When Good Bands Go Arena
Pearl Jam are that band for me, you know, the one where you own all the records, know all the songs, can name the drummer etc. I last saw PJ in Cardiff, Wales in 2000 (read my wide-eyed review here). For six years I’ve been talking that concert up to everyone who will listen: the small venue, the 2 1/2 hour setlist, Eddie’s rapport with the crowd, the moshing. Since then I have converted my wife to things Jam. Last night we went to see them at the Verizon Center in DC. I left utterly underwhelmed, and I’m sad this morning. Please mourn with me.
It wasn’t really PJ’s fault. The set-list was fantastic. But for everyone not on the floor, the Verizon Center sucks. From the rafters, I felt really disconnected from the stage. I expected this, but the real travesty was that the sound was just awful. It was like listening to music in a water tank in the middle of an aircraft hanger. We were unlucky. Ten seats down (where a speaker was pointing) things sounded much better, but this being the Verizon Center — staffed by Nazis — there was no moving. So, we gazed longingly at the fan club people for whom the entire floor was reserved.
Part of PJ’s attraction beyond the music is that they are so un-Rock Star. So, here’s a thought for the lads: play in smaller places or don’t play at all. Had I known how bad it would sound, I would not have gone. If a band cares about their concerts being experiential (rather than just a way to mint money — Eddie, say it ain’t so), that’s the deal they should have with fans. Good seats or no seats. In other words, just because you can go Arena, doesn’t mean you should.
They’re playing in Vienna in September. If I can scalp good tickets, I’ll go. If not, well, nevermind. I should add that Rebecca actually quite liked it. Maybe it’s because I’m such a fan that I want more from my concerts. It’s sad that the bootleg mp3′s will sound better for me than the concert itself. Next time I’ll just buy the bootlegs, light some candles and marijuana, and project pictures on my wall. I’ll save $50 that way.
As proof that PJ do sound good, I offer their AOL Sessions.
Posted on May 31, 2006, in Live Shows, Music. Bookmark the permalink. 32 Comments.
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I saw Pearl Jam from the nosebleeds of the Delta Center in ’95 or ’96 and, yeah, looking back, it sucked. It was all trebly echo. But I went back for more the next day anyway. It was such a huge thrill to see my rock heroes. At the time I owned something like 15 PJ CDs, only three of which were studio albums.
Nowadays I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t go see them in an arena. For one thing, I don’t love them as much as I used to. Another thing, I’m much more interested in an enjoyable listening experience than I am in seeing anybody and big arenas don’t deliver.
Tom,
So imagine how I feel, who actually thinks PJ have gotten better with age but who also wants to actually hear the lead guitar! SUCKS!
That does suck.
I never go to arena shows. Cost too much. I’d rather pay $7 and see a band play in a small bar. But one of my pet peeves is bands who play smaller venues than they should. Cuz then it’s too hard to get tickets–even if they do two nights in a row rather than playing a bigger place.
Ronan,
my Pearl Jam is the Pixies. When they went back on tour starting in 2004 I saw them at a festival, a HUGE HUGE venue in NYC and then at this tiny egg shaped building (that crazy Rockefeller) in Albany NY. Of course the smallest venue was the best. They chatted with us, everyone was close, everyone had good seats etc. Very tight. But admittedly I kinda liked seeing them in a huge venue, not for the music, or the intimacy obviously. But the comraderie. It’s like being Mormon and coming to conference and seeing all these people that see the world similarly to you.
That said, the only people I would only see a few people in arenas. Pixies, Radiohead, or else people like Barry Manilow or Neil Diamond or Bon Jovi (they all seem very arena to me).
Susan,
I’d take the small(ish) venue with the risk of no ticket, than mega-arena with ticket but crappy sound.
The positive:
Opening with “Release.”
Another positive:
“Dick Cheney requested this song.” They play Neil Young’s “Fu*kin’ Up.”
One more:
The first encore was a sit-down set. This you could hear. “Masters of War” was great.
Amri,
Yeah it was cool to have 20,000 people singing:
Feeling better now.
Barenaked Ladies. Saw them in a tiny club and then after “that song” in a bigger venue. They are just so, so much better in a smaller venue.
Hey Tom, I was at that Delta Center PJ show in 95 or 96, second night. (My only specific memory is Eddie using the microphone stand to puncture a hole in the riser. Don’t tell me he does this at every show.) Having seen bands like Metallica years earlier at the same arena (they sounded great), it was even more disappointing that the sound at the PJ show was so bad. I haven’t seen many arena shows since. (Although later that same year I did see Stone Temple Pilots in the McKay Center in Provo, and it sounded pretty good.)
Ronan, I’m curious as to what the audience was like. Was it mostly people who came of age during the Pearl Jam heyday? Or were there some kids there?
Cool, Greg. I don’t remember much about either night, really. Just how excited I was. I was devoted to PJ like only a 16 year-old could be.
I think it was that same year that I saw Smashing Pumpkins (my second love) at the Delta Center and the sound was even worse. But again, I loved it anyway.
I wonder if it’s something about Metallica’s music that made them sound better. Maybe the lower, heavier sound echoes less. Or maybe you were sitting in the right spot.
What was galling was that it was obvious that the kids in the middle were having a great time. Bastards. Tom, the audience was pretty young. Late 20s, early 30s.
I’ve known some people that are part of the Pearl Jam fan club. They travel around to different cities to catch them several times on tour. PJ has a very hard core tight knit fan base and the band really treats them well. Special seating at shows, special releases only offered to them (vinyl singles, etc).
My brother and I saw New Order at the Kaiser Auditorium in Oakland last year. New Order is notorious for not performing great live concerts.
I sitll enjoyed it, but I think the venue was a major issue. Not to mention that the sound seemed to have been set up for the opening act (The Chemical Brothers).
Still, there were some great moments. But I have heard that New Order performed an amazing, transcendent concert at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre back in the late ’80s. I wish the concert I saw had been there instead. I bet 50% of it was the venue.
Click on the pic. See the guy on the front right? Bastard.
Arenas do suck, weren’t you aware?
I’ve completely stopped going to big shows because, like you mentioned, by not going, I could buy several of the band’s CDs for the price of the ticket, and would eliminate the severe disappointment that you are experiencing now.
I looked at that place where PJ is playing in Vienna and it looks really huge.
Meems,
I know, I know.
I don’t have much to add to what’s been said here. I’m with Susan: I’d rather go to a $7 show than to an arena show. That’s where the concert-going bargains are, anyway. Chances are, there are local indie bands in your area that put on better shows than most of what comes to the sports arenas, for less than a tenth of the price.
One of the most disheartening experiences of my concert-going life was when I saw R.E.M. from the cheap seats at the Delta Center for the Monster show. I don’t think I’ve been to a sports arena show since. The new sports arenas are just too big and aren’t designed to enjoy music–the acoustics are terrible. I don’t particularly care of the large, outdoor summer arenas either. I’ve seen a few good bands that way, but I’ve never really thought much of the experience.
My favorite type of venue is probably the refurbed art deco theater turned concert arena. These seem to be perfect for the size of shows I usually like to see (a few thousand people) and the set up is good for giving lots of folks good sightlines to the stage without creating confusion. Tiny bars are a mixed bag, particularly if the ventilation system is less than adequate and if the crowd is bigger than it should be.
Greg,
I’ve been to Reading and Lollapalooza and the acoustics were just fine. They always are if you can squeeze to the front. Perhaps because thay had some people die at Roskilde, there was no mosh pit at PJ. In fact, the floor was all chairs if you can Adam and Eve it.
Ronan, what do you mean, if you can Adam and Eve it? Is that some sort of Cockney slang thing, like, Adam and Eve it = believe it?
Did i guess right?
Good job, meems.
BTD Greg, I similiarly somewhat disappointed by R.E.M. show at the Oakland Coliseum (just after Green) nosebleed seats – major feedback issues, offset by seeing (!?!) my favorite band in the whole world live for the first time at my first major concert. To be fair, I think it might have been among their first arena gigs. And at least I got see Bill Berry!
A friend of mine used to work at St. James Church in London. Shortly before Around the Sun was released, R.E.M. did a “secret” concert at the church. Ellen not only stood less than ten feet away from Stipe during the concert, she photocopied their set lists beforehand, met them, handled last minute crises, etc.
Envy doesn’t cover it.
I’m not very familiar with Pearl Jam, I must admit. What I have heard sounds so serious, I can hardly imagine a “fun” time at a concert.
The last rock concert I attended was Jethro Tull, in about 1986. Since then, I’ve seen Linda Ronstadt a few times, but I don’t think these are rock concerts per se.
I thought ‘Adam and Eve it’ was a little more literal like if you can conceive it.
I always take things to literally.
In ’95, I walked up a huge mountain, in a downpour, with a kidney stone, (this is starting to sound like a pity party-LOL) to see Pearl Jam in Park City, Utah. The concert was cancelled due to the rainstorm and I never made it back to see them, but they sure would have sounded great with those moutain top acoustics.
BTD Greg, I was at that Delta Center, REM Monster tour gig, in the cheap seats as well. My last concert experience and a let down for sure.
BTD Greg, I agree with you, except to note that in tiny bars, the ventilation system is never adequate. Every time we go to a show at a tiny bar I’m coughing up black stuff for a couple of days afterward. And the bathrooms are just unbelievably nasty.
I prefer venues where there is adequate seating and no smoke. Food availability adds to the appeal. I think I’m getting too old to stand around in gross smoky bars for several hours anymore.
If I have to stand around to watch a concert, I like the free in-store performances. A couple of those have been among my favorite concerts — short, but intimate, afternoon instead of 2 a.m., and the sound was good.
The bars in Seattle were like that, Allison, but in LA I’ve been amazed at how nice the places are. They’ve outlawed smoking in bars here.
yeah, it’s not always good, good bands for that I guess would be the heavy metal bands. Most of the older country signers, like Sandy Posey, Mickey Gilley, Jeannie Seeley, etc. do better in the Reno/Vegas type environment.
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