Pearl Jam - Live: 07-11-03 Mansfield, MA
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by Dirty Frank)
One of the best things about Pearl Jam, besides their incredible music and the lead singer Eddie Vedder, is that they produce these bootleg cd's for every concert that they play. Being such an amazing live band, one can experience every concert even if they weren't there (due to some asshole who sold your tickets to someone else the day before the concert because they are the biggest faggot in the entire world who likes to stick objects up their ass. This concert at Mansfield, Massachusetts is a prime example of their music, and the band itself. Right in the beginning, just before they play their first song Eddie comes out and says, "Good Morning, the advice we give you is the advice we give ourselves, lets pace ourselves. It's gonna be a long one." And that he's right. He goes on to call the concert "an experiment" numerous times. He includes his usual speech about politics and the war in Iraq, sharing his strong views.
Disc 1:
They start off with a 12 song set played all acoustic that is purely calm
and soothing. They play some recognizable songs like "Long Road"
"All Those Yesterdays" and "Sometimes". They also play
some favorites off the Lost Dogs album like "Drifting" and "Footsteps".
But it's the songs like "Of the Girl" "Thin Air" and "Sleight
of Hand" that did it for me. This first disk is just an ideal cd to listen
to for Pearl Jam fans who feel like listening to a composed, soothing set.
All of the songs are done extraordinarily, I couldn't have asked for more
from this first disc. I'm hoping that many of these will be on the upcoming
release of an all acoustic cd by Pearl Jam.
Disc 2:
The second disc gets back into a more normal set for Pearl Jam at a concert.
Starting off with the first track from the semi-recent Riot Act album, they
play "Can't Keep". Next after that they swing right into a few of
their heavier songs, "Breakerfall" "Brain of J" and "Spin
the Black Circle" that pick up the mood of the crowd to a screaming,
rowdy audience that you would expect to find at a "Rage Against the Machine"
concert. Then they shoot right into some more Riot Act songs like "Ghost"
"Green Disease" and one of my favorites from the album "Cropduster".
Also on this second disc they play a couple of the great songs on Yield, "Faithful"
and "Wishlist". It's already apparent how much they skip around
from album to album playing a variety of songs that show what they're all
about. Near the end of this disc they play the 3 -man songs consecutively,
"Leatherman" "Nothingman" and "Betterman". All
three are greatly performed.
Disc 3:
Starting off the last cd from this concert is a soft, simple tune labeled
"Untitled". I fell in love with this song, much like every other
of their songs the first time I heard it. Then comes "MFC" and the
hard and heavy screams of Eddie in the song "Blood" off of their
Vs. album. Then comes their first encore break, and they come back and play
songs like the easygoing "Down", and "Mankind", one of
the few songs sung by guitarist Stone Gossard. They also play "U"
(spelt right) from the Lost Dogs album. Next come a couple of their most recognizable
hits, the popular radio songs "Black" and "Jeremy". They
then come back after a second encore break and do a short set of covers, including
The Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles", Neil Young's "Rockin'
in the Free World", and the classic CCR hit "Fortunate Son".
When I saw this song was on here I almost wet myself with joy. This, and the
incredibly long set was probably what convinced me to purchase this bootleg.
But, practically the only disappointment for me with this album was that they
have the female lead singer of Sleater Kinney sing more than half the song,
sort of opera style. I loved the music, but she didn't do it for me. Thank
God Eddie came in and finished the song up CCR style. Track 17 on disc 3 is
titled "One Note", and that's what it is, haha. They just play one
note and exit the stage. Who would have thought that they would come back
for a third encore, but that is just how Pearl Jam is. They come back and
answer the crowds calls for my favorite song, and probably their most common
concert song "Yellow Ledbetter". What a song. Each time they play
it it's unique and has different lyrics. This performance is one of the best
I've ever heard of the song. What a way to wrap up this 48 song concert.
After listening to all three of these discs one can only sit there in awe wishing that they were present at that concert. If you are not real familiar with the band, I would definitely recommend listening to this album. It gives excellent representation to their music and the band. I still can't believe that I bought this bootleg for only 15 bucks at Wal-Mart. What a great store. The only song that I really wish they could have included in the set is "Daughter". They always do a great job on that song live, and I wish they had done it here. All three cd's have constantly been in my cd player for the 4 weeks that I've owned it, and I won't be surprised if I keep them in for a long, long time. I don't own very many cd's that out perform this one. Go out and buy it.
