Pearl Jam: Touring Band 2000

Well it isn't seeing them in person, but it's pretty close. Anyone who has ever seen them live needs to own this. You will re-live the happiness that you enjoyed that wonderful night when you last saw them. And for anyone who has not been so fortunate as to see them live, you can see for yourself just what you have been missing.

Pearl Jam (Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Ed Vedder, and Matt Cameron) open the set (songs taken from different shows from the 2000 tour) with a moving rendition of "Long Road" and then proceed through the early setlist rockers "Corduroy", "Grievance", and "Animal". Before "Given To Fly", Ed notices a woman who is translating what he says to the crowd in sign language. He invites her on stage for the next song, and then dances with her as the song closes. During the "Rearviewmirror" jam, a highlight of any Pearl Jam show, the video cuts from the performing band and shows some kind of distorted image of the band members walking around - like some kind of hallucination. Then as the jam ends, it cuts back to the performance video.

As the band finishes the first encore with "Parting Ways", the camera follows the band as they walk backstage, giving the audience an angle they never see. They return to the stage and rip through Neil Young's "Rockin in the Free World". During the song, Ed helps a young boy up on stage. As Ed sings, the boy just keeps on rockin out. During the closing jam, Ed puts the boy on his shoulders and carries him back alongside drummer Matt Cameron. Ed hands the boy some drum sticks and the boy plays along with Matt.

The DVD extra features are very nice as well. Included are three montages from the European leg of the tour, set to previously unreleased instrumentals. Also included are 3 Matt cam videos ("Evacuation", "Evenflow", "In My Tree") where the camera stays on drummer Matt Cameron for the entire song; as well as music videos for "Oceans" and the animated rocker "Do The Evolution".

This DVD is reason enough for any Pearl Jam fan to go out and BUY a DVD player. There is no better way to keep your sanity until the next tour, than with "Touring Band 2000".

One of the best live concert films ever released. Touring Band 2000 is a compilation of some of Pearl Jam's best performances of their 2000 Tour to support their Binaural album. While each of the performances is from the U.S. tour, there are also some montage sequences of the European tour in the special features. Hardcore fans and newcomers alike will love the tracklisting as they play some of their lesser known works, as well as some of their "radio friendly" tunes. Special features include several music videos, some montages of the European tour as well as kind of a gag reel of the band goofing off throughout the tour. Also included is the "Matt Cam" which is a camera set on drummer Matt Cameron as he does his stuff to several songs. This is a must have for all music lovers, and especially Pearl Jam fans, as it gives a very intimate look at what was once a very private band.

An expansive document of Pearl Jam's mammoth Binaural tour in the year 2000 - years before I got into them, and now twenty years in the past but it has gathered through time a warm nostalgic vibe. Their mild politicking - how things were before the towers fell - the joyful bespectacled kid hoist above Eddie's head in the final song. It covers a lot of bases, being spliced together from many shows so and doesn't ever generate the kind of energy that a single concert does but it's engrossing and it has some nice little bonus bits. A seriously pleasant music DVD from the dawn of the form.

Pearl Jam have proved themselves to be one of the enduring rock and roll bands of the 90's- still together, still making moving, combustible music that finds that perfect edge of hard-rock while still appealing to a massive audience. For its own cult group, which is rather big in and of itself, a DVD like Touring Band 2000 is a given to buy and soak up multiple times, but for the casual PJ fan it's worthwhile also. Classics like 'Daughter', 'Better Man', 'Even Flow', and some of my other favorites like 'Animal' and 'Rocking in the Free World' are among the lot of over two dozen songs included. The added treat is that the songs are NOT inter-cut with interviews, like other music DVD documentaries, and that they are from various concerts giving the wide range of material. I even dug the grainy style of filming, which could get under my skin, but stays above the line of incompetent, amateur filming. The style matches the energy and attitude that pours out of PJ with every song. However, one should get the DVD for its added bonus: bonus music videos, including one in particular for a favorite off of Yield- 'Do the Evolution', one of their very best videos directed by Todd McFarlane. To have this on video somewhere is a big treat.

Touring Band 2000 is a great showing of the band's incredible live performances of their grand catalog of songs spanning their 10 years as grungefathers. It clearly represents their superiority as one of the best live acts, especially on DVD where their music sounds even more outstanding. Added bonuses, like the Do the Evolution and the never before released Oceans music videos make it even more desirable to pick up. A must have for any serious PJ fan.