The first time I heard the “Better Man” first verse thing I thought it was awesome. It felt less awesome subsequent times. There are some concert gestures that are meant for the setlist spotters and fans that collect boots and travel to multiple shows; other gestures are meant for the people who are at their first and/or only show, or aren’t otherwise at risk for having a seemingly spontaneous, special moment exposed as manufactured and routinized. Can’t fault them for trying to find moments in shows that appeal to all levels of fan, even though I am generally with Wease in not really enjoying those moments anymore. I go to shows because I want to hear the band, not the crowd.

lol at the idea of Rm being positive about PJ

Exactly. Talk about insane stretches.

Same reason I had the hangover. Got drunk and lost it.

Kevin Davis said it better than I did.

And yet…

5/21/2010 at MSG, that crowd response to Better Man was one of the most amazing live music experiences of my life - not the singalong per se, but when Vedder paused to take in the moment and the crowd kept getting louder - the loudest I have heard any crowd - was really something

9/11/22 also at MSG - not manufactured at all, but the way the crowd responded as Present Tense built on itself, it was like a room wide swelling that just bursted when they hit the jam in the second half of the song. The place was literally bumping, and it was just astonishing.

So these moments still happen, though probably in both cases they were less manufactured and lived in the moment.

yeah, i agree that those moments are amazing while you are living them. The crowds here in SA are fucking nuts, they sing the guitar parts and when you are part of that collective insanity, its just pure bliss.

at times Ed can become more of a Soap Star than a Rock singer

the closer he veers toward Rock singer the less embarrassing PJ becomes

Bring back older arrangements and Dave A!

first sing alongs were 'why go' and 'baba'

A couple singalongs a show are fine, but current Pearl Jam it’s like the entire encore and just exhausting.

See? Me and Kevin Davis aren’t the only ones!

Sing alongs don't do anything for me. I paid to hear those guys not someone standing near me sing outta tune.

The singalongs are especially embarrassing if you bring someone to a concert who is skeptical and has never seen Pearl Jam in concert before.

It's exactly like playing someone an album or a film that you love and you want them to love it too.

And then you get a sinking feeling in your stomach as you're listening/watching that your judgement was clouded by placebo effect, and that it wasn't a good idea.

And then you apologize.

This might be a bit overstated. In 2009, I saw Springsteen for the first time, and I had a sort of up and down experience with him. Knew the greatest hits, wasn’t sure what the big deal was, skeptical of the oversized Jersey schtick. Then I saw him, singalongs and all, and instantly knew what I was missing. I would still hope that could be the case for Pearl Jam as this juncture. I mean, that’s pretty much Pearl Jam’s age now right? Working on a Dream Pearl Jam era?

Having fans that think Smile is better than Nothingman

It is.

I hope there are not.

Okay, not that we need to hash this out here but…

Smile - a Neil Young-like dirge on the heels of Mirrorball that has a bunch of good ideas in it and has a cool guitar tone against a wailing harmonica. Simultaneously a song that stretches Pearl Jam’s sonic repertoire without them sounding one bit out of place.

Nothingman - a straight ballad campfire singalong at this point in Pearl Jam’s career that is great, but what exactly are they doing here that they weren’t perfectly capable of doing before?

I've brought casual PJ fans to PJ concerts and they were always blown away by the entire experience, including the interaction with the crowd.