djerdap
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Messages
- 7,609
bgmckinney said:
PJ shows aren't paced the same way U2 shows are. They have a great, headlong energy about them, but they aren't carefully structured emotional journeys. U2's desire to craft a coherent experience is one of the reasons they repeat setlists. The primary structure of almost every PJ show, as far as I can tell, is simply fast-fast-slow-fast.
The second flipside is song quality. Pearl Jam never write bad music, and mediocre tracks often come to life live, but they do not write with the consistency of U2. Many U2 b-sides are grander and more carefully composed than many PJ album tracks. And songs like Leatherman, Down, and Thumbing My Way, (to chose from the Newcastle setlist), while lovely, are to me not as good as Love Comes Tumbling, 11 O'Clock, and Spanish Eyes. After a U2 show I can always remember the setlist. After PJ, I found myself unable to remember the order in which anything was played - and now, honestly, two weeks later, I can't even remember if they played Evenflow.
I agree with you that some Pearl Jam shows don´t flow in the best way. But then again, some U2 shows don´t do that as well (I´m thinking especially about the Vertigo Tour here and that awful Pride-Streets-One combo).
I can´t agree with you on the second part; although they do have their share of mediocre songs, I can´t compare any "bad" PJ song with the crap that U2 has composed over the years (Love Rescue Me, Peace on Earth, Grace, The Refugee...).
And, along with Radiohead, Pearl Jam is by far my favorite b-sides band: just check out the beauty of Hard To Imagine, Footsteps, Sad, Undone, Fatal or Yellow Ledbetter.