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San Diego Encore CD just arrived and it sounds FANTASTIC! It's almost like being there again (except for the fact that i'm sitting alone in my living room without any stage lighting, on-stage performers, crowds singing, dancing or drinking beer. OTHER THAN THAT... Really, this is a great set with impressive sound. Nothing raw about it.

Please share it! Due to restrictions on buying US dollars, it´s impossible to buy them from Argentina.

Anyone else get their Hollywood Bowl CD's yet? I bought it for a friend and they are telling me that he used the F bomb in the first set about the house lights. I was at the show and do not remember that at all and now doing a web search am seeing that happened at Red Rocks and Quebec. Did they mix up the first CD i purchased? The second So set is correct as there is the John Cusack introduction in there. Or maybe did I just not notice him doing that at the bowl?

I just got my Philly CD today, and it sounds great! I ordered the Hollywood Bowl CD, and I haven't received mine yet.

Hey Zen, Did you get the Chicago CD? How was it? I think I'll need to order it as well.

Hmmmmm...am I blind? I can't find the Chicago show listed.

Waiting for the Hollywood Bowl show. I would like to to find out for myself. i Just got the San Jose show and have yet to listen to it.

It's there, really it is, and no I haven't ordered it yet, but I'm going to. Am trying to decide whether I should get the last show for HumDrum or not. OK, knowing Shocky had a special moment might up the ante for that. That said, I am definitely getting Chicago, for two reasons, I was there and they were spot on fabulous that night! I am regretting not moving up front where you were like Ela did at the last show during Solsbury Hill, as she did. Clever, Ela, nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose. Anyway, look again Beaker, Chicago is there, really it is. http://www.themusic.com/search.cfm?encore=87&sidebar=encore_list&keyword=North%20American%20CD:

Thanks Zen, and that's so weird the way their web site is. I went to main page, clicked on PG 2012 tour and then on the North American Flash Drives link and... you get the same page but with only 12 concerts! No Chicago. Anyway, got it and am getting it! Yeah, you should have come up and rocked with us! Next time!

Hadn't looked at the flashdrives. Perhaps they sold out of the Chicago ones? Wierd?

Just my two cents: I have listened to the Denver (Red Rocks) show and was dissappointed by the amount of crowd noise. There are several spots where you can hear someone having a conversation during the show. There's another spot where you can hear someone trying to get someone to be quiet. During the beginning of Mercy Street there's a guy who felt the need to hoot and hollar his approval. It's embarassing. Overall, the conversations are the kind of thing you could live with on a bootleg, but I'm surprised to hear it here. I've not had this issue on any other Encore release. I own nine different Encore CDs from different tours and this is the only one I wish I could return. Pete and the band are great, but the crowd noise brings the recording down. It doesn't ruin the CD, but it is there. I'm about a third of the way through the Uncasville show and the recording seems much more balanced. The mic captures the audience as a whole rather than a small group. I've read the Denver audience was enthusiastic. Maybe that was a factor?

I agree Kenobi. I got Red Rocks and San Diego. You're right about the crowd noise, it's reminiscent of a crowd-recorded bootleg. I can live with it, but also I find the actual music and vocal mix a bit too "dry" and lacking in atmosphere - more like a soundboard recording. It's quite an odd thing really. The San Diego gig is mixed far better in my view and all the more enjoyable for it. Glad I got two!

I was at Red Rocks... it was a great show. I'd have to agree about the recording though. I've spent two weeks trying to temper my disappointment. It was the first PG show I've actually been to that I could buy an Encore for, and I traveled a long way to see it... so I wish it was better. None of my other PG/Genesis/The Who discs sound like this one. The louder songs aren't bad, but the softer ones have issues, especially Mercy Street. I like listening to CDs with good headphones, so the crowd noise is pretty rough. It's a bit better in the car. It's like they had an auto gain feature or a compressor ramped up or something. Listen to the way the crowd noise suddenly changes between songs at times. It's like flipping a switch. Other times the crowd mic is picking up a handful of people really well. Not surprised to hear it's a bit more dry. It's a wide open space, not an arena where the sound can bounce back. So I don't mind that... it does sound like you're plugged right into the instruments. But man I wish Mercy Street wasn't such a mess. I really don't want to buy another show though. I guess that's the risk you take with these discs.

What I do like about Red Rocks is Peter's banter. He likely made the comments at more than one show, but I laughed out loud when he asks if anyone came up with lyrics to "O But" to send them to him. I also enjoyed his "nerd" explanation as to why "In Your Eyes" was not the final song on the album because of the grooves in records. At that moment he sounds like a guy in a bar who realizes he just lost any chance he had with his date. Getting back to the Red Rocks mix - if I remember correctly there's a spot at the end of a song where the PG's voice gets completely distorted. I'm sorry I can't remember which song it is. I don't know if is an effect of some sort or PG just overloads the mic. We've already covered it, but it just seems very odd that this one recording is so different than all the others I've heard. I suppose if you record enough shows there's bound to be one. Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with the Encore concept. I wish more artists did something like this. A guy like Springsteen, who changes half of his setlist from night to night, would make his fans very happy if he released all of his shows.

Hi Lunies, I'm sorry to read about some of the problems with some songs/shows and completely understand where you're coming from with what you're saying. As for me, I have listened to Philly all the way through (several times, I might add) and VA all the way through and they both sound great -- equally balanced I guess and I don't even think I hear the audience that much (at least not enough to have it be annoying). I did also buy Hollywood Bowl, but havent' actually listened to it all the way through -- finding that I'm in a time of my life where I have a bit too much music to listen to (with the SO package and the Encores arriving so closely together), combined with too few hours spent at home right now. I do know that one of these days I'll get to hear them all -- all the way through. My understanding of an Encore cd (and I have many of the others as well) is that it is meant to be the combination of a bootleg (so you're going to hear the audience at times) that is done from the soundboard (so that it's a crisper, clearer version of a bootleg) -- so, for me, I didn't expect it to sound like a perfect live cd. The one single thing I noticed between Philly and VA is that Philly sounds as if it's done in a lower volume. And in VA, before Sledgehammer begins, I do notice the one man who is humming/singing the beginning of the song before it actually begins, and it's humorous to hear him doing that but I know I'd find it annoying if I heard him all through the song!. I agree -- I like the whole Encore concept and wish that more artists went with it.

From the previous sets and the info on their site i think it is supposed to be a a straight feed from the sound desk, maybe of the main mix so much better than anyone in the crowd could capture. Along with this maybe they have some mic feeds for audience participation but they should have total control on this on the night and more if all the channels were recorded separately and then mixed in the studio. From a cost point it might have been done on the night but if checked and found to be not right then they should have re-done it possible imo. I've had several of these over the years and love the concept, one from 2003 has sky blue finishing just in time with fireworks going off. Plus you get all the golden moments that PG tries to get into each show.

I ordered the collector's box to keep my collection in tact and it arrived last week while I was on leave. So far I've heard the first three gigs (Quebec, Montreal and Toronto.) Of these three I prefer Toronto, based arouond overall performance although it still contians the odd wincing moment. I was too busy in Spetember to keep up with the tour as it unfolded so its nice to re-live it on audio and hear the nice surprises - Daby Toure on Montreal version of In Your Eyes for instance and reading on here I'm anxious to hear the Fesit version of Don't Give Up. I love the Encore concept - yes you get some good and bad shows of course but as a collector of Peter's music I would rather this system where he provides us with the best quality at an affordable price than hoping for decent unoffical boots (which cant possibly match the quality from the desk)..... A pity about the reports of audience noise at some shows though..... My one gripe is being forced to choose insured post option which together with import duty added a £100 to the purchase price....... It would be much better if Real World sold these through their WOMAD shop for us UK and European fans...... but I'd rather this than not have them at all.......