Search - Pearl Jam :: 8/10/00 - West Palm Beach, Florida

I was there

Richard Pachter | South Florida | 03/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here's my review of the concert that was published in The Miami Herald on 8/11/00 and posted on my web site, wordsonwords.com



There was a bit of a tailgate party going on in the MARS Music Amphitheater

parking lot Wednesday night. Rather than ribs and chicken wings, the

attendant SUVs, minivans and the like were cooking up Pearl Jam's first

album, Ten, vintage 1991.



Anyone expecting to hear the band's latest release, Binaural, or any of its

immediate predecessors, would have been disappointed, as the debut

collection uncannily echoed throughout the lot.



Onstage, however, it was another story. The night's set was drawn mainly

from later albums, with a few exceptions. The sold-out audience didn't seem

to mind. They responded predictably upon recognizing anything familiar from

radio airplay.



Frontman Eddie Vedder wore white. The rest of the band - guitarists Stone

Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Amnet, and the latest drummer,

ex-Soundgarden percussionist Matt Cameron - could have slipped into the

audience unnoticed.



Some critics fault Pearl Jam's compositional abilities, citing their uneven

and somewhat repetitious oeuvre. In fact, there was a lack of textural

variety in Wednesday night's set. The songs from Binaural, including

"Breakerfall" and "Nothing As It Seems" were nearly identical to the recorded

versions.



Pearl Jam may be something of a throwback in these days of samples, ersatz

rock hip hop and electronica, but there was nothing iconoclastic or

anachronistic about their performance. The playing was fresh and energetic

and they clearly fed off the crowd's enthusiasm



But such journeyman work deserves presentation equal to the performance.

It's a little surprising, given Vedder's adulation of The Who's Pete

Townshend, that he hasn't steered Pearl Jam toward a bigger, or at least

fuller concert presence."

Solid Show From the 2000 Tour

S. Wynn | Florida | 08/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I think some reviewers are unduly harsh with many of these official bootlegs. Every show I've heard has great soundboard quality, a nice seperation of instruments and witty stage banter from Eddie Vedder. In fact, the live versions of songs like "Breakerfall", "God's Dice", "Evacuation" and "Pilate" make me like the songs, which I didn't care for in their original studio renditions.



The August 10, 2000 show in West Palm Beach captures the band in good spirits and in good musical form. The first disc features exceptional performances of "Corduroy" (performed in most every show that tour), "Once", "MFC" and perhaps the finest versions I've heard of "Off He Goes" and "Betterman." Glorious!



The second disc is a notch lower in quality, as the band performs some covers that don't pack the same punch emotionally or musically as PJ's own compositions. However, the rather sloppy but well-intentioned version of the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" features Vedder proclaiming while the guitar intro plays: "For us. For Rock & Roll!" He then emits a Roger Daltrey-esque scream and it works really well, an homage to the veteran band.



Well worth the money and a fine addition to your Pearl Jam live collection."