My appreciation of Pearl Jam went through the roof over the past week. They\'ve been one of my favorite bands for years and the one show I saw in Hartford in 98 was very good. But they simply topped all preconceptions with the two MSG shows and the Friday Great Woods performance, which rivals any concert I\'ve ever seen (Phish 12-30-97 is my favorite), produced a type of energy which I\'ve never experienced at any show. The crowd simply knows the words to every song, sings along, and the band appreciates it and feeds off it, playing with more ferocity as the crowd sings with added intensity. People move around too, although I don\'t know if you could officially consider it dancing. Either way, the place was going fucking nuts the entire show--really, all three shows--but Friday was the topper. When you play 45 songs, 21 of which I had never heard, many of which were bustouts, and you play three encores, you deserve to have 25,000 enjoying every second of it and screaming their heads off.
They kicked my ass. With these three shows, I saw virtually every song I wanted to hear (a few dark horses remain such as Not for You, Immortality, Release, Oceans), and got zero three-peats, which helped.
With these shows under my belt I can confidently say, because I\'m a geek who keeps track of this sort of shit, that...
For me personally, "PEARL JAM IS BETTER THAN LED ZEPPELIN"
I know. I never thought I would ever say that, but PJ gets the nod because I have seen them live and their shows are just a wee bit better than the Page/Plant performance I saw at MSG in 98 (which was still good). So I know it\'s a biased opinion considering I didn\'t grow up in the 70\'s and see Led Zeppelin (and hear them play the same show every night for a decade), but I like PJ better due to lyrical depth, sheer power, the obvious fun they have on stage, the physical and vocal crowd energy, and the fact that they are clearly a band who cares about and appreciates their fans and shows it by, most important, mixing up their setlists. It\'s just so much better when you can\'t accurately predict the show, a feeling that all of us know for sure. Another great thing is that they offer fan club members first dibs on seats, based on seniorty, for 45 bucks, which is great considering the blatant stupidity and lack of consideration inherent in Phish\'s "Tickets" By Mail System.
So in short, Pearl Jam kicks ass. But anyone who has seen them live knows that. I know stuff like this means nothing to most people, but Pearl Jam is my fifth-favorite band, behind only Phish, Beatles, Zappa and Floyd. Zepp is number six. Is it only a matter of time before number seven, MMW, creeps up and passes them out? Not until they write a song as good as Battle of Evermore. Then again, they could move ahead of Zepp as long as they don\'t record an album as bad as In Through the Out Door.
Chris Pitch
There is a common belief among non-Pearl Jam fans that every album after Vitalogy is a far cry from everything else. And while those albums would be hard-pressed to be better than the first three, No Code, Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act are all great works. Anyone who dismisses them just because they aren\'t from the "grunge" days is likely a poseur who stopped listening to PJ when Alternative Nation went off the air (Kennedy poster: GONE) and is just plain stupid. I hate when perception--Pearl Jam\'s better days are behind them--overshadows reality--Pearl Jam\'s best days never ended. Then again, all this shit is all of our perceptions, I know. But PJ still fucking rocks!!!!!
I think Pearl Jam is Fred\'s 141st favorite band, trailing Sublime, but just ahead of Foo Fighters, if I\'m not mistaken.
Pitch
