The most Strat post of all time.

The band has obviously fallen victim to that evil disease: Consumer-Based Capitalism!!!

I'm sure it was easy for us/them to temporarily suspend the thoughts and the operation while performing in a beautiful hamlet such as Telluride, but here we are... back in the real world of big city/big stadium/big market enterprise, where the masses are frothing at the mouth for their BRAND... not their music. At this point, I'd do the same damn thing... In a world going down the shitter FAST, I'd continue to give the sheep what they want and rake in the rewards, setting myself and my family up for generations to come while the world crumbles around them. I doubt we'll (I'll) see this band play again in such a headspace and environment as we did back at the beginning of July... We were the lucky ones, Strat!

I saw the lady I traded Fenway tickets with and the guy I swapped with for Philly this year. One of my biggest issues with the lotto is that it damaged the actual 'Jamily', those people you would sit with each show.


Edit: my phone capitalized 'Jamily'

Lol. It was pretty special. best part was it was quite a different version of pearl jam fan. There was some jamily there but nothing out of line. So many non pearl jam fans that were just won over. No B.S., Just beautiful.

Also the boot sounds great too.

and 'The Lifestyle' was in full-on mountin man mode

In GA last night. Felt full cup splash on my shoes, ankles. Guy behind apologized for kicking it over. I said, "Piss or beer?" He said, "It's on my shoes too, no worries." Absolutely piss. Fucking savages in this town.

Ruddo, are you in town? Can get a reserved single at face.

Brutal.

Yeah, it's getting out of hand.

I can't imagine any other band of their stature, with such a wide, deep and popular catalogue, padding out their sets with stodgy classic rock covers.

MOST bands of their stature, dont play such a wide variety of songs and as long as they do either. Most bands of their stature have a set show they bring on the road. You gotta give pearl jam that.

The covers are out of hand, yes.

Holy shit 7 covers?

I don't know if this is necessarily true anymore.

Lots of bands with deep catalogues playing big venues for expensive prices seem to play quite long shows.

The reliance on covers comes across as kind of apologetic, as though they're not comfortable entertaining a crowd with their own material - it's quite strange.

brilliant covers have always been a big part of pearl jam's identity - they really enjoy doing them to honor their heroes and the fan base loves them - so multiple covers showing up in a set makes sense to me. early on, it was a way to beef up their set, but i don't think it's them not having confidence in their own catalog anymore; it's just tradition.

Their execution of Masters of War is pure masterclass these days. Never thought they'd be able to play a song at this stage of their careers that eclipses the versions during their prime years.

I dunno, man -- they haven't introduced a "brilliant" cover in...fifteen years? Perhaps it's just because I became a fan after "RITFW" and "Fuckin' Up" had already been absorbed into their repertoire, but to me it feels like they put their own stamp on those songs. So many of the new ones they add just feel like karaoke tracks to me -- they bring nothing special to them whatsoever.

"Surrender" feels like the ultimate bar band song to me. I bet when they played that, at least 50% of the audience said, "Oh man, I know this from Guitar Hero!"

Maybe Ed's still apologizing to you for "that's the moss in the aforementioned verse."

oh, i agree that they've mostly lost their magic touch with covers (in general, really), but as playing them is part of their identity, i think they feel a pressure or expectation to trot out new ones every so often, for better or worse.

Does anyone actually go to a Pearl Jam show hoping to hear them play songs by Pink Floyd and Cheap Trick?

Seven covers and nothing off of No Code - I mean, seriously.

I totally get that RITFW, Baba, Fuckin' Up etc. are traditional setlist fodder but they used to bring (at most) one or two of those out at the very end of a show and it never felt as though they were being played in preference to actual Pearl Jam songs.

I like when they do covers, but only new ones that they can actually play. I'm beyond tired of the covers they've been trotting out for years. They aren't your songs, Pearl Jamz!

Something after 1990 wouldn't hurt either.

Yes. They're sickees if you ask me.

And no Riot Act. Playing at least 1 song from each album shouldn't be such a challenge.