First, timing. Some songs are still a bit too fast, but not nearly as bad as it had been. It reminds me of 2003 speeds.

Also, the mix. From where I was seated I could hear each band member equally. Everyone was mixed perfectly and could be distinguished easily in the mix. Good jorb, boys. You are renewing my faith in Pearl Jam.

Very pumped to hear this about the mixing. Mike never sounds right to me. And when he's loud, you can't hear Stone at all.

Could it have anything to do with the size of the Spectrum? Is that a huge place or medium sized?

Medium

No, it was incredible at the United Center. Thats saying something...that place usually is horrid for sound. So whatever the crew is doing if they got new gear or what....but the mix has been incredible.

Did Matt change his drums for this tour because this is the best the drums have sounded since he has joined the band. I thought they sounded way too hollow on the first couple tours. Last night the drums were prominent and had such a full deep sound.

is ed still sick, like he was in San Diego? Has his voice cleared?

Hasn't Ed been sick since like 2005?

He's switched from Yamaha Birch to Yamaha Oak.
Personally my favourite of his drums was the Ayotte kit he used in 98 and 00 (also in Soundgarden's later years).

pearl jam have always put there money where it needs to go. into their sound crew. i've tried to explain it to people compared to other shows. At shoreline here in the bay area for example. every band ive seen there the mix has been drowned out mostly by kick drum and bass guitar. but pearl jam sounded like the 2003 bootlegs. just a lot louder and a little bit more bottom end. and thats been pretty consistent no matter what venue indoor or outdoor i've seen of them. the sound is always solid to fantastic. point being that everything as a whole is really balanced and you can usually hear whatever you listen for which is so rare. throw that in contrast to when i saw mute math at the fillmore at the start of the month. they apparently spent 100k on their stage design. their sound went like this. all bass and bass synth, drums not even in the mix, vocals were drowned out. about 3 songs left in the set they finally turned up the guitar and the vocal a bit more but the vocal was still drowned out. aside from the obvious performance reasons...i really would like more bands to see pearl jam and realize they need to invest in a sound crew that really knows what they are doing.

their sound sucked in 06

sound didnt suck where i saw them in SD and all 3 nights of SF.

i saw them early in that tour

Let's hope this carries over to Oz and the outdoor gigs.

The sound did get better on the west coast 06, but you are right about the first leg.

They never really got Mike's sound right though and from what I am reading, it still isn't right. How can one of the best guitarists in rock music not have the right sound coming out of his guitar?

i really liked mike's sound on this tour, so i guess i'm in the minority.

the drums do sound better, a bit more in your face, so you can hear better some of the "special" stuff matt does.

jeff may get my vote for best musicianship onstage. the guy is plain awesome.

I agree with everything in that post, rafa.

Me too.