I was listening to my (San Diego 6-5-03) bootleg the other day for the first time in quite awhile. Man, it sounded good. It got me thinking about shows that are better on the boot than they were live - just because I imagine that that would almost never be the case.

I personally remember that show as the worst of the 10 that I have ever attended. It wasn't anything the band did. I was way up in the upper corner of the Sports Arena, so the sound wasn't that awesome. But mostly, I was with someone who I was sorta trying to convert to Jamilism, and they weren't having it. Lots of annoying jabs at the band all night, lots of questions of when the show would ever end. I divorced her.

Do you have a story of a miserable PJ concert experience?

NO

Lock her up

I'm embarrased.

i don't think I appreciated the uniondale show until I got the boot. Is that the same thing?

I haven't really had this, though I had it work in reverse - I enjoyed Adelaide 2009 but the boot was a let-down.

The two 2006 shows I saw were pretty much exactly the same, however. Adelaide I was incredible and I think it carries through to the boot, Adelaide II was pretty good (but not outstanding).

cougar9000, your avatar is awesome, but your name is misleading. I'm sure it has to do with Wazzu, but I was really hoping you were some hot cougar.

this one for sure.

the Great Woods night 3 acoustic set as well.

You didn't appreciate the acoustic set as it was happening?

Actually, I'm a Husky fan. Cougar9000 is a Seinfeld ref. Its the model of wheelchair that Kramer & George skimp on for a handicapped lady after they ruin hers.

Salesman to George and Kramer: "This is our best model: The Cougar 9000. It's the Rolls Royce of wheelchairs. This is like... you're almost glad to be handicapped".

I thought the show on May 18th 2010 in Newark was complete crap when I was there.

Bootleg is good tho.

I think that Prudential Center is just not made for concerts. The only way id go there again is for sports, or for free.

And not for nothing, but $40 to park is insane. You wish you were Manhattan, but your not, get over it.

Merriweather Post Pavilion 9/24/96.

Ed was drunk and all over the place. No matter how good the band was that night (or that they played "Wash"), that alone marred it.

Then there was everything else.

The band had refused to allow the tv screens to be used, and the curvature of the facility (plus everyone standing on their seats) meant that a lot of people on the lawn couldn't see the show at all. (I had a seat, and my view was actually pretty good.)

Towards the end of the show, I feel something splashing against my leg, and realize that a guy to my left in the row behind me has decided that it's just too far to walk to the men's room.

Now, in fairness, this was my first show after seeing the 4/3/94 Atlanta show, and it was hard for anything to compare with that. But I could not believe the insane raves afterward, especially considering how much better the 10/4/96 Charlotte show was.

The boot sounded pretty good, though.

Vegas 2006.

I wasn't feeling well, which was probably the biggest issue I had that night. I'd driven in from Phoenix that morning, gone through terrible storms and traffic, had a migraine ... it was just rotten. So I felt like hell. Then Ed came out and was complaining that he felt like hell and was apologizing for being off his game all night.

It's funny, it was almost like he convinced most of the crowd that he wasn't "on," because he said it so much. But listening back to the boot, the band--Ed included--sound really great.

Charlotte 2000. I remember liking the show, but not thinking much of it. Even when I got the boot, I was kinda underwhelmed with it. Going back to it like 8 years after, I finally realized it was a nice little show. Cool improv (like a slow Life Wasted riff), some No Code tunes (Habit, Present Tense, Sometimes, and Hail Hail), etc...It's not the best boot I've ever heard (far from it), but the boot sounds better than I remember.

Sadly, no. I mean, it was great and all but something about it just seemed off.

I would say the Council Bluffs 2003 show. I went to the KC show the night before and the combination of the torrential downpour from that show and the standing in line for two or three hours in the heat for Council Bluffs ticket really zapped my energy. I enjoyed the show, but not to the extent I should have. The bootleg is great though and one of my favorites. They nailed pretty much every song played that night.

any show not attended in 2010 so far.

Thunder Bay 05

Rated near the bottom of my show list, but I listen to this boot more often than most of the other shows I went to. It was the bands third straight night performing, followed a pretty amazing Winnipeg show the night before, was hot as hell in the small arena, and just in general was a "down" show. But none of that matters on the boot, which I think makes the show seem much better than it was being there in person.

Philly 2 - sat right in front of the soundboard and the sound was absolutely hideous. You couldn't make out a damn thing that was going on. I don't know how anyone in the back half of the venue could have had a good time at any of the Philly shows, unless they've been drinking some serious kool-aid. The boots are better but that isn't saying much.

Philly IV last year. It was a bit underwhelming being there but it sounds great on the boot.