Nothingman. Ed's voice sounds really good and soars here on these first slow songs in the encore. The double dose of the "man" sequence continues with Better Man, which Ed doesn't completely let the crowd take any of the first two verses of the song and sings it himself, which is unique and doesn't happen often. Also no tag on here on Better Man, which is rather unique. Boom gets a nice introduction and Ed gives a warm speech about this being their 999th show and being hard to believe, and how much they have enjoyed playing in Berlin over the span of their career before going into Wasted Reprise. No surprise that Life Wasted is next, and is a very enjoyable version featuring some crunch on the guitars and more crisp drums from Matt, as well as a more extended guitar solo throughout the jam session at the end of the song. As always, Porch brings a great encore to a close in stellar fashion.

Blood makes a welcomed appearance opening the second encore in grand fashion, and Ed's vocals continue to be strong this late in the show. The standard Alive - Baba - Ledbetter trio closes out another good show in Berlin, with Ed introducing Mike as Mikey Van Halen and "this is how we say good night, until we meet again."

Yet another solid show in Berlin, which always seems to be the case for PJ. A very good two-night show there where they always bring their A game. I would probably rank this one just a tad lower than the Berlin 1 boot, but not by much. I thought the set was a little more cohesive for the first night, and just a tad tighter. Still an extremely tight performance by the band all around. and another high energy show with a great flowing set list. Definitely a recommended boot and one that is going to be flirting with my top 5 boots of 2012 when it's all said and done.

Which boot to listen too?......

boyo79 said:

Which boot to listen too?......

Stunningly beautiful. So when are you are you going to go through the marathon and the entire 2000 from start to finish? I think our blog cold definitely use some more solid reviews from 2000 my friend.

Newch91 said:

boyo79 said:

Which boot to listen too?......

Is it just me or do your boots look bigger than CDs? It looks like you have all your boots on vinyl.

All on vinyl would be *drools*. And very expensive!!!!!

YLed2 said:

Stunningly beautiful. So when are you are you going to go through the marathon and the entire 2000 from start to finish? I think our blog cold definitely use some more solid reviews from 2000 my friend.

This year! US leg 2 '03 or Canada '11 will be next because I've not listened to them. But I do wanna go through the 2000 tour again and review them all!!!

23scidoo said:

You kidding man..

Still a few missing - 3 from SA '11, 6 from 2012 and Brooklyn II onwards for what has been released from 2013 so far. I'm waiting on 12 boots to arrive from Nugs that I've ordered in the last 6 weeks!

Dublin 2000

Oakland, 11-14-1997

Starting on boots #38 to #73 of the 2003 tour today. 35 boots in all, it's gonna be some ride over the next month or so!

Missoula '03

Can't Keep opens the show and the 3rd leg of the Riot Act tour. Some extra guitar and drums towards the end is pretty cool. Ed greets the crowd straightaway, as I think there is a guitar problem. Ed tells the crowd this is the longest stretch on a tour they've attempted since the early days. Once everything is back up and working they launch into Last Exit. This starts off a very good (and high tempo) sequence of 8 songs - Last Exit/Evolution/Save You/Ghost/Insignificance/Cropduster/Even Flow/Grievance. Wishlist takes us mid-tempo briefly, Ed forgets a line towards the end but the outro is extended and pretty cool. Not For You starts off slow, the guitars and bass sounding dirty and Ed's voice sounds strained but in a good way. It all adds to being great. The end of the song has the little guitar melody that's on the studio version, it would be cool if every now and again they'd still do that. The high tempo does not relent with Whipping, Corduroy and Brain Of J, a few errors blot the latter. It's an anthemic end to a superb main set with Black, Betterman and Porch.

The beginning of the first encore can be considered 'round the camp-fire' with Small Town, Daughter and Crazy Mary. All are incredibly slow-paced and on Daughter it is especially noted the difference in pace they play nowadays compared to 10 years ago or so. Following Glorified G, Ed tells the crowd are they up for some experimenting? He then says the next song is one of their favourites from Riot Act but he didn't feel comfortable playing it in bigger venues and Missoula just might be ideal. Ed is of course talking about All Or None and it's a splendid version. A storming Blood ends the encore.

The second encore begins by playing Last Kiss to the crowd behind the stage. After talking to the crowd about a 'local issue', the guys resume with Know Your Rights. Alive is next and closes the second encore. The mix on Jeff's bass here is far too high - it's always good to hear but it's too prominent here.

Ed returns for a third encore, beginning with a cover of Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down; lovely performance and the crowd of 7000 singing along is fantastic. It is also the first time the song has been played since Louisville in 1994. Another cover is next, Fortunate Son. Yellow Ledbetter is the final song of the show.

Superb opening show of this leg of the tour, clocking in just over 2 and half hours. An instant classic!

Ljubljana 2000
The show gets off to an immediate rocky start with Ed forgetting much of the lyrics to Corduroy, especially the chunk right before Mike’s solo. It’s certainly noticeable and distracting. Being the opening song of the evening does not make it easy to digest. So does the show redeem itself in the end? Let’s see. Breakerfall is next and fortunately it sounds mostly spot on. Matt’s changing of cymbals during the intro of Hail, Hail is kind of awkward to me as a drummer, but to most listeners it won’t be an issue. Stone’s rhythms sound extra funky in Animal, so much groove in there. Brain of J makes a very rare appearance and is easily the highlight of these first 5 songs that were not all that spectacular. The Yield rocker sounds powerful and energetic; the entire band puts forth their best effort on that one. Faithfull follows just as it does on the studio album. It’s a decent version, nothing too noteworthy really. Light Years makes for an easy transitional flow coming out of Faithfull. Some loud feedback from Ed’s mic is distracting during the first verse and chorus of MFC. The band seemed to have this issue much more in 2000 than any other tour I’ve noticed on these official boots. Something sounds off in Habit, almost like the guitars are too low in the mix or maybe out of tune. Ed’s mic feedback is still somewhat present too unfortunately. The end jam of Habit is nothing to leave one in awe either. Stone’s guitar tone on GTF is ear candy. STBC and Red Mosquito are quality versions. In terms of setlist flow however, Habit-NAIS-GTF-STBC-Red Mosquito-Black feels so strange to me (in a bad way). I couldn’t get a feel for that section of songs. Ed sounds almost uninterested in Black. It’s not a bad vocal take, but doesn’t feel up to his typical standard and some parts sounded flat. Mike is spot on though. More sound issues plague Insignificance in feedback from Ed’s mic. Ed’s guitar work is off a time or two in I Got Shit. Wishlist sounds too sluggish and Ed slightly messes up the lyrics. He does the same in DTE, fumbling the lyrics again. Matt has issues in DTE too. He comes so close to getting off time and his snare significantly loses volume towards the end of the song. His faded and weak snare tone continues in the intro and first verse of Alive sadly. It’s like the mic was pushed too far away. During the verse you can hear him adjusting it, slightly affecting his performance. By the time the chorus comes, it’s fixed. That concludes the main set, which is close to a minor tragedy.

A respectable Last Kiss starts the first encore. Betterman has more of the microphone feedback and squeal. Sleight of Hand is one of the few highlights from this gig, sounding strong and haunting alike. Daughter makes a late show appearance to good effect. The same can be said for a decent RVM. Ed’s vocals once again sound flat and lifeless to me on much of Porch, which rarely occurs. The second encore contains Soon Forget and Indifference. No surprise, Ed slightly messes up Soon Forget lyrically. The crowd loves Indifference, loud singing and clapping to the somber beat; ending a rough show on a bright note at least.

This bootleg certainly has a lot of shortcomings. Some were clearly out of the band’s control, the sound/technical issues for example. Feedback nears its ugly head often on this boot. The performance is below average and frequently feels sloppy. Ed in particular struggled, and Matt was having some technical issues as well. To top it off, the setlist flow is awkward and hard to follow at times. I can say this is one of my least favorites from Euro 00. If you are looking for a wonderful Euro 2000 bootleg there are many other better options available. Lisbon, Barcelona, Oslo, Praha, Milan, Berlin, Katowice 2, Cardiff and several others for example, are much better representations.

Toronto 1 2011. Faithful is a damn good song. There are reports by fans that dimitris fell asleep during nais . Smh. Could this version of ritfw be the longest live pj song ever?

Pittsburgh '13