My oldest daughter (18) and her gf (18) went to see Madonna last night, at Yankee Stadium.I drove them,since the Bronx isnt the best place for 2 teen girls to be wandering around at any time.
The "Material Girl" didn hit the stage until 1030,show ended at 1230.Needless to say,I had alot of time to kill.I decided to slide in disc 1 of Amsterdam N2.I have to say,this show is fantastic.What an opening !
Wash,Last Exit,Animal,SOLAT to open ?....wow.Nice speech as well after that run,EV is obviously in a good,chatty mood here."Vomit = Rock N Roll building"..great line....lol. How true...
Severed Hand,IMO, is a good solid tune,not a bad place for it in the set at all.Keeps the solid feel going strong.Nontheless,Corduroy (great spot for it),I Got Shit (love it) and then Daughter (W.M.A.) continue this run of classics.Daughter was grooving,it should go on longer,its fades and just ends.Mike though, is very "into" this show,and when he is really involved,its going to be a great one.
NAIS is my favorite tune off Binaural,I have no problem with its placement here,right after Daughter.
Got Some...wow,the song that just wont go away.To quote Commodus speaking to Maximus "You just... wont.... die"..I give up trying to figure out why this average tune is still in the sets.Makes zero sense to me.I skipped it.Unthought Known,Amonst The Waves and Force Of Nature are better songs, as far as Backspacer material to choose from.(The Fixer is in the set,as to why I left it out)
Another wild run follows...Dissident,ONCE,Glorified G,DEEP.....nothing like 4 classics in a row to shut me up.Love it.As I said,Mike is spot on,just listen to Dissident,you can feel Mike going off..then into Once,hes riffing like mad.I can picture Stone doing the pogo dance with Jeff,hopping straight up and down during this run...EV cluthing the mic,eyes closed.....classic PJ here..."an older song called Deep"...yep,enough said.
The Fixer ends disc one.A relevant "newer" tune IMO,no problem with it here.
I immediately put disc 1 back on,as I got back into Manhattan from the Bronx.Something I havent done in a long while.
As I slid disc 2 in,on my drive back up to the Bronx,Starbucks coffee in hand,I was shocked to see that Bugs was played.I burned the rips a while ago,and well,I forgot it was on here,as I didnt listen to the show.Bugs,is such an odd "song".Its great,just for the odd "WTF song is this" look on peoples faces.It adds a uniqueness to the set.
Better Man ends the main set,crowd sound great at the opening.I have always loved those lines "Waiting,watchin the clock,its 4 o'clock,its got to stop,tell him,take no more,she practices her speech,as he opens the door,she rolls over,pretends to sleep,as he looks her over...she lies and says shes in love with him..cant find a better man"...classic EV lyrics.It never gets old.
Encore 1...EV "the band had some help with the setlist".Release..perfect spot here,I would have shit my pants.Back to back songs about his father.Interesting.Love these lyrics as well..."Oh dear Dad,can you see me now,Iam myself,like you somehow,I'LL WAIT UP IN THE DARK,FOR YOU TO SPEAK TO ME !!!!,I'LL OPEN UP..RELEASE ME!!!" As EV says earlier in the song "I'll hold the pain"..you can feel it,just an amazing all around song.
Hail Hail follows,yes it picks things up.But,IMO,Black,would have been perfect here.I know it was played N1,but so was the Fixer.If you can repeat that tune,you can repeat Black.
"Hers a song for the serious collector".....you know something is up tonight,Alone is played......perfect spot for the diehards.I would have been mighty pleased at this point,but now Footsteps starts.Wow,another rare song I have always loved.Nothing like a nod to the diehards.Very impressed.Its a great version as well.Very nice.
A solid RVM ends encore 1.Its expected though,no question a great song,but it should be moved earlier in the set for now.Maybe 5th at this gig,instead of Severed Hand ??
Encore 2 .....Crown Of Thorns ?..Hmmm.....ok...now we have to put this gig,as a top show....Obviously,I mean top of 2012 no question,thats not even up for debate as far as Im concerned....up there with MSG N 2 2010,Toronto N1 2011,Philly N4 2009,Hawaii 2006,MSG N1 2003,Milan 2000...a top gig in the last 5 - 10 yrs...........
I dont like Sonic Reducer in this spot at all.Hail Hail would fit better here.And that is where I will slide it.
Alive,Baba and YL end this classic show.Alive sounds great,listen to mIke go off during the whole song,especially the last minute.EV is completely gassed at the start of Baba,he cant hit the scream,or the first line with any power at all.Why ? Cause he screamed his lungs out all night.Props for trying.
5 STARS....
Epic must have show.....
Standouts are aplenty.....Wash,Last Exit,Animal,SOLAT,I Got Shit,NAIS,Dissident,ONCE,Glorified G,DEEP,Bugs,Release,Alone,Footsteps,Crown of Thorns,Alive.......
definetely! very close to what a long time fan can ask (and in fact the set sorted out in this way hehe)
just some adjustments and it would have been even more
Whipping -> Got Some
Nothingman/Immortality -> Better Man
Brain of J -> The Fixer
a note .. Alive - Once - Footsteps in the same show should be one after the other hehe
but these are trifles .. great great show, set and performance. indeed
i like it a lot and i'm a bit sick of seeing it almost every night hehe
i think much rarer songs were more "proper" in that kind of setlist.
anyhow i prefer Nothingman and Immortality in any case.
hehe yes that is one side i don't like of the boys .. i had to get used to hehe
i wouldn't ask them to become like PJ, they probably can't, but some more variation/rotation would be appreciated indeed hehe
I love how PJ varies their sets but I think they still "overplay" classics like "Even Flow," "Better Man," "Corduory," and even my personal favourite, "Alive." They could play these ones a little less frequently in favour of some of those other classics that have been mentioned. Of course, this comes from someone who's in the process of listening to almost all of their post-1990's concert catalgue in its entirety. If I was attending a PJ concert, I would love to hear all four of them!
I would be pissed as fucking fuck if I attended a PJ concert and they didn't play Alive, Better Man, Black, Breath or Even Flow.
That's why I don't really complain when U2 plays Pride, SBS, WOWY or even Strets to death, because even if I've heard each of those songs 5414290 times in my life and they bore me, I positively know that a lot of people in attendance would be pissed if they didn't play them!
PJ's constant variation is really, really much better than U2's (and many other bands) stale setlists, but I'm all for them keeping the 'warhorse' songs.
I agree with you Sergio, I really do. You know I am a big fan of the "war horse." I just listen to too many PJ bootlegs and find myself "tuning out" or even pressing the "skip" button when these songs come on. It's a completely different experience when you are at the show.
Note: PJ's "Breath" is, as a matter of fact, rarely played. It's a great song that using gets performed only a couple of times during each tour.
I agree Matt..I wouldnt be upset at all if PJ didnt close with Alive and Yellow Ledbetter (as they do all the time)...its old already..play Alive EARLY IN THE SET,as they did in 2003,same goes for RVM..it does get stale as a "diehard",Im there for all their music,not just the hits.
I would rather hear Breath over Alive any day.But,that is me.
I guess EV feels they need to play Alive and the Fixer at each and every gig,even N2 in the same city.Seems odd to me.Why not play Black, Jeremy or Daughter instead of say,the Fixer, twice in the same city ? The Fixer is old at this point in time.
DMB never play an old "hit" each and every night.Ants Marching is a song most people identify the band with,there have been 2 nights stands where they wont play it,cause Dave doesnt "feel it". That is fine by me.
As far as U2,they have always played a safe,standard setlist,same tunes,each and every night.All you have to do is look at the 2 shows from Denmark 2010,same exact gig,each night, sans 1 SONG (UV).Thats ridiculous IMO.
Did WOWY and MOS really have to close like 99% of every gig over 3 summers ?? Did Love Is Blindess have to close all 10 shows I attended in 1992 ??? Again,its lazy IMO...and they have always done this,so I accept it...
Montreal N1,N2 2011, I was shocked to have actually heard 5 or 6 different tunes over the 2 night stand.But it was still,basically the same set N1.
PJ,Bruce and DMB would never do that.Thats why they are way better live,as far as variation, IMO,than U2.And are worth seein multiple times during 1 tour.
