I don´t think so, in my ears Alive sounds more alive than ever on this tour, it actually sounds like the band likes playing the tune.
God I lov to hear it.
I saw alive the third time I saw Pearl Jam....
And even then I had to wait.. It was the last song in the first encore!
I agree that the band must get sick of some songs, however what they are playing they are not sick of at the moment.
In sydney 3 Ed did intros for a lot of songs....
"This song is about this..."
"We think of this person every time we play this song"
PJ Sydney 1998-03-09, 2003-02-11, 2003-02-14, 2006-11-07, 2006-11-08, 2006-11-18, 2009-11-22, 2014-01-26
EV Sydney 2011-03-18, 2011-03-19, 2014-02-11, 2014-02-13
the early sets in australia were rather boring and were hits and new songs heavy but Newcastle onwards they have seemed to have picked up the rare ones and less newer songs.
I'm with Judd. Pearl Jam sets are never boring, no matter what they play. How could you say that? I think they surpassed themselves on this tour with great setlists, every show that is. I couldn't have been happier with the 3 Melbourne concerts I went to. Next time I hope to go interstate to see the band more often. They bent over backwards to please people, plenty of hits at each show for those who only know hits, well mixed with the odd rare song and plenty of well known songs which weren't hits but great songs on their own merits. Kudos to Pearl Jam for picking great setlists and playing shows that were equal to anything they did in other countries earlier on in the tour. Hope they have a great rest after Hawaii and spend their time relaxing and writing songs. And Brad, you got your wish - they played In Hiding at Perth!
I'm with Judd. Pearl Jam sets are never boring, no matter what they play. How could you say that? I think they surpassed themselves on this tour with great setlists, every show that is. I couldn't have been happier with the 3 Melbourne concerts I went to. Next time I hope to go interstate to see the band more often. They bent over backwards to please people, plenty of hits at each show for those who only know hits, well mixed with the odd rare song and plenty of well known songs which weren't hits but great songs on their own merits. Kudos to Pearl Jam for picking great setlists and playing shows that were equal to anything they did in other countries earlier on in the tour. Hope they have a great rest after Hawaii and spend their time relaxing and writing songs. And Brad, you got your wish - they played In Hiding at Perth!
well maybe boring is the wrong wording there....all pj sets are just so good and different but they first few shows were a little samey with nothing to diffferent but Newcastle, both Adelaide and Perth sets were excellent.... Adel and Newy being same of the best serts of the year full stop soooo much variety.
I'm just flying around the other side of the world to say I love you
Sha la la la i'm in love with a jersey girl
I love you forever and forever
Adel 03 Melb 1 03 LA 2 06 Santa Barbara 06 Gorge 1 06 Gorge 2 06 Adel 1 06 Adel 2 06 Camden 1 08 Camden 2 08 Washington DC 08 Hartford 08
people say 2006 they havent played the best sets but i think they have been the best ever.
well maybe boring is the wrong wording there....all pj sets are just so good and different but they first few shows were a little samey with nothing to diffferent but Newcastle, both Adelaide and Perth sets were excellent.... Adel and Newy being same of the best serts of the year full stop soooo much variety.
I agree with you on both quotes... nail on the head. Pearl Jam's sound is as good as it's ever been, so that's why it's sort of a downer when a lot of the sets in Europe and Australia approached facsimile. There's never going to be a 'dream show' but there are still half a dozen shows from the last 15 years that are damned near perfect.
You could argue until you're out of breath from either side; one side being that they're going fine with sets and should be playing all the hits, or complaining that they're not throwing in enough rarities/old favourites/covers into a show. Not to mention the fact that there are actual contracts that stipulate a band has to play certain songs 'x' number of times at 'y' number of shows. They're obligated to play hits. I don't know what the situation is like PJ and their management, but I imagine they're at least required to play so many 'hits' to maintain a respectable number of ticket sales. If this fails to happen, it's charted in almanacs, and chances are the band may choose not to play at that stop on their next tour.
I guess I'm not the biggest PJ fan in the world; I'm not going to follow them around the country (or the globe) paying sometimes exorbitant ticket prices just to hopefully hear them play one song in a city. It's like lottery for hardcore fans who want certain songs.
Pearl Jam have been gracious enough and usually on a good night there's a good collective setlist where the band works in more than one or two songs they don't play every 5-6 shows. A great show is more like half a dozen. The band is out touring to support a new record, but by some of the setlists in Europe and Australia this year it felt like they're still touring to support 'Vs.', not so much the new record.
If the band insists on playing staples like "E-Flo", "Rearviewmirror" or "Alive" at all three nights in 3 night city stint, they should at least alternate between nights on how long they play a song (play the 9 and a half minute version of "Even Flow" one night, but at least cut it down to normal length so as to allow for another song to be played in lieu of the wild extended solo). Some of my favorite Pearl Jam songs are the short, poignant ones that get their point across before the band moves on into the next song. If they're on-stage playing a set for 2 hours, 35 minutes (excluding encore break periods), I'd like to hear "RVM", "RITFW" and "Alive" early on in the set. It's still cool to jam out on a couple of tunes, but the band could approach upwards of 40 songs in that period of time, instead of the typical 25-28.
And longer shows don't always mean better; some their most energetic work appears on the shorter sets (like Bern and Leeds this year). So then it becomes a tightrope between quality/quantity.
I don't think anyone's really complaining about or disappointed with the Oz tour. Unbelievably good, and the band were so generous to us. And Ed's interaction with the diehard fans was so impressive. That he makes a point of looking at faces to see who he recognises is very cool.
It's probably true that the band themselves have just been getting a kick, night after night, from playing certain songs, and that's part of the reason they repeat them. Fair enough! I never got bored ONCE during the tour, not even for a second!
1995: Melbourne 1
1998: Melbourne 1, 2, 3
2003: Sydney 1, 2, 3, Melbourne 1, 2, 3
2006: Sydney 1, 2, Melbourne 1, 2, 3, Sydney 3, Newcastle, Adelaide 1, 2, Perth
2009: LA 1, 2, Melbourne, Sydney
2014: Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney
my original thought about this thread wasn't around the idea that I am sick of the standards, I guess I was just pondering if the band was growing tired of some of them, hence playing them earlier in sets to get them out of the way...because it seemed a bit unusual to lead off with songs like Alive and Elderly woman.
Sydney 2 was lacking the hits, and the crowd was bad.. without hits all through it, some crowds just lose energy..
I didnt think DTE/Evenflow needed to be played all 12 times though.. Most of the people complaining probably werent at the shows, and are just wanting more different bootlegs.
At the same time melbourne 2's crowd was alot better then melb one and melb one was the "hits"
I find that they are really playing the radio hits to death this tour ... The setlists are still pretty sweet, but yeah, they must be tired as fuck of Alive.
I agree. At the first Sydney show at the end of playing alive Ed wrapped the microphone cable around his neck and pretended to hang himself. If that doesnt say they are sick of it...what does???
Pearl JamEddie Vedder Sydney - 11/3/1995 Sydney - 18/3/2011 Sydney - 9/3/1998 Sydney - 19/3/2011 Sydney - 11/3/1998 Sydney - 13/2/2014 Sydney - 12/3/1998 Sydney - 11/2/2003 Sydney - 13/2/2003 Sydney - 14/2/2003 Sydney - 7/11/2006 Sydney - 8/11/2006 Sydney - 18/11/2006 Sydney - 22/11/2009 Sydney - 26/1/2014
Comments
I saw alive the third time I saw Pearl Jam....
And even then I had to wait.. It was the last song in the first encore!
I agree that the band must get sick of some songs, however what they are playing they are not sick of at the moment.
In sydney 3 Ed did intros for a lot of songs....
"This song is about this..."
"We think of this person every time we play this song"
EV Sydney 2011-03-18, 2011-03-19, 2014-02-11, 2014-02-13
I'm with Judd. Pearl Jam sets are never boring, no matter what they play. How could you say that? I think they surpassed themselves on this tour with great setlists, every show that is. I couldn't have been happier with the 3 Melbourne concerts I went to. Next time I hope to go interstate to see the band more often. They bent over backwards to please people, plenty of hits at each show for those who only know hits, well mixed with the odd rare song and plenty of well known songs which weren't hits but great songs on their own merits. Kudos to Pearl Jam for picking great setlists and playing shows that were equal to anything they did in other countries earlier on in the tour. Hope they have a great rest after Hawaii and spend their time relaxing and writing songs. And Brad, you got your wish - they played In Hiding at Perth!
well maybe boring is the wrong wording there....all pj sets are just so good and different but they first few shows were a little samey with nothing to diffferent but Newcastle, both Adelaide and Perth sets were excellent.... Adel and Newy being same of the best serts of the year full stop soooo much variety.
Sha la la la i'm in love with a jersey girl
I love you forever and forever
Adel 03 Melb 1 03 LA 2 06 Santa Barbara 06 Gorge 1 06 Gorge 2 06 Adel 1 06 Adel 2 06 Camden 1 08 Camden 2 08 Washington DC 08 Hartford 08
I agree with you on both quotes... nail on the head. Pearl Jam's sound is as good as it's ever been, so that's why it's sort of a downer when a lot of the sets in Europe and Australia approached facsimile. There's never going to be a 'dream show' but there are still half a dozen shows from the last 15 years that are damned near perfect.
You could argue until you're out of breath from either side; one side being that they're going fine with sets and should be playing all the hits, or complaining that they're not throwing in enough rarities/old favourites/covers into a show. Not to mention the fact that there are actual contracts that stipulate a band has to play certain songs 'x' number of times at 'y' number of shows. They're obligated to play hits. I don't know what the situation is like PJ and their management, but I imagine they're at least required to play so many 'hits' to maintain a respectable number of ticket sales. If this fails to happen, it's charted in almanacs, and chances are the band may choose not to play at that stop on their next tour.
I guess I'm not the biggest PJ fan in the world; I'm not going to follow them around the country (or the globe) paying sometimes exorbitant ticket prices just to hopefully hear them play one song in a city. It's like lottery for hardcore fans who want certain songs.
Pearl Jam have been gracious enough and usually on a good night there's a good collective setlist where the band works in more than one or two songs they don't play every 5-6 shows. A great show is more like half a dozen. The band is out touring to support a new record, but by some of the setlists in Europe and Australia this year it felt like they're still touring to support 'Vs.', not so much the new record.
If the band insists on playing staples like "E-Flo", "Rearviewmirror" or "Alive" at all three nights in 3 night city stint, they should at least alternate between nights on how long they play a song (play the 9 and a half minute version of "Even Flow" one night, but at least cut it down to normal length so as to allow for another song to be played in lieu of the wild extended solo). Some of my favorite Pearl Jam songs are the short, poignant ones that get their point across before the band moves on into the next song. If they're on-stage playing a set for 2 hours, 35 minutes (excluding encore break periods), I'd like to hear "RVM", "RITFW" and "Alive" early on in the set. It's still cool to jam out on a couple of tunes, but the band could approach upwards of 40 songs in that period of time, instead of the typical 25-28.
And longer shows don't always mean better; some their most energetic work appears on the shorter sets (like Bern and Leeds this year). So then it becomes a tightrope between quality/quantity.
It's probably true that the band themselves have just been getting a kick, night after night, from playing certain songs, and that's part of the reason they repeat them. Fair enough! I never got bored ONCE during the tour, not even for a second!
1998: Melbourne 1, 2, 3
2003: Sydney 1, 2, 3, Melbourne 1, 2, 3
2006: Sydney 1, 2, Melbourne 1, 2, 3, Sydney 3, Newcastle, Adelaide 1, 2, Perth
2009: LA 1, 2, Melbourne, Sydney
2014: Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney
At the same time melbourne 2's crowd was alot better then melb one and melb one was the "hits"
I agree. At the first Sydney show at the end of playing alive Ed wrapped the microphone cable around his neck and pretended to hang himself. If that doesnt say they are sick of it...what does???
Sydney - 11/3/1995 Sydney - 18/3/2011
Sydney - 9/3/1998 Sydney - 19/3/2011
Sydney - 11/3/1998 Sydney - 13/2/2014
Sydney - 12/3/1998
Sydney - 11/2/2003
Sydney - 13/2/2003
Sydney - 14/2/2003
Sydney - 7/11/2006
Sydney - 8/11/2006
Sydney - 18/11/2006
Sydney - 22/11/2009
Sydney - 26/1/2014