AMG Review of Vs./Vitalogy/Live at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, April 12, 1994

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

This triple pack contains the 2011 expanded versions of Vs. and Vitalogy, adding a third disc containing Live at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, April 12, 1994. This show was performed at the end of the Vs. tour and is well regarded among the PJ cognoscenti, and it is indeed a spirited performance capturing the band at something of a peak as it plows through Vs. material, Ten classics, and cuts that would show up on Vitalogy, adding covers of the Dead Boys and Neil Young for good measure. In a way, the Pearl Jam of 1994 was one perfectly pitched between those two extremes: they leaned toward classic rock but performed with a nervy punk hunger that shines through here better than on their studio albums, which is more than reason enough to opt for the triple-disc set over the two individual reissues.