The 5 members head out on to the stage as the crowd roars and the orchestral version of The Who's Baba O'Riley plays in the background. The band is Pearl Jam, and that's how the brand new DVD/VHS, Touring Band 2000, opens.

Touring Band 2000 chronicles the band's 2000 (duh) North American tour. While the video is made up of different performances from different shows, it's edited together, and the "setlist" was made up in mind to be like one show. The band didn't actually start filming until the 3rd night of the tour, and to be honest, the show is heavy on second leg (read midwest and west coast) performances. It was a tough year for the band, mostly thanks to the Roskilde Festival and the 9 lives that were lost that night. But the North American tour proved to be perfect medicine for the band, as the 47 "official bootlegs" (along with 25 from Europe, 72 altogether) and now this video prove.

What follows is a performance by performance blow of the VHS version. Underneath that is just some of my random thoughts about the setlist, along with a listing of all the cool DVD extras (almost an hour's worth!) And for those of you uninitiated into who Pearl Jam is memberwise, the 5 members are:

Eddie Vedder-lead singer/guitar
Stone Gossard-rhythm guitar
Mike McCready-lead guitar
Jeff Ament-bass
Matt Cameron-drums

Long Road (Phoenix): As with most PJ concerts, the band picked a slower song to open the video, the gorgeous Long Road. The band is basked in blue light, with Vedder overlooking the audience while the wind blows his hair. I'm sure those shots will have the women swooning. Beautiful camerawork.

Corduroy (Washington DC): Taken from the second to last show of the first leg, the band looks happy and exuberant throughout this song. It's obvious they're feeding off the energy of the crowd in this now longtime fan favorite. Lead guitarist McCready is especially spotlighted here, playing the full roll of the "rock star" of the group. My only wish is that I saw more of the hugely intense Cameron.

Grievance (Houston): Grievance is just a monstrous live beast, bursting forth with musical energy and the band obviously loving it. Here you get our first shots of McCready not only playing to the camera, but also to the first few rows of fans in the audience as well. Those who say Vedder isn't as intense as he was in say, 1992, need to watch this performance.

Animal (San Bernardino): Again, Vedder is just intense on this song, grasping the mic stand as if it's his lifeline. The first "Eddie shuffle" of the video appears here. This is a complete Eddie showcase, from him letting the audience finish one of the choruses to his dancing and leaping about.

Gods' Dice (San Francisco): Not much to say about this performance, other than the fact its extremely tight. McCready is animated as usual, and rhythm man Gossard is as well, which is somewhat rare, as he is usually pretty reserved on stage.

Evacuation (Tampa): My first thought while watching this song (had the same thought at the show I was at where they played this) was that Eddie obviously thinks the world of this song, and when played live, it holds much more energy and spunk to it than on the album version. All 5 band members' faces hold this strong intensity throughout this song.

Given to Fly (St. Louis): Beautiful moment #1. Ed points out a young woman using sign language on every word the band sings or speaks. He invites her onstage to sign for Given to Fly. Watching this woman sign while the band plays the incredible anthem that GTF is (all with huge smiles on their face), is truly beautiful. Kim will completely mesmerize you. Seeing Ed try to mimick her after the first chorus is priceless, as is his dance with her as the song closes.

Dissident (East Troy, WI): Ah, the infamous "Ice Bowl" show. 24 degrees out in early October in Wisconsin…who's bright idea was this!? Watching McCready shiver jokingly on the bridge brought a huge smile to my face. Here's hoping the band doesn't schedule anymore outdoor Wisconsin shows in October again!

Nothing As It Seems (Seattle): This bluesy, Pink Floyd type nymber is a very moody song, and can be extremely difficult to sit through if you're not in the right mood. That being said, this performance is very good. Just another showcase for the man they call McCready.

Even Flow (Philadelphia): Total and complete energy. Ed, Jeff, and Stone all leap in unison right before Mike's incredible solo, with the crowd doing Ed's usual "YEAH!!!" yell. Said solo seems endless, as Mike just keeps playing and playing, to the delight of his bandmates. Love this clip!

Lukin/Not For You (Los Angeles): Lukin is a song I've never really liked, but the transition straight into the excellent Not For You is very nice. Great solos by Stone, and incredible intensity by Ed throughout the song.

Daughter into It's OK by Dead Moon (Jones Beach NY): Daughter was the song the band stopped in the middle of to get off stage at Roskilde. This particular version is really basic until the end. The band always jams out Daughter, usually with Ed "tagging" on some lines of another song (i.e. Another Brick in the Wall, Androgynous Mind etc). Here, as they did at a couple of other stops, including the tour opener in Virginia Beach, the band goes into a modified version of Dead Moon's Its OK, which is Beautiful Moment #2. Ed implores the crowd to sing along, which they do with great fervor. Emotionally, this obviously doesn't touch the Va Beach one, but musically, it is much tighter. Great crowd shots throughout the performance, and a fabulous shot of Ed reading his lyric sheet. Such an inspiring performance, if this song doesn't bring a smile to your face, nothing will.

Untitled/MFC (Las Vegas): The only performance from the band's tenth anniversary show here. Untitled has become a huge crowd favorite as the intro to MFC, and despite the fact Ed changes the lyrics regularly, it's still a great little song. MFC is uneventful though energetic.

Thin Air (Phoenix): Thin Air is a song that stood out when I saw the setlist for this video. Especially given some of the omissions. But it holds it's own, sounding excellent and giving the band a chance to catch their collective breath. I really hope the band starts playing this more regularly.

Leatherman/Betterman/Nothingman (Seattle): The "man trilogy", taken from the last show of the tour. Leatherman is kind of fun, although goofy as always with Mike doing twirls and Ed seeming really happy. After this song ends, a whole section chanting Jeff's name gets some airtime, and you can see Ed and Jeff joking about it. It looks like Jeff is jokingly consoling Ed over being the newest "most popular" member of PJ. =)
Better Man is perhaps the most scathing version ever, with Ed improv-ing lyrics at the end, in somewhat obvious reference to his now ex-wife, Beth Liebling of Hovercraft:

I don't wanna leave
it's hard to leave
I wanna believe you I wanna believe you
I wanna believe you're in love with me
Here I come, I'm coming home
I'd rather be yours
And it takes my strength
It takes all my strength
And I know, I know I gotta go
Go….I'm gone…I'm gone!!!

Nothingman soars and is incredibly inspirational. I still love the bright red/orange lights during the "into the sun…burn, burn" lines.

Insignificance (San Francisco): My personal pick for best rock song of the last 5 years sounds positively incredible here! The backing vocals are much better in the live setting, and the whole band seems to be loving this song.

I Got Sh*t (Montreal): Very fitting that the song written with Canadian Neil Young is featured as the only song taken from the 2 Canada shows (the other being Toronto). This is the one song on the video where the performance really LACKS. The band seems kind of disinterested, and the mix isn't very good either. There's definitely better versions out there from the bootlegs.

Rearviewmirror (Seattle): A long time live favorite, this song has evolved into a complete epic at times (8, 9, 10 minute versions). This performance starts out very slow, but the montage shown during the bridge is awesome, no other word to describe it. The end of the song gains a lot of steam as the band closes it out and the encore is set to begin.

ENCORE:
Wishlist (Memphis): What the hell this is doing on this video is beyond me, especially given the lack of Elderly Woman. This is the one song that the band could never play again and I wouldn't miss it. I don't think it makes sense to play this, seeing as it was written for Beth and now, well, Beth isn't around anymore. The performance isn't bad, but I'm completely sick of this song.

Jeremy (San Diego): Stone's doing his duck walk, Ed's letting the crowd take over for him in places…jesus this version rules. Probably the best performance I've heard of this song in a while.

Do the Evolution (San Bernardino): This is a totally obvious band favorite. Vedder lets it all out here, doing windmills, a lyric change and a shot of his t-shirt (both having to do with the West Memphis Three). If this song doesn't make you dance, I don't know what will.

Go (Boise, ID): When the reviews for Boise started coming in from fans, I couldn't believe that Boise friggin Idaho was the best crowd of the entire tour. I take it back, I take it all back. This is perfection as far as this song is concerned…I've never EVER heard the band play this song this good.

Parting Ways (Lubbock, TX): This song wasn't even played on the first leg of the tour, a shame too, because it's beautiful despite the fact that some fans have completely overanalyzed it. The bridge is particularly great here, as is Eddie's leading the band into the Sonic Youth (opening band on leg 1) inspired ending.

Rockin in the Free World (Albuquerque, NM): After Parting Ways, you see the band backstage discussing what's gonna close the show. One word lets you know what's next: "Rockin." Ed shouting "Keely!" for the house lights, and the band just on fuc*ing fire, Ed looking over the crowd, Mike being a total rock star. All the band members with big smiles. Ed stalks from one side of the stage to the other. Then all of a sudden you see Ed motioning to someone in the audience and soon a kid no older than 9 or 10 years old is up onstage with the band, hopping up and down, devil sign in the air with one of his hands, the whole band is smiling brightly, loving every second of it. Soon Ed has him up on his shoulders, dancing. (This is beautiful moment #3) I swear to you this is the coolest fuc*ing thing I've ever seen any artist do. The young one closes out the show hitting the cymbals, leading the band to the big rock and roll finish. And then, like that it's over, and Ed says "say goodnight to Jessie."

A live version of Leavin Here (an old Who song) plays over the credits, with some video of crew and employees and other stuff shown on the screen.

Setlist/other thoughts:
For the most part, this is a perfect setlist. While some fans wanted a bunch of the rarities the band played (mostly covers like Can't Help Falling in Love and Crown of Thorns), it really wouldn't represent a Pearl Jam show as well as this did. The only thing I'd do is replace Wishlist with Elderly Woman and replace Parting Ways with either Porch (any version) or Alive from the last Seattle show, and the only time it was played in America this tour. Some people may complain about the "lack" of quality in the picture, but this wasn't professionally filmed at all…just on minicams by 3 people from PJ's touring crew, along with some various other shots, including some by Tim Robbins. The sound is solid throughout, I Got Sh*t being the only real exception. I'm also dumbfounded that nothing from the incredible Chicago show was used…and that so much of Seattle was.

DVD Extras:
The DVD has 50 minutes or so of bonus footage. Here's the breakdown:
A note from Ed about how and why the DVD came to be…this is incredibly cool and if anyone wants it, email me, I have it transcribed
Station-ary "Matt-cam" of drummer Matt Cameron for 3 songs: Evacuation, Even Flow, and In My Tree
3 European montages: city, band and fans set to "Yellow Ledbetter" and 3 instrumentals recorded during the early Binaural sessions: "Thunderclap," "Foldback," and "Harmony"
Outtakes of band on US tour set to "Smile"
Do the Evolution video
Oceans video (never before released in the US)


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12