-The set lists between the shows don't seem alter terribly much. While I'm sure there are plenty of flannel-wearing folks who had to grab the nearly 50 hours of newly available PJ, the rest of us will be sated with one or two shows I imagine. From canvassing some sites where all the discs have been reviewed, as well as not necessarily needing to hear "Jeremy" again quite yet and my tendency toward Mitteleuropa, Praha (or Prague to you and me without a facility for the Czech language) was a natural choice.

I had the distinct fortune of seeing Pearl Jam perform in small clubs in New York in 1991 and, by and large, have missed their arena-sized career. Their early-in-the-afternoon slot at Lollapalooza '92 was the last time I witnessed Eddie V. take his life in his hands climbing scaffolding. The difficulty playing to a massive audience is a combination of crap acoustics and a need for style over substance if you are trying to keep the person in the last row engaged. A live album from an arena show at least gets to tap into the soundboard ignoring the stacks of Marshalls and diffuse sound.

PJ have long been about substance, not style, so even tired stage banter has a vein of genuineness and the band gives FM rock a good name. The newer songs that I am less familiar with have a certain crackle that comes with a band proudly showing off its latest creativity. Back catalog and big singles merit the appropriate crowd response and rarely have a feel of mailing it in.

I applaud the stance Pearl Jam has taken in a number of areas from railing against ticket surcharges, promoting low-power radio and refusing to make music videos. In this instance, Epic, their label, deserves at least a nod of acknowledgement in letting the band pursue this effort. Granted, it will probably be another cash cow for Sony owing to the extremely low production costs and the fact that they were also making money of off the tour that generated these discs, but no other label has made a similar offer for say, scores of screaming Dave Matthews fans. Yes, indeed, Pearl Jam is still alive.