Is it just me or does this show kind of rough? Both the recording at times, and the band at times? Great setlist though.

I am going to listen tonight and will share my thoughts. I have already listened to West Palm and Tampa about 3 times each so I have a pretty good basis for comparison.

If this is your first bootleg listen for 2008, be aware that this mix is different. I love the live mix but others are upset that Stone and Mike are not a prominent as Eddie, Jeff and Matt.

I listened to the audience recording and it's a good show by setlist terms but Eddie is out of breath it seems. He reminded me of the Lolla show last year where he was struggling...probably hungover there too.

It doesn't sound bad to me, but someone messed up because the beginning of Betterman is on the same track as WMA.

he was pretty hung over, he said he was partying with the kings the night before. but in person the band sounded great, and i didnt notice ed struggling much.

Well, I can say it is a rough start for sure. Can't Keep sounds like shit. It sounds like they haven't played it in years and are feeling their way through the song. I would have thought they would start getting it together by Hail Hail, but they just aren't firing on all cylinders in the opening songs. The lead guitar on Sad is really kind of pathetic. It even sounds like they are struggling to stay together on Severed Hand.

I hate to trash a show I didn't attend but this is def. not as solid a performance as the first 2 nights of the tour and far inferior to my in-person impressions of MSG.

Nope, it's not just you. I have about 90% of all "official bootlegs" since 2000 and I was appalled at how bad the audio sounds. It's definitely the mix, but hard to tell how much of it may have been the band. The Virginia Beach download sounds a bit better, and I can't figure out if maybe I started getting used to the rough mix ... or maybe the band was just more crisp that night.

He was kind of tweaking out for a bit...

Yeah, that's a pretty unfair comparisson. No audio recording will ever, ever, ever measure up to attending a live show. Not by a long shot.

nevermind, thanks

Yeah but this guy does a damned good job getting it as close as it gets.

read the message pit, they remastered some tracks a re-released the download.

"read the message pit"??

Why didn't you just say "read the Internet"?

i have listened to this a few times, and some songs they just don't sound very good. I went to the two FLA shows and I thought Ed sounded great live, but I guess I will find out if that is true when I listen to the boots.

I'd be surprised if the whole show doesn't sound like shit. There were a lot of fuck ups.

i think it sounds pretty good overall, on flac. there are some times when mike should be turned up more. but on a positive, you can hear the bass solo on PT well.

my biggest complaint, by FAR, is that the crowd can't be heard at all. anyone that was at that show knows the crowd really made the show. it was really loud in there because of the people and because the building was small. the boot sorely missed the crowd noise. i'd hope the remaster is tweaked, but it sounds like it was only an edit in the track start

Really?

One thing I'm really loving about this year's boots is they've turned the crowd DOWN. They were just way too loud in 2005-2006, I want to hear Pearl Jam - not a bunch of dorks singing along to Pearl Jam.

While the band themselves sound really great, after listening to WPB, Tampa, Columbia & VB I have to say - what the FUCK is going on with Ed's voice?! He sounds like complete shit on every boot, no power or strength in his voice at all. I mean, his vocal power is ever decreasing but it sounded as if he'd found a good way to work with it in 2006 and sounded better than he had in a while. This year, however - thin, reedy and weak. Blah.

I really hope he got better as the tour progressed...

Ed has sounded like shit for 3 years now - he was just as bad in '06. I guess we can't expect him to sound like he did in '93, but drinking a bottle of wine (and whatever else) every night and smoking 2 or 3 packs a day can't be doing the voice any good.

I still think he has great vocal power - it does come out once in a while, but it seems to be very rare these days.

Regarding the boot, I can't put my finger on it, but there seems to be something missing. The bass is great though. And I agree about the crowd; it is almost non-existent.

he was definitely sick. that's why the voice sounded rough. remember some of the 03 boots, like chicago, indy, etc. he was sick there too, but i think becuase they audio quality wasn't as high (non flac), you can't hear it as much.

i def miss the crowd in the background. im not saying we need to hear the jack hole's singing, but you need them under the music to give the energy of the show. that's what makes a lose wild live show.

maybe im just biased because the crowd in columbia was so into it. i was at GR in 06 too. the crowd was great there, but i think louder in Columbia. different strokes for different folks i suppose.

Ed sounds amazing live. Of course he isn't going to sound nearly as great on a boot.

They need to release an official one like Live On 2 again.