"the classic concert" is harder to come by

the easiest artifact to point to is the GH (Green Habit) bootleg series - a collection of the best performances of songs from any night on the tour

oddly, the band themselves did this commercially for the 1998 tour, LO2L.

there's ceased to be one show that could be pointed to on a tour.

there's no show post-1998 that arguably have people chanting "best show ever" (MSG)

since 2000, PJ has released every show from their tours. the band tried to make their last show on the 2000 tour classic. it didn't take into the canon.

releasing MSG '03 dvd didn't either.

I think it's principally due to setlist length, which is intricately tied to their generosity towards their fans

You're an asshole for not answering my PM.

I like that orange slice in John Locke's mouth

it reminds me of Jim Rome's take on soccer and half-time

I've never watched Jim Rome but I can imagine that has something to do with how we all used to eat oranges during half-time as kids?

Yeah. Pearl Jam blows.

I wanted to name my kid Gonzalo

I think it's just too hard for them now. There's just too much material to get in there. They've got to please the fanbase by playing newer stuff and a B-side or two, and then of course they've got to please the masses (if they want to continue playing large venues) by playing the hits. And of course, please themselves with the covers they like to play. At this point, it's gonna take a 3.5 to 4 hour show with 35+ songs to be much better than average.

I miss the longer jams (I've Got a Feeling!!) and less predictable covers from way back when, but honestly, I think the shows have gotten better over the years. There was no "classic" show in 2008, imo, but they were all pretty long and the band was playing so well. I think most of the shows from 2008 would have been classic if played on the 2000 or 2003 tours (and I loved 2003) and the S/T songs were substituted for other album tracks. Or at least better than average.

One of these years, Pearl Jam is gonna play the New Years Eve show at MSG. That will be THE classic show.

we are jaded as fans. We hear eery show they do.

being there is where its at, but you are not going to get a classic show, or one that is agreed upon by the masses. We've heard so much....

These have been offered as some modern classics...

2003
State College
Buffalo
Boston Trilogy

2005
Mexico 1
Gorge

2006
Hawaii

2008
Bonnaroo

My votes:

2003 State College
2005 Philly (unfuckablewith)

Ah...Good ol' State College.

What a show!!!

With the execption of possibly Detroit 2000 ( I was there too) you'd be hard pressed to find a more definative performance of "Betterman".

It wasn't the tightest performance the band ever gave -they were pretty sloppy throughout- but the show was classic in the sense that it acheived one of the greatest interactions between audience and band that I've ever witnessed...or even heard of.

This was the last show of the first leg of the Riot Act tour and there was a real tension in the crowd that night. We all know the history behind this tour and State College was no exception in regards to the political divide that met the band on every stop of that tour.

Eddie somehow managed to bridge this divide. He was as political as ever that night, and things could have very easily gotten as nasty as they did in Denver and Buffalo...but he was making his point in a such a brilliant and subtle way that I felt by about the end of the first set, the audience was in the palm of his hands. He made us realize that discussion is not a bad thing. That sometimes we're not always going to agree on these things...If all else fails we could agree on the music...the night...we were all there for the same thing.

The crowd was so loud and the sing-a-longs were amazing.
This was -and maybe still- the longest show of the bands career.

I feel State College was a classic by any definition...

But naturally, it's a show that you probably had to have been there to fully appreciate.

I agree this has something to do with the fans having access to every show. When I traded tapes all those years ago and would get something every few weeks or every few months, that specific show would be classic to me because I'd listen to it all the time. Nowadays we can hear everything as it unfolds, so we just listen to an entire tour and judge the setlists. "Oh, Rearviewmirror in Chicago was amazing." "That was a great first encore in Philly." Stuff like that.

I am hoping that maybe sometime in the future, they'll really put a setlist together for the diehards. No real hits, no Even Flow, Better Man, Crazy Mary, etc. for the casual fans in attendance. They just unearth all the amazing songs that have fallen by the wayside over the years that rarely get played.

Some diehards really love hearing Corduroy, Even Flow, Alive and Betterman at all the shows they attend. I know of at least one that can't wait for Betterman everytime. I see what you mean, just sayin.....

Seriously though, they need to learn how to play No Way.

I agree. When you hear everything, pointing to one particular show is hard. One person's favorite blows for the guy sitting next to him (noi).

2005 Philly definitely

1996-Randalls II (I was at the first show )
1998-msg II (already widely agreed upon as IT stated)
2000-? saw them at Jones Beach II (i think) and between Binaural not being a great album, Roskilde, and my Mother's death a month earlier the show really didn't work for me and the other boots i've heard all seemed to be of a deflated PJ (with good reason since we were lucky they were even still together at that point)
2003-boston night III (maybe epic is a better word)
2006-? saw one show in Hartford on my b-day and it was relatively mediocre (15th row from the stage made up for that big time...never been so close)
2008-Hartford (totally surprised me getting a better show than msg)
maybe its cause i was at these...okay its definitely cause i was at these but they stood out among the other shows i went to and boots that ive heard...in 08 the "rarities" they broke out made all the shows a bit more special imo

every show in september 2005 is a classic

I like the "epic" distinction. But then when I look at what the "classic" shows are, I realized they are all "epic" in length...

what rarities do they still need to play, i.e. which have not been played?

when the band played their shitty Satan's Bed at State College, that show was for sure intended to be epic.

they'd need a 3 to 3.5 hour show now I think if they were trying to do something amazing for an audience.

or they could just scale the majority of their shows back to 1.5 hours and un-learn a bulk of songs, so when they played for two and a half hours, it would mean something to the audience, who as of know probably expect it

Zagreb '06 was "classic" i'd say.

do you really want them to scale back and just play one or two "long" shows per tour? that way you could have your classic show back, which is indeed lost between all the shows with all the songs and all the rarities and all the bootlegs.

but you're right, we're spoilt. when a band plays 1.5h and disappears, you know you're going to hear max 5 more songs. With PJ you know you're about halfway and have 2 encores to go...