Live: OCT.22 2003 Benaroya Hall

by

Pearl Jam

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This is a mostly acoustic performance of an entire benefit show. While Pearl Jam has released their entire 2000 tour in stores, and 2003 tour from a website (5 shows in stores), this one is very different. Rather than adapting hard rocking songs to an acoustic format, they dug deep into their large catalog of slower songs and either played them close to the original, or took an acoustic approach.

The spread of the 24 songs across their albums is as follows... Binaural(5), Yield(1), Riot Act(3), Lost Dogs(4), Originals not on an album(1), Vitalogy(1), No Code(3), Covers(4), Ten(1), Vs.(1).

Sound Quality... The 2000 bootlegs were pretty poor by today's standards, the 2003 bootlegs were much much better. Benaroya is incredible. Partly because it is acoustic, mostly due to the fact that Benaroya Hall is a orchestra hall specifically designed for sound. That, plus better recording and mixing equipment, and adequate time to master. There is a lot of bass, and kickdrum. The room ambience is clearly felt upon playback. Put away the Windex, the reason you can't see through your mirror isn't dirt, it is vibrating. Clear separation of the instruments, and vocals are clear and forward. Really good soundstage. When used, electric guitar is mixed fairly low and not oppressive.

Songs... Of the girl is close to the original with great coloration with the electric guitar. A masterful performance. Low Light is rarely played, and in the past sounded tentative. Best version I've heard. Thumbing my way was perfect and very close to the original. Thin air sounds strong but contains a blunder in a transitional guitar piece. Band jokes after which makes it funny. First ever performance of Fatal. Sounds much better than the Lost Dogs version. Stronger. Rousing rendition of Nothing as it seems. Mike is on fire. Man of the hour only days old, band makes a rousing performance. Marred by microphone feedback. Immortality, and the acoustic solo and jam is a concert highlight which will send chills down your spine. Off he goes features Mike McCready really stepping out adding electric coloration. Way better than the album version. Around the bend played for the 1st time in 5 years. Really nice guitar and piano. I believe in miracles(Ramones) reengineered for acoustic. Very well done. Sleight of hand- one of the best performances. Expose of band's talent and overall sound quality of this recording. All or none features a rousing solo by Mike McCready. Lukin features the band joking about acoustic performances as they play it as original. Parting Ways done acoustically features Eddie Vedder's talents and is better than the original. Down is exactly like the original but acoustic. Sounds like a Tom Petty song. Can't Keep is Ed alone with a ukulele. Very rousing. Dead Man is also Ed solo but electric. Almost identical with the version on Lost Dogs. And then, out of nowhere, comes Dylan's Masters of War (Freewheeling). This is angry and spinechilling. Ed's voice goes full range. This is a highlight as this is gripping. Then comes the best version of Black I've ever heard. Acoustic does this justice. The crowd sings the climax and McCready does one of the most appropriate solos of his career. With the sound quality, you capture that magical moment in your home. Crazy Mary features Kenneth "Boom" Gaspar on organ. That's not booing at the end, the crowd is cheering for Boom. 25 Minutes to go features Ed's vocals and the band's diversity. A true show highlight. Daughter was done in the typical live fashion. Stone used a real acoustic guitar rather than an acoustic effect on electric. Made it sound much better this way. Yellow Ledbetter was done in the usual live fashion except, with the superior sound quality of this venue, it grips you.

If you like this one... here are some other recommendations:

Binaural - 5 songs from Binaural played here and others are very good

Lost Dogs - If you like mellower Pearl Jam, disk 2 is full of it

No Code - Very diverse, mellower

Mansfield 7/11/03 - Disk 1 is an acoustic set like this one, some overlap but many others not in Benaroya.

Man of the hour (Amazon exclusive) - Track 1 is the song, Track 2 is the original demo.

Merkinball - 2 Songs, Long Road is similar to Benaroya's "ambience".

I was very excited at the prospect of an acoustic Pearl Jam set. Pearl Jam has always excelled at acoustic, introspective songs and I was curious to learn how a whole live acoustic album would sound. Unfortunately, the vast majority of songs are slow, acoustic versions of songs that were already slow and acoustic on the albums. They sound very similar, except there is some very annoying crowd noise. It would have been very interesting to hear acoustic interpretations of heavier, electric songs such as Evenflow, Jeremy, Rearviewmirror, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Do the Evolution, etc. Once I saw the setlist, I was wondering how they would play the songs that have very distinct electric guitar (Of the Girl, Nothing as it Seems, Yellow Ledbetter) with only acoustic instruments. Well, they accomplished it by once again using a very distinct electric guitar. I thought this was to be all acoustic? Once again, sounds too much like the album but with crowd noise.

I would still say this is a good listen, but it could have been so much more if they used the chance to re-interpret their own songs.