Customer Reviews

8/14/00 - New Orleans, Louisiana

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My 30 year high school reunion was scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, I didn't want to go to this concert, but it was SO important for my 17 year old son to be there along with one of his pals, so after first saying no, I reluctantly agreed to go along and we went to this concert. Sonic Youth opened up. Thye were good (and Loud). Pearl Jam finally took the stage and their (unusual,for this tour) opening song was Long Road. I sat in amazement as the the lead singer and the drummer slowly built from a minor chord to a wonderful major that left me moved, both with the mystical lyrics and the wonderful progression of good, really good, music. The song would continue to haunt me as I attended my class reunion and came in contact with so many of my old friends and loved ones. I am now a true believer, a fan, but not an expert. I like this c/d a lot as well as the other live one from this tour that we have, Code 23. I wish that it included Smile and baba o'riley, both of which are on the other live c/d, but I love that version of Long Road, as well as Off He Goes, Beterman, Daughter, and Small Town. I was glad to see the interaction between the band and the fans. I had heard of the tragic loss of life at an earlier concert. I felt the band was reaching out to these young fans, wanting them to be safe and happy. From a fan of the 60's music, I recommend this band to the folks from my generation. I heard the Stones, the Who, Faces and others live years ago. Pearl Jam was better.

Disclaimer: Owner of all 72 official PJ bootlegs. This is an above-average performance in the Big Easy, and is a dependable entry from the early section of the American tour. A very emotional rendition of "Long Road" opens the show, which then continues into an especially rocking set list, which is lower on ballads than usual. Included among the rockers this evening are some relative tour rarities like "Evacuation," "In Hiding" and "Jeremy," not to mention the first of only two appearances of the cover "Sonic Reducer" by punk band the Dead Boys. The band is in a very jam-worthy mood tonight. All of the extra-long barnburners ("Daughter," "Rearviewmirror," and "Porch") are top-of-the-line, with Matt Cameron holding down the fort especially well while the rest of the band is off jamming. In this evening's stage banter, watch for Eddie Vedder's hysterical description of the political conventions taking place that week ("My fellow Americans...").

I regularly listen to about 20 of these 2000/01 tour recordings now, five years after the fact. Other reviewers have been helpful in steering me to some of the tightest performances and best produced recordings (Philadelphia 1, Jones Beach 2 and 3, and Pittsburgh for starters), but this one isn't given due credit. When I pop this New Orleans show into the CD player after another PJ concert, the superior power and clarity of the recording is immediately obvious. On this particular night, not only was the band tight, focused, and rocking, but the guitar techs and recording engineers nailed the settings for compression and edgy, crisp sound textures. Every squeal, crunch, and flutter matches the dynamics of each moment of every song. Check it out.

if my friends could have gotten their act together i was going to go to see this concert date... but, thanks to a combination of happenings... i didn't get a chance to go see pearl jam's only louisiana performance off their binaural tour.

having said that... it stands to reason that i would grab this official bootleg of that show... to beat myself up over what i missed... and, i am.

i have ten of the european date bootlegs... that was the combination it took for me to get at least one performance of every single song i wanted... so... i think i have an idea of what an average night on this tour sounded like. having said all that... the new orleans show is much much meatier. i suppose it has something to do with the way they set up the mixing levels.. but... gossard and ament sound wonderful on these discs... the bass is real heavy... at times threatening to drown the song... but, never fully getting the chance... because ament's guitar just soars above it effortlessly.

for me... the stand out songs on this date's performance... would have to be the second disc... not that i'm knocking the first side... nosiree... just that the back half of the show has a steller performance of yellow ledbetter... and a trancelike performance of jeremy... which follows the only part of the banter vedder had between songs... that got a tad bit political (appropriate since this show was on the day of the democratic convention)... but... the 2 songs that i am beating myself up for missing the most... is a wonderfully low-key version of crazy mary... and sonic reducer...

i wish i had gone solo on this concert... but, alas... i can't change the past. thanks to pearl jam, however, i can at least listen to it in stereo.

I saw pearl jam in new orleans in 96' and the recent 2000 show! This concert was excellent, and even better than the show in 96'. It is very rare to see a band play more than 20 songs in one night, and pearl jam played 29 songs. I was amazed! The best way to decribe this concert and CD is to let the music speak for itself. . . . . 5 STARS! ! ! 5 STARS ! ! ! 5 STARS

I like this CD. Especially the reminiscence on the track 1,"Long Road". Strangely, Stone Gossard's guitar sounds a lot like the 13th Floor Elevators on this track. Interesting tuning and instrument selection by the band members. Maybe they were paying respect to the extraordinary musicians from the area. I loved the "trilling" from the female members of the audience; what a sound!
Eddie Vedder's political rants are well, rants; but he sure can sing and inspire those guys to play. Mike McCready's guitar work was, as usual, on fire. This is one great Live PJ recording.

Pearl Jam's show in New Orleans is a solid, but not spectacular show. There are strong versions of "Animal", "rearviewmirror" and "Hail, Hail". They have an interesting and welcome opener with "Long Road" and they have some fun with their surprise hit song "Last Kiss", but they seem listless on the closer "Yellow Leadbetter" and the energy sags a bit in places. But still, overall, the show still rocks.