Want do you think is the best and worst decision the band has made over their career?

13567…14

Comments

  • BrainofBGA
    BrainofBGA Australia Posts: 4,567
    Best: staying together and being a band for so long. Some tough decisions around 93-98 helped keep the band together. And I’m sure some tough decisions since then have helped along the way. 

    worst: some of the above choices. In isolation some of these decisions are perplexing! Put them all together over a period of time and they all make sense. 
    Melbourne #1 '98
    Melbourne #2 '03
    Melbourne #3 '03
    Melbourne #1 '06
    Melbourne #3 '06
    Melbourne '09
    Melbourne '14
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,676
    KV4053 said:
    OceansJenny said:
    Best: allowing themselves space to evolve and try new sounds/styles.
    Worst: Ed’s decision to smoke (hurting the instrument). And some of the vocal shredding screams in the mid/late 90s. Sorry. But he has the right to do whatever he wants. 🤷🏼‍♀️

    Honorable mention: speeding up the old songs and losing the “jam”. More like Pearl Punk these days.
    Your honorable mention has reverted back to album speed
    We’ll have to see if that stick. 
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • OceansJenny
    OceansJenny Manhattan, NY Posts: 3,411
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    KV4053 said:
    OceansJenny said:
    Best: allowing themselves space to evolve and try new sounds/styles.
    Worst: Ed’s decision to smoke (hurting the instrument). And some of the vocal shredding screams in the mid/late 90s. Sorry. But he has the right to do whatever he wants. 🤷🏼‍♀️

    Honorable mention: speeding up the old songs and losing the “jam”. More like Pearl Punk these days.
    Your honorable mention has reverted back to album speed
    We’ll have to see if that stick. 
    When have they done album speed lately? 
    DC '03 - Reading '04 - Philly '05 - Camden 1 '06 - DC '06 - E. Rutherford '06 - The Vic '07 - Lollapalooza '07 - DC '08 - EV DC 1 & 2 '08 (Met Ed!!) - EV Baltimore 1 & 2 '09 - EV NYC 1 '11 (Met Ed!) - Hartford '13 - GCF '15 - MSG 2 '16 - TOTD MSG '16 - Boston 1 & 2 '18 - SHN '21 - EV NYC 1 & 2 '22 - MSG '22
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,676
    OceansJenny said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    KV4053 said:
    OceansJenny said:
    Best: allowing themselves space to evolve and try new sounds/styles.
    Worst: Ed’s decision to smoke (hurting the instrument). And some of the vocal shredding screams in the mid/late 90s. Sorry. But he has the right to do whatever he wants. 🤷🏼‍♀️

    Honorable mention: speeding up the old songs and losing the “jam”. More like Pearl Punk these days.
    Your honorable mention has reverted back to album speed
    We’ll have to see if that stick. 
    When have they done album speed lately? 
    Given to Fly and Evenflow was slowed down at that festival they played in New Jersey. Seems by what KV4053 writes that, that was kept for Ohana to.
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • THEBIBLEISTEN
    THEBIBLEISTEN Posts: 2,025
    HughFreakingDillon said:
    Best: the live show
    Worst: thinking Canada was just Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto between 1993 and 2005
    Didn’t they do a full Canadian tour in 2005? 
  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Posts: 40,129
    yes, that's why i said "between". 
    Your boos mean nothing to me, for I have seen what makes you cheer



  • drfox
    drfox Posts: 1,510
    Best - the live show experience with different set lists

    Worst - for me personally, the lack of U.K. shows. We haven’t had a proper tour since 2000 when all other large US bands always play 5-10 U.K. dates every 2-3 years
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 10,362

    Best: Pullback/Ticketmaster battle - Culled the fanbase, doubled down on their indie sensibilities, both which fueled passionate fandom which sustained them for another 2 decades. 

    Worst: complacent with their sound/output between 2005 and 2020 
  • OceansJenny
    OceansJenny Manhattan, NY Posts: 3,411
    edited January 2022
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    OceansJenny said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    KV4053 said:
    OceansJenny said:
    Best: allowing themselves space to evolve and try new sounds/styles.
    Worst: Ed’s decision to smoke (hurting the instrument). And some of the vocal shredding screams in the mid/late 90s. Sorry. But he has the right to do whatever he wants. 🤷🏼‍♀️

    Honorable mention: speeding up the old songs and losing the “jam”. More like Pearl Punk these days.
    Your honorable mention has reverted back to album speed
    We’ll have to see if that stick. 
    When have they done album speed lately? 
    Given to Fly and Evenflow was slowed down at that festival they played in New Jersey. Seems by what KV4053 writes that, that was kept for Ohana to.
    SHN might have been a step slower but not even close to album for either of those songs. GTF a step faster is fine. Even Flow is too fast. SOLAT is a ghost of its former self.
    DC '03 - Reading '04 - Philly '05 - Camden 1 '06 - DC '06 - E. Rutherford '06 - The Vic '07 - Lollapalooza '07 - DC '08 - EV DC 1 & 2 '08 (Met Ed!!) - EV Baltimore 1 & 2 '09 - EV NYC 1 '11 (Met Ed!) - Hartford '13 - GCF '15 - MSG 2 '16 - TOTD MSG '16 - Boston 1 & 2 '18 - SHN '21 - EV NYC 1 & 2 '22 - MSG '22
  • bootleg
    bootleg Posts: 1,211
    Best: Staying together this whole time.  Most bands don’t last.  We’re incredibly lucky they’re still going strong.

    Worst: Not coming up with an album title for Self Titled/Pearl Jam/ Avacodo.  This one still bothers me for some reason.
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,676
    OceansJenny said:
    . SOLAT is a ghost of its former self.
    Well, I mean they have taken a step back from this speed, have they not? :)


    https://youtu.be/4mfF-bkDAtY

    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • ten-vs-vitalogy
    ten-vs-vitalogy Posts: 219
    Best: Varied setlists and official boots. 

    Worst: Fan club communication. I also think charging people to watch a couple of old shows during the pandemic was really poor form. I can understand it a little bit if the crew got paid but if you want to do that, do what metallica did - a free live show video every week and then do a one off live show you charge for. they were one of the heroes of the pandemic in how they treated their fans. Not playing Ireland in 12 years.
  • OceansJenny
    OceansJenny Manhattan, NY Posts: 3,411
    bootleg said:
    Best: Staying together this whole time.  Most bands don’t last.  We’re incredibly lucky they’re still going strong.

    Worst: Not coming up with an album title for Self Titled/Pearl Jam/ Avacodo.  This one still bothers me for some reason.
    I think Self Titled was purposeful. I interpreted it as a reinvention, “this is us” sort of statement. The second coming of Pearl Jam - I believe is what Rolling Stone used.
    DC '03 - Reading '04 - Philly '05 - Camden 1 '06 - DC '06 - E. Rutherford '06 - The Vic '07 - Lollapalooza '07 - DC '08 - EV DC 1 & 2 '08 (Met Ed!!) - EV Baltimore 1 & 2 '09 - EV NYC 1 '11 (Met Ed!) - Hartford '13 - GCF '15 - MSG 2 '16 - TOTD MSG '16 - Boston 1 & 2 '18 - SHN '21 - EV NYC 1 & 2 '22 - MSG '22
  • OceansJenny
    OceansJenny Manhattan, NY Posts: 3,411
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    OceansJenny said:
    . SOLAT is a ghost of its former self.
    Well, I mean they have taken a step back from this speed, have they not? :)


    https://youtu.be/4mfF-bkDAtY

    Oh man what is that!! Yes they at least took a step back from that. 
    DC '03 - Reading '04 - Philly '05 - Camden 1 '06 - DC '06 - E. Rutherford '06 - The Vic '07 - Lollapalooza '07 - DC '08 - EV DC 1 & 2 '08 (Met Ed!!) - EV Baltimore 1 & 2 '09 - EV NYC 1 '11 (Met Ed!) - Hartford '13 - GCF '15 - MSG 2 '16 - TOTD MSG '16 - Boston 1 & 2 '18 - SHN '21 - EV NYC 1 & 2 '22 - MSG '22
  • Poncier
    Poncier Posts: 18,111
    F Me In The Brain said:
    Best: changing the live shows up as much as they do.

    Worst: bee girl, closely followed by Yellow Moon and Parachutes
    Bee Girl I can forgive because it was never on an album, the other 2...yikes. And throw Buckle Up in there to complete the trifecta.
    This weekend we rock Portland
  • Merkin Baller
    Merkin Baller Posts: 12,818
    JimmyV said:
    CantKeepmedown said:
    Best: not breaking up after Roskilde, hiring Matt Cameron, releasing bootlegs in 2000
    Worst: Arms Aloft in the 4 spot at Fenway 2 in 2018  :)

    JK, hard for me to come up with some of the worst things they've done. Probably leaving off specific songs from albums, as others have said. And there are probably other unreleased gems that will probably never see the light of day. But overall, they've gone 30 years without too many mishaps. I'd say they are in good shape. 
    Yep, that was pretty bad. 
    Oh my God was it ever... there was so much energy behind those 1st 3 songs, and Arms Aloft sucked 100% of it away. 
  • demetrios
    demetrios Posts: 98,322
    ten-vs-vitalogy said:
    Best: Varied setlists and official boots. 

    Indeed! 
  • Loujoe
    Loujoe Posts: 12,186
    Merkin Baller said:
    JimmyV said:
    CantKeepmedown said:
    Best: not breaking up after Roskilde, hiring Matt Cameron, releasing bootlegs in 2000
    Worst: Arms Aloft in the 4 spot at Fenway 2 in 2018  :)

    JK, hard for me to come up with some of the worst things they've done. Probably leaving off specific songs from albums, as others have said. And there are probably other unreleased gems that will probably never see the light of day. But overall, they've gone 30 years without too many mishaps. I'd say they are in good shape. 
    Yep, that was pretty bad. 
    Oh my God was it ever... there was so much energy behind those 1st 3 songs, and Arms Aloft sucked 100% of it away. 
    yep
  • on2legs
    on2legs Posts: 16,104
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    OceansJenny said:
    . SOLAT is a ghost of its former self.
    Well, I mean they have taken a step back from this speed, have they not? :)


    https://youtu.be/4mfF-bkDAtY

    It’s hard to believe we’re about as far from that Milan show today as the Milan show was from the start of Pearl Jam. 
    1996: Randall's Island 2  1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2  2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel  2005: Atlantic City 1  2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 (#25) | Newark (EV)  2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4  2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2  2011: Toronto 1  2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2015: Central Park  2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD)  2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF)  2020: MSG | Asbury Park  2021: Asbury Park  2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville  2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2025: Raleigh 2


  • Ledbetterman10
    Ledbetterman10 Posts: 17,018
    1ThoughtKnown said:
    Best - Mixing up setlists and official bootleg series
    Worst - BOB remix of Ten 
    I couldn't disagreed more. I love it and think it's way superior to the original mix. Overall that is....because I do prefer the original mix of Jeremy. 
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2, 2025: Pittsburgh 1

    Pearl Jam bootlegs:
    http://wegotshit.blogspot.com

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