Not to burst anyone's bubble, but I doubt we'll ever see "Sweet Lew" played live. Firstly, I think Jeff's too shy to take on lead vocalist duties in front of a crowd, and secondly, I think the song itself relies a little too much on layering and effects for it to really come off well... I don't think PJ'd really see much of a reason to take a stab at it.... I don't think it really suits the overall tone of one of their shows, and as such, I don't think they would really go to the trouble of figuring out how to get it down live from a sonic standpoint. That's just my opinion.
The only way I could see it being done is if they toss it in as a tag out of nowhere or if Pearl Jam ever does another Monkeywrench Radio and they goad Jeff into doing it on the spur of the moment!
Gees you scared me with that title!!! I thought I was missing something! Or that you were coming with some sort of anouncement I hadn't heard of!
I agree with Sarah, and I don't think they take that track seriously enough to play it at an arena concert. But Jeff did take the mike when touring with Three Fish. I never saw them live though, how sad. does anyone here know which songs Jeff was singing? Resonate? My Only Foe?
To me Sweet Lew just sounds like an unfinished track. I like for the obvious reasons but, and the bass in the verse is so cool! That man is the ultimate King of Tone. My guess is that the boys didn't really "dig" the song all that much and just dropped it and left it as it is. But who knows, if they ever try that "all the songs in the catalog" again, then maybe we'd have the treat!
Should we again be graced with another edition of Self-Pollution/Monkeywrench Radio, we Clouds Roll By folks can only hope they can coerce Jeff (or dare I say, perhaps get him loaded enough?! ) to the point where he attempts "Sweet Lew"! Hehehe!
Monoxyde, this is just my opinion, but to me, "Sweet Lew" doesn't sound "unfinished"... If anything, I think it's very developed, considering that it's not a serious song. I don't know how much input the band had into it, but to be honest, I was actually a little surprised that the Lost Dogs liners revealed that Matt, Stone, Mike and Tchad Blake had all played on the track. I knew it had originated as a Jeff solo home demo during the band's time away from each other between albums, and given that, I kind of had the assumption that even the truly official/studio/potential B-side version that Jeff was speaking of in interviews was going to be simply a Jeff solo thing -- along the lines of something like Eddie doing "Soon Forget" or "Bugs" (only in Jeff's case, with more layers and instruments).
Regarding Three Fish live, I must admit, I haven't visited a 3F site in months to double-check on this, but off the top of my head, I believe Jeff sang backing vocals on a number of songs, two of which were "Resonate" and "My Only Foe". I gather it was kind of like it was on the albums -- Jeff was doing background vox, but they were still more prominent than the backing vox he typically does with Pearl Jam. Also, according to almost every review I've read, Jeff wouldn't make much eye contact with the audience during the shows, as he was either playing with his eyes shut or while staring at the floor or a fixed point (which as we know is sort of his natural inclination on stage and not out of the ordinary), or he was purposely looking down out of shyness and not wanting to be centre of attention. I do, however, remember reading of the occasional show where Jeff would be the one out at the mic for a second or two, gabbing with the crowd when the band returned for the encore, and he and Robbi would also share a few laughs at the front of the stage.
) to the point where he attempts "Sweet Lew"! Hehehe!
