i saw ed in milwaukee in 08. the crowd was obnoxious and he handled it like an amateur. the set was comprised of into the wild songs, a shitload of covers, and a few pj tunes, most of which were established hits. it was a cool show mainly because it was ed solo, and that was new. seeing him not flanked by his bandmates i had grown accustomed to seeing was neat. storyteller ed was interesting, and arc was fucking amazing.

just saw ed over the weekend in minneapolis. the crowd was better. ed addressed obnoxious douche lords once and was done with it. he fucked up a lot. more than in 08. he didn't appear to be drunk and he had done several shows on the tour, so lack of practice isn't to blame either. he just fucks up. that's who he is, and it ruined none of the songs. here's why i liked the show this year so much more:
1) i've had 3 years with into the wild. i don't listen to it a lot, but i know it better than i did in 08. plus, long nights, which he wasn't doing back then, is fantastic.
2) half the show isn't covers unless you count pj songs. don't get me wrong, i like a cover here and there, and millworker and throw your arms around me were highlights for me in 08, but i'd rather hear ed sing songs he wrote.
3) it's a show now. it has a rhythm and a feel. from him playing waving palms while the curtains open to hard sun > dream a little dream to the lights going out at the end of the end to the reworked betterman, it feels like a true effort rather than a random selection of covers and some songs he wrote for a movie.
4) the pj songs he's doing are better selections, imo. long road, love boat captain, the end, unthought known, porch. yes, i like these better than elderly woman, betterman, and soon forget.
5) the opener. i don't even remember the guy in 08. glen i will not soon forget.
only negative - i hate the way ed employs string sections for the big city shows and not the rest of the tour. bushleague. our money is just as good as theirs and our cities have quality musicians to do the job, so fucking give us the best show possible too. too expensive? then don't do it for anyone. if someone from nyc or chicago gets on our bus, should we give up our seat?

Don't remember Liam Finn? GTFO

I would have loved to see that tour in 2008... the world was so far up my ass I couldnt make it.

I think the solo shows are great. What you have is a mix of PJ fans v. solo Ed fans... come on the crowds are different.


In fact 2008, was the best summer/fall of my life.

Yeah, seriously.

Liam's fucking awesome.

I've noticed there are a lot more hot females at Ed shows than PJ shows.

Saw Ed in 08 in Vancouver and San Diego. Loved it. Pure gold. And loved Liam.

Seeing him in Portland and Seattle this tour. Can't wait. Hoping for more of the same/totally different. With UFOs and vampires and snake juice.

I saw Ed 4 times in 08 and once on the 11 tour.

He definitely fucked up more in 08...seemed way more tight this time around.

Definitely there were significantly more covers back in 08...i loved most of those covers but i do appreciate hearing more of his original stuff.

I'm with you on the strings issue...he should have built that into the entire tour and had them play at all shows.

His voice sounds somehow a lot better on this tour than it does in 08..plus he practices an awful lot every single day. I think it shows. These gigs are a lot more together and have a better flow than the 08 shows. In my opinion anyways.

Saw Ed at Newark in 08 in Philly this year. Both shows were excellent.

Tough to say which was better for me - Newark's venue was better and I had much better seats. The Philly setlist was better. Though, I loved the run of I'm Open-Man of The Hour-Unthought Known in 08.

I think Ed's voice and guitar playing have gotten so much better on this tour. He really is pretty damn talented. I do agree too that there is more of a flow to this year's shows, but that's not entirely surprising considering he has more to work with and is definitely more comfortable being up there by himself.

lol i think its because guys take their GF's to these shows, and their frat boy buddies to the PJ shows for a fist pumping good time

I think he gives a shit about his performance now. Before it seemed like he didn't care if he got fucked up, messed up 50% of the songs and cashed the checks.

I think he has seen the error of his ways. I saw 2 shows in 2008 and 1 in 2009. The 1 in 2009 was the worst of the bunch (too high). The show this tour was superb I thought, even though it was the 2nd show of the tour. He got his shit together and wasn't working things out during shows.

I'd just love to see him apply that mentality to Pearl Jam shows.

Move to a real city and you can see strings, too.