Live at Benaroya Hall Oct. 22, 2003 [Digipak] - Pearl Jam (CD 2004)

About a month ago I was checking out the Pearl Jam website like a do on a weekly basis and my diligence was finally rewarded. What did I read, but the band was going to finally release their legendary 1992 MTV Unplugged performance. Well, as quickly as my excitement reached an unhealthy level, it proceeded to fall just as far. I accidentally misread the website and while the Unplugged performance was referenced, it would not be the show to be released. That honor would be the band s performance at Benaroya Hall on October 22, 2003. I was intrigued and as a die-hard fan, I eagerly ordered the disc as soon as possible. Even better was that I would receive it before street date. Man, I must be special!

I always find acoustic performances intriguing and that s part of the reason why I was excited about this disc. I specifically purchased the bootleg from Pearl Jam s Mansfield 7/11/2003 show so that I could check out the acoustic pre-set. That was a solid purchase without a doubt. However, while Live At Benaroya Hall proves to be entertaining, it sadly falls slightly short of my lofty expectations.

Disc one is clearly the lesser quality disc in the collection. There are a few highlights, but most of it is slow and meandering. Luckily the first tune, Of The Girl does start the show off with a bang. Of course, with a bang is a relative term when describing an acoustic show. Low Light continues with the theme of beautiful and meaningful ballads and works tremendously in context.

The main highlight of the first disc is the first live performance of Man Of The Hour from Tim Burton s film, Big Fish. It s a great tune and perfect for the mood of the show. Off He Goes from No Code is also one of the better selections on the first disc. Immortality and The Ramones cover, I Believe In Miracles are also good performances and good inclusions.

Sadly, there is plenty of bad on the first disc as well. First and foremost is the awful Lukin. I don t know what the band was thinking here. Sure, it s a fine song during a rocking set that only takes about a minute and a half. However, here it just stands out like a sore thumb. Stone Gossard has the privilege (?) of introducing the song. He rambles about lyrics and how they sometimes get washed out. Listen closely and you can hear some yell out Wash, which is a b-side from Alive. It would have been a far better choice here. You ll also want to skip past some rather boring renditions of Thumbing My Way, Around The Bend and Sleight Of Hand.

Luckily, disc two is able to redeem this show in a big way. There are a ton of highlights here so strap on your seatbelt and let s get going. Any single disc that includes Black and an inspired version of Daughter (which is surprisingly hard to find) vault it right to the top. Vedder s solo performance of Dead Man is also wonderful and perfect here. The covers are also excellent. Bob Dylan s Masters Of War and Crazy Mary are both wonderful and the band s version of Johnny Cash s 25 Minutes To Go is stellar as well. It s almost as if Vedder is channeling the Man In Black from the beyond. It also goes without saying that Yellow Ledbetter is gold when it comes to show closers and here is no different. The band discards their acoustic tools and brings out the big guns for a killer plugged finale.

If I have to find anything bad about the second disc, I would have to go with only Can t Keep. It s pretty shabby, but after that, the show is killer. The first two tracks, Parting Ways and Down are far from my favorites, but these are still good versions. If you like the songs, you ll like these tracks.

Live At Benaroya Hall is a quality live disc, but not perfect by any means. However, the show itself was for charity to help support YouthCare, which is a nonprofit Seattle organization that helps local homeless kids, and a portion of the sales of the disc go to that organization. That s clearly one of the benefits to purchasing the disc (along with the music).

As far as the music is concerned, I m somewhat mixed on my recommendation. Clearly the first disc is far inferior to the second. There are very few highlights and those that exist are probably slightly warped because it s Pearl Jam and I don t won t to write anything incredibly bad about the band I love. There are a few good things, but nothing incredible. However, the second disc more than makes up for any issues with the first. There are great songs and great versions of those tunes. This is the reason you would purchase Live At Benaroya Hall.

Is Live At Benaroya Hall a good purchase for you? This is a surprisingly complex question. If you are a die-hard Pearl Jam fan, you ve probably already ordered the disc and are jamming away already. If you are a casual fan, I recommend the disc slightly because of the unique acoustic performances. If you want a perfect Pearl Jam acoustic experience then you might want to spend the bucks and pick up the Mansfield, MA 7/11/2003 show. It s only one set, but there are plenty of gems. You can also pray that the 1992 MTV Unplugged show will be released and that would be a must buy. If you are not a Pearl Jam fan, don t even think about buying this disc, you ll be bored to tears.

Live At Benaroya Hall, October 22, 2003 setlist:

Disc One

1)Of The Girl
2)Low Light
3)Thumbing My Way
4)Thin Air
5)Fatal
6)Nothing As It Seems
7)Man Of The Hour
8)Immortality
9)Off He Goes
10)Around The Bend
11)I Believe In Miracles
12)Sleight Of Hand
13)All Or None
14)Lukin

Disc Two

1)Parting Ways
2)Down
3)Can t Keep
4)Dead Man
5)Masters Of War
6)Black
7)Crazy Mary
8)25 Minutes To Go
9)Daughter
10)Yellow Ledbetter