Are they a good thing or a bad thing?

they are "the" thing.
they dont cheer for some obscure song and get mad if Dissident or Evenflow is played., or bitch that matt isnt jack. they dont complain that 'eddie shouldnt smoke" or any other nonsense. they are people looking to have fun, which unfortunately, seems to be going away from pearl jam shows as people become so focused on "the setlist"

Causual is a nice word

And they say things like, "Oh yeah...I like Pearl Jam."

Dang auto spell correct.

What is it that you "get" that you think casual fans do not?

Perspectives.....

As mentioned above, I bet the casual fan leaves feeling pretty damn happy while us miserable f*cks walk out of the venue saying crap like... Ohhh they played that night, I've heard Jeremy 100 times, I don't like the way In My Tree starts now, etc.

By asking the question, I think you "got" the purpose of teh thread.

I think Pearl Jam does an excellent job of being able to cater to both groups of fans (the rabid and the casual). Their catalog contains enough well-known songs that the band plays at least a few of every night (Alive, Even Flow, Black, Daughter, Last Kiss, Better Man) that the casual fan never feels entirely left out. Moreover, ultimately, I've never known a casual fan to have an issue with the other songs the band plays. This is because they are a very good, engaging live band.

Honestly the "Frequent" Pearl Jam fans are ruining the shows. I went to the Madison Square Garden show in May and sat behind the stage in the top section (thanks 10C for your shitty ticket sale). The show was great and there was lots of energy but the entire floor (filled with 10C members) stood still the ENTIRE time. It was the rest of the stadium that was jumping around and having a blast. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to have 3rd row tickets for Chicago and while it was fun being that close it was the most boring section of fans I have ever been around. No one dancing, just standing arms crossed waiting for a rarity. PJ fans need to get over themselves and let loose a little bit.

See, this was not the case at the two Seattle shows in 09. I was on the floor for night two, and everyone around me for as far as I could see was going nuts.

Hartford 2010 had an insane floor crowd too.

PJ shows without the "casual" fans would suck ass. Can you imagine 20,000 neckbeards in an arena standing there waiting to here Dirty Frank?

I brought what I would call a "casual" fan to the show in Boston with me in May. He loved the show and said it was one of the best shows he had ever been to. He's a huge DMB fan(at the level we are at with PJ) and went to DMB like 2 weeks later, and after that said that the PJ show was better than DMB. He's been all about some songs he didnt know before the show now like Red Mosquito and Crown Of Thorns.

Every time I bring a casual fan to a show they walk out of it being a much bigger fan.

I took a girlfriend to Philly 2 and as I've said before, the sound was so horrible we couldn't believe it. She kept saying "This sucks. How are we supposed to enjoy this?" She fell asleep during the encore.

OMFG! Casual fans are weak!

My thoughts:
-We were casual fans at one point, then the virus set in.
-I feel bad standing up in front of a casual fan during a show.
-I had a casual fan ask me during the Newark show what the name of a song was, kindly answered, "GO." Then thought of how many times Eddie sings the word Go during the song and giggled to myself.
-Let's support the casual fan when we can, unless they are "hump-heads".

Admin shouldn't be allowed to talk like this.

I was never a casual fan.