I don't remember it sounding this bad at the show. Jeez.
I haven't seen a show or heard more than a song and a half from any show post-2003, but even in the 98-03 era the boots brutally failed to capture the shows. Most bands, the live album pretty much hits the show minus the view. Even Neil's live albums might not come close, but they feel like magic. In 2003, I took 4 people with me to two shows...I had to pay their way, because none of them had even heard an album, and two didn't recognize Alive when I played it to them (one only listened to top 40). All four ended up literally speechless...and buying multiple albums. I bought the boots for the same shows, and went "well, meh."
The band fills up a room. It's hard to process that way, because every live show you ever saw filled up a room. But it's not the same. I love Bruce live, but it sounds like a loud version of the shows I've seen. Bob Dylan? Amazing spit-talk versions of songs that roll more than rock, but easily recognized in a live bootleg and not significantly impacted by the moment. Pearl Jam in a tiny little piece of shit venue in Rapid City, South Dakota, 1998? Lightning outside? Frank Black sounding amazing, but totally ignored by the crowd? An annoyed Ed hocking spit on the front row and snapping "alright, fuckers," as the band kicked into DTE as the opener? Nobody sounds like that. It doesn't happen. And you can't record it.
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:14 pm Posts: 802 Location: Australia Gender: Male
¡B! wrote:
theplatypus wrote:
spenno wrote:
I needed the space on my external HD, so I just deleted the vast majority of Pearl Jam's post-2006 live bootlegs.
I kept:
3x 2008 (Columbia, Virginia Beach, Boston II) 12x 2009 (Toronto, San Francisco, Ridgefield, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles IV + all Australia/NZ shows) 3x 2010 (Cleveland, Newark, Arras) 3x 2011 (Hamilton, Saskatoon, Lima) 1x 2012 (Stockholm)
Some of those could probably go too, but they can meet their fate another day.
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Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:21 am Posts: 23078 Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina Gender: Male
McParadigm wrote:
Rebar wrote:
I don't remember it sounding this bad at the show. Jeez.
I haven't seen a show or heard more than a song and a half from any show post-2003, but even in the 98-03 era the boots brutally failed to capture the shows. Most bands, the live album pretty much hits the show minus the view. Even Neil's live albums might not come close, but they feel like magic. In 2003, I took 4 people with me to two shows...I had to pay their way, because none of them had even heard an album, and two didn't recognize Alive when I played it to them (one only listened to top 40). All four ended up literally speechless...and buying multiple albums. I bought the boots for the same shows, and went "well, meh."
The band fills up a room. It's hard to process that way, because every live show you ever saw filled up a room. But it's not the same. I love Bruce live, but it sounds like a loud version of the shows I've seen. Bob Dylan? Amazing spit-talk versions of songs that roll more than rock, but easily recognized in a live bootleg and not significantly impacted by the moment. Pearl Jam in a tiny little piece of shit venue in Rapid City, South Dakota, 1998? Lightning outside? Frank Black sounding amazing, but totally ignored by the crowd? An annoyed Ed hocking spit on the front row and snapping "alright, fuckers," as the band kicked into DTE as the opener? Nobody sounds like that. It doesn't happen. And you can't record it.
Great, McP is drunk again.
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:37 pm Posts: 15767 Location: Vail, CO Gender: Male
McParadigm wrote:
Rebar wrote:
I don't remember it sounding this bad at the show. Jeez.
I haven't seen a show or heard more than a song and a half from any show post-2003, but even in the 98-03 era the boots brutally failed to capture the shows. Most bands, the live album pretty much hits the show minus the view. Even Neil's live albums might not come close, but they feel like magic. In 2003, I took 4 people with me to two shows...I had to pay their way, because none of them had even heard an album, and two didn't recognize Alive when I played it to them (one only listened to top 40). All four ended up literally speechless...and buying multiple albums. I bought the boots for the same shows, and went "well, meh."
The band fills up a room. It's hard to process that way, because every live show you ever saw filled up a room. But it's not the same. I love Bruce live, but it sounds like a loud version of the shows I've seen. Bob Dylan? Amazing spit-talk versions of songs that roll more than rock, but easily recognized in a live bootleg and not significantly impacted by the moment. Pearl Jam in a tiny little piece of shit venue in Rapid City, South Dakota, 1998? Lightning outside? Frank Black sounding amazing, but totally ignored by the crowd? An annoyed Ed hocking spit on the front row and snapping "alright, fuckers," as the band kicked into DTE as the opener? Nobody sounds like that. It doesn't happen. And you can't record it.
that was such an awesome show. 2nd show ever for me
I should probably be annoyed that "Great, McP is drunk again" is becoming a theme post, but I think I'm more just impressed that it literally only pops up when I'm horribly, horribly drunk.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
I really agree with McP's post, btw. No bootleg has ever come close to capturing the live experience, moreso than any other band I listen to.
On the other hand, a group like REM actually sounds better recorded than they do in person.
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Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Eddie's voice fills a live space with this incredible intimate warmth and depth that's really hard to match. Even as a diminished vocalist this is still the case, and it's not the crowd doing it. You can hear the same thing during quiet solo shows as well. This all gets flattened and compressed on these live boots. It almost always has.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
I do think Ed has a great voice but, whether due to natural deterioration/harm as a result of smoking excessively/a mixture of both, he doesn't sound good singing loud rock music anymore. He is much more comfortable vocally at his solo shows, but I wager he would sound even better at those had his voice not suffered so much wear.
Few people complain about his voice when present at Pearl Jam shows, but I wonder how much of that is attributable to a) volume and reverberation in the venue filling out his voice and b) people hearing what they want to hear, ie: mentally filling in the blanks (unintentionally).
The bootlegs aren't misleading, they're more accurate. People's senses are faulty and subject to all kinds of preconceptions and biases, the bootlegs are entirely neutral.
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:00 am Posts: 16093 Location: dublin Gender: Male
I thought were all agreed the bootlegs are a neutered version of the event. Musically and vocally. He's still got a huge voice which I hope is in a transitional period into a dark whiskey 3am Tom waits vibe. I dunno if that's what he's aiming for bit I do agree that he should play to his strengths and that, he hasn't been doing with pj either in the studio or live. Solo, he sounds incredible.
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