pearl jam and tom petty redux
Jeff on guitar for "Smile"
Originally uploaded by JRUSHE. Wow, what a difference a day makes.
It was like night and day these two concerts. Back in 2003 I decided to see Pearl Jam in Chicago for the first time. The reason for this? Over the several tours previous I noticed a trend - Pearl would put on good shows in Milwaukee (or Alpine Valley, as the case may be), but without question the sets played in Chicago were always better. Well that Chicago show was simply the worst show I've seen of theirs. The set was very "meh" and they really seemed to lack energy. However they followed that up a few nights later with what was probably the best concert of theirs I've ever seen at Alpine. To me it figured that the one time I decided to check out a Chicago show it'd go like that. So after the Thursday night show, when they played the second worst show I've ever seen of theirs I had a some reason to be optimistic. Here is where I compare and contrast these two shows with one another:
Thursday:
+ 1: I had tickets in the 11th row. Those were really good seats - I believe the best I'd ever had for Pearl Jam.
- 1: The mix was too loud (The first concert I was at that I actually wished I brought ear plugs)
- 1: There was distortion.
- 1: No songs were played from my favorite album.
EVEN: Did not play any of my "rare" personal favorites (They played some of my personal favorites like Corduroy, but you get that all the time - they've played it over 300 times live)
EVEN: No screw-ups. Not that I specifically cheer for screw ups or anything, but sometimes an interesting screw up can make for a very memorable version of a song. Though it can also ruin a song it all depends on the nature of the screw up.
+ 1: Notable crowd banter from Ed - He had us all say hello to Elvis Costello (who was playing on a different stage at Summerfest) and noted that when he raised his bottle in a toast that it was the most cups of beer he'd ever seen from a crowd on a toast "Oh, Milwaukee..." with said a grin.
Friday:
- .5: on Friday I was in the 18th row - still really good, but comparatively Thursday's seats were better.
+ 1: The mix was much better (I brought ear plugs and started with them in, but removed them after about 3 songs)
+ 1: No distortion.
+ 1: Two Songs were played from my favorite album.
+ 2: They played 2 of my personal all time favorites (Smile, I got Id)
+ 1: One unintentionally hilarious screw up: Ed completely botched the first verse of Elderly Woman, and then recovered fantastically by replacing the first chorus' "Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away..." with "Rock Star Minds they fade, fade away..."
+ 1: Notable crowd banter from Ed - I love hearing the story on the genesis of the song Smile (it has Wisconsin roots!). For those that don't know I sang Smile once (poorly) at a Karaoke bar. It's also the only song Jeff plays guitar on, so there is no hiding when they're going to play it.
So, for those not keeping count the comparative scores between these two shows was: -1 for Thursday and +6.5 for Friday. While Friday wasn't the 2nd best Pearl Jam concert I've seen (to follow up the second worst) it was up there, possibly as high as number 4.
Some people just don't "get" why I see Peal Jam as often as I do (and not nearly as much as I'd like). To most accurately illustrate the reason why I try see multiple Pearl Jam shows on one tour (but similarly feel like I never need to see another Petty show) try out this statistic:
If you attended both shows just for Pearl Jam you only heard 4 songs twice over the two nights (Life Wasted, World Wide Suicide, Even Flow, Jeremy), however if you attended both shows just for Petty you only heard 4 songs the first night that WEREN'T played the second night (I'm A Man, here comes my girl, Red Rooster, Cabin Down Below)...and the second night you only got 3 songs you didn't hear the night before (I'm Cryin', It's Good To Be King, Honey Bee). Now I'm not trying to knock on Petty, because it's a matter of having the two bands having different philosophies live and the set was really good, but why would you want to see more than one show of his? Not to mention How sorry I feel for Petty, the songs were even played IN THE SAME ORDER. I can't imaging how boring that must get by the end of the tour for the band, though really I'm having a hard time figuring out "the why". Why does it have to be that way? All of their songs have a distinct break between them, so it's not like they have specific transitions they need to be concerned with. No huge pyrotechnics. Also while the stage production is certainly better than Pearl Jam, it really only consists of some screen and some lights. It's not like Weird Al, who will play songs in a specific order and have specific breaks because of all his costume changes...why not mix it up a bit?
I really appreciate that Wedge has my back vs dr_r0ck in regard to the sounds in the Marcus.