I've only heard a handful of PJ shows from the '90s; this supposed-to-be legendary show at Boston's Orpheum Theatre is my first from the Vitalogy tour. There were a total of 25 songs played on April 12. Sixteen appear on the CD, but for some reason the six not included are available as complimentary downloads if you pre-order the boxset from 10c. Only three are missing; Go, Animal and the Lennon/McCartney-penned I've Got A Feeling, which was the closing song (would've loved to hear it).The Orpheum contains a very interesting setlist; there are no big hits like Black or Alive here (they played 'em at both Boston Garden shows prior to this night), and the single encore set is longer than usual. Seems to me like it was a setlist catered for a smaller, theatre crowd, as compared to an arena. But whatever it is, the songs still rock solid hard. You can just hear the onslaught of a young, tight-as-shit band's sound coming at you that you can almost picture how insane it must have been then, with all the moshing and body surfing.
While everything's excellent here, some of the best stuff I think are the lesser-known songs, like the not frequently played songs like Glorified G, Alone and Hard To Imagine. Immortality has a totally different set of lyrics, with a little bit of My My Hey Hey added in. Blood is the sound of Eddie pouring his guts out. Neil's Fuckin' Up happens to be one of the best in the long list of PJ covers, and this was the only time they played it on that particular tour; it's presented here in its most primitive form. Another treat is an ultra rare Dirty Frank, which I think it's the one PJ song that is right up the Red Hot Chili Peppers' alley.
Anyway, it's interesting to listen to how all these songs sounded back in the day, like the shorter incarnations of Even Flow and Rearviewmirror. The band outta put out more shows from that period. Oh yeah, did I mention how fucking awesome Dave Abbruzzese's drumming was? Another reason to get this record. Soak it up, man.
