Search - Pearl Jam :: Perth Australia: February 23rd 2003

Good live show.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 05/17/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As they did in 2000, in 2003, Pearl Jam decided to beat bootleggers by releasing every show they performed, although this time rather than flood the market with 72 releases, they decided only a select few would end up in retail outlets. This show, from Perth, Australia, is the earliest of the commercially available releases, and the only one from the Australian tour (although one from Japan, eight days later is also available).



It feels like on this show that the band saved their best performances for the more recent material-- it works out ok since seven of the songs come from the last album-- take the beginning of the show, after opener "Long Road" (fantastically performed), "Save You" and "Gods' Dice" are powerful, intense, and boiling. The intensity seems to let up a bit for the next few songs, although in there are great readings of "Cropduster" and a fantastic "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" (and if I'm not mistaken the only time Vedder gets the lyrics right on the whole Australian tour) and some fantastic vocals (both lead and harmony) on new song "Cropduster".



The last portion of the first disc sees the intensity rise again with powerful readings of "I Am Mine", "Love Boat Captain" (even if it does funble a bit in the opening strains) and "MFC". The intensity keeps up even as the pieces slow down at the beginning of the second disc, with an unnervingly brilliant performances of "You Are" and "Wishlist".



Pearl Jam is known for their marathon encores, this show being no exception with seven songs performed in two encores-- the first is more hits oriented, with a fumbled "Do the Evolution" joined by "Betterman", "Daughter", and "Crazy Mary". The second encore is a pair of covers around "Alive". Closer "Fortunate Son" is a lot of fun, with one the openers joining in.



Truth to be told, the band put on better shows during this tour, but whats amazing is what a value these sets are-- they're priced rather nicely and are pretty much all worth having. Recommended."

Best of Australia, but not the tour

ticb2005 | Nor*Cal | 10/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks to iTunes, I have been able to procure most of the 2003 bootlegs. Unfortunately, Neil Young's 'Rockin' in the Free World' is never available, which kinda makes a lot of shows incomplete. But regardless. This is definitely the best of the Australian leg bootlegs. Being that this is only the tenth show, there are still some mistakes. The worst of which is at the beginning of 'Gods' Dice' where Eddie starts way late. Also, another thing that's damaging to the concert is a rather quiet crowd, which fails Eddie in not singing at the end of 'Jeremy'. Not to knock the Australians at all, but one could just imagine Eddie's face showing a little disappointment in the crowd at that point.



I think the highlight of the whole show is actually the opener, 'Long Road'. All other versions I've heard have a strange twang on them that wasn't there during the 2000 Binaural tour, and this is definitely due to Eddie Vedder switching his guitar from the Fender Telecaster to the Gibson SG with its P90 pickups. But here, something is different, and the opening is much darker with the higher strings not really registering. Mike McCready's guitar is also unusually loud on this one, which is actually really great to hear. 'Save You' also sounds good here. A lot of feedback and such in the beginning, with Mike then hitting the intro, which is quite uncommon in any Pearl Jam song, with that job usually being taken by Stone Gossard. 'Get Right', a great song written by Matt Cameron also sounds quite good, and moves well into yet another good Riot Act song, 'Cropduster'. Eddie's vocals on 'Habit' actually sound much better here than most other parts of the entire tour, making this a good closer of the first disc. Ironically, the band seems to do best on their newest songs in this concert, with a great take on the trippy 'You Are' and '1/2 Full'. Now here's where I'm really conflicted. The songs that follow are rather mediocre, which can easily blamed on the fact that it's still early in the tour. But the last few songs of this show are actually some of the best versions of the tour. Eddie's duet with Mark Seymour on 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' is absolutely beautiful, which goes into a rather short rendition of 'Alive'. But surprisingly, this isn't the closer. Instead it is the classic CCR tune 'Fortunate Son' that salutes farewell to Australia, with a rather cool sounding intro from Johnny Mar and the Healers, and a very long goodbye to the continent.



While definitely not being one of the best of the whole tour, this concert definitely has a couple memorable songs, and is a definite buy for any real fans of Pearl Jam. But if someone were looking to buy something to give them a good look at the band performing the hell out of a place, one should definitely try the second New York show, or the mammoth State College bootleg."

Australia gets rocked

David R. Finnegan II | Rockford, IL, USA | 11/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I own all the mass-produced 2003 bootlegs, in addition to the show I attended in Chicago, and a dozen of the 2000 bootlegs. I listen to this one more than any of the other 2003 sets, and more than a lot of the 2000's. The opener, "Long Road", is nothing short of stunning. After that, they rock hard through the next 8 songs, including good takes on Evenflow and Jeremy, obvious crowd favorites. The 20-song main set does flag a bit by the end: Insignificance and Go are two of my personal favorites, and I don't feel the band does either one justice here. They redeem themselves with an excellent encore, though, and the "Throw Your Arms Around Me" performance with Mark Seymour is wonderful. They included as an extra on the tour DVD and it's probably the best thing on it."