Customer Reviews

Pearl Jam - Touring Band 2000 [VHS]

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Having seen Pearl Jam live twice, and one of those times having been the summer of 2000, I was awaiting "Touring Band 2000" with mixed feelings. On the one hand, Pearl Jam play longer than any other band around, with sets routinely running 2.5 hours, and even then you want more. So it is only natural that a fan would want to recapture some of this experience at home. At the same time, though, there is so much energy at a PJ concert, I was worried that the DVD would seem flat.

I need not have worried, because the DVD is superb. There is a great mix of old and new, fast and slow songs. The transitions from one venue to the other are seemless, and the sound is outstanding (note, I'd recommend not using 5.1 channel surround, it sounds a little too processed that way). There is also the unique "Matt Cam" angle, which gives you the view from Matt Cameron's drum riser with a heavier percussive mix.

Where the DVD really shines though, is in the cinematography. It consists exclusively of hand held footage shot by the roadies. As a result the DVD presents a rough, in your face viewing that matches perfectly with the band itself. The mixture of wide shots covering the whole stage, close-ups on individual band members and pans of the crowd almost mimic the view of someone sitting in the front rows. I promise, if you crank this DVD loud enough, you'll feel like you're at a show.

As for the remaining features, the European montages are interesting, and the instrumentals they are set to are pretty cool; it's always nice to hear something new from PJ. Of course, it's nice to have a clean copy of the "Oceans" and "Do the Evolution" videos with decent sound. My personal favorite, however, were the outtakes from the North American Tour set to "Smile". Aside from the fact the song is one of my favorites, and aside from the fact the Pearl Jam dressed up as The Village People is worth the price of the disc, it really captures the essence of the band. They're genuinely having fun; they aren't in it for the money, they're in it because they love the music and they love their fans. In this day and age that's pretty special...and so's this DVD.

You're the type of person that loves reading about good Pearl Jam material, aren't you? Well then you ought to love this...

This is a beautifully arranged DVD with a terrific array of features. Pearl Jam gives you montages of themselves, the cities they visited and the fans, all of which are accompanied by some unreleased instrumental tracks from the Binaural sessions. One of them even sounds like something that could have been on Ten. They're all lovely clips and I'm sure they will make you nostalgic of the last show you were at, or the last time you were in Cardiff or something. They have the videos for Oceans and Evolution, which are both very good. The Oceans video is great, you get a glimpse of them when they were younger and still blowing up. It's a fun video to have on the DVD seeing as how it was probably made about 9 years before this tour. The Evolution video is of course really good, and a pleasure to watch.

Matt's Cam is kind of cool, though it's not something I'll probably watch many more times unless I want drumming lessons. You do get to hear In My Tree which is not on the rest of the DVD.

Ahhh, to the setlist. Quite honestly, I wasn't expecting this to be as good as it was. I saw them in Albany, and they were very good, but there are always some throwaways. There really aren't many on this DVD, and they do a great job choosing the keepers. Each song is at a new venue and it's always a smooth transition into each other. Songs that sound particulary good are Dissident, Given to Fly, Evolution, Go, Insignificance, Grievance, Evenflow, Daughter, and Animal. They're really having a good time, and they sound tight and hard. Of course, not everyone will be satisfied, I would have loved it if Garden, Immortality, Sometimes, Brain of J, and Release were on there, but I'm not complaining. Being an almost psychotic fan, I was worried Stone was getting bored with Pearl Jam what with Eddie playing guitar more, but he seems really immersed in the music and has some really great solos on MFC and Evolution. Eddie was in top form talking to the audience and charming everyone as usual. Okay, I have a crush on him, I'm sorry, it's not even a non-sexual crush, it's just a straight up homosexaul crush, just kidding...kind of. Look, I have a girlfriend!!

Well anyhow, I'm sure all of you have already purchased this, and want to see the others' reaction. I'm ecstatic. Thanks for reading.

After having seen a few PJ shows as well as numerous other concerts, I can say that this band is abosulutely the BEST live band in the business. This tour was no different and this DVD, on one hand, is a big window into the PJ concert experience for those who have never had the pleasure, and on the other hand for those who have been there it brings back memories of a great time! I was in the audience during this awesome performance of Corduroy in DC. The energy was intense at the very least. Don't pay attention to those who say this DVD was crap because they obviously do not know what they are talking about. These are probably the kind of people who need big props and fancy lasers on stage to keep their interest. It's also evident that they have never been to a PJ concert. True music lovers will enjoy it. The music and footage is intentionally raw and hard. PJ doens't need all the flash to sell their shows, it's all about the music and the atmosphere. This is evident on this DVD. Buy it! You will not regret it!

After collecting the entire CD collection of Pearl Jam, I decided that the entire compilation would not be complete without a DVD of the band. So in essence this DVD 'Touring Band 2000 is exceptional.

The footage is 100% supurb with the sound quality and the media quality above par. This DVD is a roundup of Pearl Jam's 2000 North American tour and they have 24 songs that was collated from the different concerts including their home city of Seattle.

Every Pearl Jam fan will be happy with the song collections on this DVD which includes my favourites 'Evacuation', 'God's Dice', 'Even Flow' and 'Evolution'. There are extra special features included in this DVD, video clips of 'Wishlist' and 'Do The Evolution'. There are the Fan Footage, City and Band documentaries.

All in all this is a successful DVD that has all of the songs that made Pearl Jam a hit. I am very happy with this DVD.

A must have dvd for every Pearl Jam fan. To start with the sound quality is incredible, you can't help, but crank it up. Most of their best songs are here and good versions of each, particularly the Seattle stuff and the kickass Rockin In The Free World. There's no gimmicks or extra band members, just five great musicians putting on a great show. The extras are nice also and at around three hours, it's a great value purchase. It ranks up there with Springsteen in New York, U2 Go Home and the Led Zeppelin double DVD. I bought Live At The Garden after getting Touring Band, but was a bit dissappointed. If you don't have either and can only afford one, then Touring Band 2000 is the one you should get.

The true gems of this 28 song set taken from their North American 2000 tours is the unique moments it captures from different cities across the continent. The sign-language woman, Kim, in St. Louis dancing and signing "Given to Fly" is truly sublime. Art in a different form allowing everyone to see Eddie Vedder's expressive words in an entirely new way. Also, the kid rocker in Albuquerque riding around on Vedder's shoulders, finished off Rockin In The Free World with drumstick in hand, crashing cymbals. It's truly great and reminds us why we are loving this band so much. They are doing it for the fans and the love of rock music. Purist in an unpure industry. I find it surprising, with the emotional intensity of PJ's music that the band doesn't go more crazy on-stage, but they've been there and done that in the early days and their focus is more on making the music here. The extras thrown in for the DVD version are worth it, giving us the Do The Evolution animated video, the "Matt"-cam, a Smile montage, and an appreciation of the good things about the European tour. Great music from a stripped down band with garage-like production with hand-held cameras. It's the compliment to all the live bootlegs they put out, a forte effort in and of itself. It's good to see them put some b-sides on here as well, Long Road, Leatherman, and I Got Id. The Daughter tag is great. If you are a PJ fan, don't miss picking up this DVD.

If you are a Pearl Jam fan, buy it. If not, buy it. Two clips in this DVD struck a chord with me. The first is the footage for "Given to Fly". Eddie V introduces a lady who "signs" the song for the deaf, and to see her signs and movements is simply amazing. Eddie V even does an impromptu dance with her at the end of the song. Simply grand. The second instance is "Daughter". The band launches into a tune at the end whose refrain states, "It's OK, I still love you anyway." To see the joy in the fans' faces in the crowd during the extended song is worth the price of the disc alone. This DVD is a lasting testimony to a "touring band" that is definitely in its prime, the mainstream be damned. Buy it, you WILL NOT be sorry.

I recently picked this up, and I'm pretty impressed. I've just gotten really into Pearl Jam a few months ago, and man I've been missing out! Most modern rock bands sound pretty bad, but Pearl Jam is awesome. This video has a great selection of sonsg, including some of my favorites like "Animal", "Even Flow", "Daughter" and "Rockin' In The Free World". I had heard a majority of the songs when i bought it, but watching them live they are even better. It's filmed extremely well, usually focusing on Eddie and the rest of the band, and when Mike plays a solo they show him really well. You can also watch from a camera filming only Matt behind the drumset. He's such a good drummer! I wish they would have included "Alive", but this is still a great collection of songs, and watching them live makes it even more great! If you are a fan of Pearl Jam, I strongly recommend this.

Touring Band 2000 (2001.), Pearl Jam's second offical DVD release

When it comes to having a reputation as a great live band, Pearl Jam's is second to none. From their earlier days when the band was part of the alternative grunge rock explosion though to the latter days where the band took a more devoloping and experimental direction, the band has had many successful and memorable tours. In 2000, following the release of the band's sixth studio album, 'Binaural', the band embarked on an extensive European and USA tour which would last them the best part of 5 months. At the time, the band conceived the idea of recording all of their concerts and releasing a concert official bootleg series. This became reality when the 72 concert series was released after the tour. However, coupled along side this, 3 memebers of the Pearl Jam tour crew had shot extensive video footage, including all of the bands concerts in the USA. As a further memorable reminder for the 2000 tour, the band released a 28 song DVD set showing the best moments of their tour. The question is does this DVD do the band's great 2000 tour the justice it desrves?

Pearl Jam are one of my all-time favourite bands and during the course of me reviewing their catalogue on amazon, I've given plenty of their albums, both live and studio, a five star rating. However, I've always felt the DVD's have been the weaker side of the Pearl Jam release cannon. That's not to say they're bad, it's just that in some cases they don't do the band the full justice they deserve; the prime example being the 2003 'Live At The Garden' release which features one of Pearl Jam's weaker full live performances. That said though, Pearl Jam's 2000 tour release is perhaps their stronger DVD so far. The picking of 28 high moments at concerts on the US leg of the tour and putting them into one DVD was great idea. It's a highlights package in many respects but it's a damn good one and shows many fine performances from the band during their tour. So, even though it's not one great, single concert; it might as well be because the DVD features 2+ hours of Pearl Jam playing plenty of their best material. It's an amazing document of great sounding, high energy rock n' roll with all 5 band members on top form. Furthermore, the DVD features some great extras. The 2 songs videos for 'Do The Evolution' and 'Oceans' are good extras on the DVD and the snapshot footage sequences for the European leg of the tour are great also.

Best moments of the DVD? It's hard to pick, seen as the songs are best moments on the tour anyway! The 'Leatherman', 'Betterman' and 'Nothingman' set from the final concert in Seattle is exceptional. Eddie Vedder's expressive vocals resonate throughout the stadium and the band give a stellar performance. The 'Rocking In The Free World' is also an excellent encore song to finish the DVD - Eddie Vedder invites a kid onto the stage to sing along and dance to the song and the band give another inspired performance. 'Grievance' and 'Corduroy', two classic Pearl Jam songs are fantastic editions and sound really great as does, remarkably, two of the weaker songs off 'Binaural' in the shape of 'God's Dice' and 'Evacuation'. The band play the fan favourite 'Lukin' and subsequent run-in track, the slow, sludgy 'Not For You' in great style also. The final highlight is of course the 'Rearviewmirror'. The band always get psyched up for this song and this version is no exception - magnificent!

Pearl Jam's 'Touring Band 2000' release is by far they're strongest DVD release so far in their career. The highlights package style format captures the band in amazing and memorable form and features some of their best music. Any fan of the band should consider getting hold of a copy of the DVD as it further demonstates just how awesome a band Pearl Jam are and how effective they are live.

MY RATING: 8.5/10

I am a life long Pearl Jam fan, so needless to say I was very excited about the idea of a concert DVD. I saw 3 shows on the 2000 tour and have followed the band from the beginning.

This DVD does a wonderful job of capturing the emotion and energy that Pearl Jam displays each and every night while on tour. The setlist is excellent, with a mixture of old favorites and new gems. I do wish there would have been one or two more covers to wrap it up though (Baba would have been perfect). I also wish Release would have been the opener. The only other request would have been more outtakes. The ones on the DVD go by very quickly. Those are really my only to "complaints" about the entire DVD, and those are not really complaints at all.

If you are a Pearl Jam fan, you will love this DVD. If you are like me, you have been suffering through years of bootleg videos and poor sound quality. Well this DVD is like a breath of fresh air. As a fan, I can only hope that this will be an ongoing trend for future tours. This is definately a concert DVD that is weel worht the dollars you will spend on it. Go buy the DVD and turn it up very loud!