Halloween: The longest and best PJ show?

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

Well, going in, many of us knew the 7/11/03 Mansfield show was the longest. Twofeetthick.com reports the show as running 50 minutes for the acoustic set and 165 minutes for the main show. That's 215 minutes.

The Halloween show began at 8:58 and ended at 12:35. That's 217 minutes.

Will we definitively know for sure which is the longest? What if the Twofeetthick.com times are close estimates? I know some will say, let's wait for the boots and add up the times, but those boots are slightly edited (encore breaks sometimes fade in). I'm sure many are curious to know what the longest one is.

One thing's for sure: The band's never played that long straight through, and it's a testament to their stamina and playing ability and agility. I don't know how they can manage to perform such aggressive songs — well, many, but not all — and the number of songs they reeled off. I'm exhausted as all hell after being there for all four. It was a challenge the final three shows to get my body in gear. Once they got going each night, I revved myself up like a beast. Best. Band. Ever.

By the time PJ played the Spectrum in '03 (my third show), I was able to easily say that was the best. Then came the MSG shows that year, Reading, Pa., in '04, the three '06 shows I've gone to and the Camden shows last year. It became hard early on in that string of shows to pick which was the best overall experience (tailgate, Wishlist Foundation meet-up, meeting fans from around the globe, setlist, performance, crowd). I knew we were expecting something big, and we got it. I could tell early on that the Halloween show was going to be the best of the 18 I've seen, and they made it so by miles and miles. I have no reservations in calling that the best PJ show, at least from what I've seen. It might be the best overall in terms of what they pulled off — capping the greatest four-show run in their history.

breath123 · November 2009

anyone have a running time on state college?

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

breath123 wrote:

anyone have a running time on state college?

I'm certain State College is short than Mansfield 3 of '03. Mansfield broke the State College record, which had broken 7/11/95.

Thanks for posting. I'm surprised no one else has posted. I thought it'd be a great topic of discussion — especially for those who were there. I mean, it's a great honor to be at the longest PJ show in history, right?

SomethingCreative · November 2009

TooMuchBlood wrote:

breath123 wrote:

anyone have a running time on state college?

I'm certain State College is short than Mansfield 3 of '03. Mansfield broke the State College record, which had broken 7/11/95.

Thanks for posting. I'm surprised no one else has posted. I thought it'd be a great topic of discussion — especially for those who were there. I mean, it's a great honor to be at the longest PJ show in history, right?

wasn't Seattle 11/6/2000 was longer than Soldier Field?

Illridethewave20 · November 2009

I loved Halloween-but I think Friday's show was better. Different energy from the crowd-probably because their was no game.

Don't get me wrong, Halloween was increadable ie crown of thorns and bugs. But I feel that Friday's show was just Epic & magical!

I give PJ a lot of credit not only for the length of time they played on Sat. but the fact that they were able to do that after 3 previous insaine shows. Props to them!!

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

SomethingCreative wrote:

TooMuchBlood wrote:

breath123 wrote:

anyone have a running time on state college?

I'm certain State College is short than Mansfield 3 of '03. Mansfield broke the State College record, which had broken 7/11/95.

Thanks for posting. I'm surprised no one else has posted. I thought it'd be a great topic of discussion — especially for those who were there. I mean, it's a great honor to be at the longest PJ show in history, right?

wasn't Seattle 11/6/2000 was longer than Soldier Field?

You know, you may very well be right about that one. Twofeetthick.com reports Soldier Field to have gone 155 minutes but has nothing for that Seattle show.

Anyone else care to chime in? I'd love to see a definitive list of the five or 10 longest shows.

ragejoe · November 2009

breath123 wrote:

anyone have a running time on state college?

State college i believe was 3 hrs 22 min... so 202 minutes

I would call Saturday the longest show ever without a doubt...

FRIDAY and SATURDAY together was just unreal... 75 songs almost i think between the 2... stuff theyve never played before but at the same time you got to feel the energy of the room for ALIVE and BABA and RITFW

i think the setlists were such a PERFECT Mix of RARE and HITS... that was my 29th PJ show... i love that kind of mix...

Band was just amazing they were tryin so hard to be so Good and they were SUCCESSFUL!

Well seattle 2000 was 3 Cds... right?? so that means it was atleast 160 minutes or they would have been able to fit it on 2, right?

BeerBaron · November 2009

Looks like it was the longest show. As for the "best" show - not even close.

decides2dream · November 2009

gimmesometruth20 wrote:

I loved Halloween-but I think Friday's show was better. Different energy from the crowd-probably because their was no game.

Don't get me wrong, Halloween was increadable ie crown of thorns and bugs. But I feel that Friday's show was just Epic & magical!

I give PJ a lot of credit not only for the length of time they played on Sat. but the fact that they were able to do that after 3 previous insaine shows. Props to them!!

it's really interesting to me, b/c i think it all comes down to personal perspective, and also where you are at any given show. i thought both shows were awesome, but i found the crowd far better saturday in comparison to friday. i also was row 8 on saturday and row 27 on friday.

and the 10.31 show was AMAZING...for all the reasons listed, and then some. to imagine this band, their 9th album, all in their mid-40s....and they just seemingly continue to grow musically, their live performances continually amazing....and the stamina. well....*ahem*.....;) just astounding!

TG1227 · November 2009

I was fortunate enough to attend both State College and Philly 4. Both shows were about 3 1/2 hours. I think the biggest difference between the two was the expectations. Going into State College, I was expecting a great tour closing show. When they kept playing, it kept getting better and more memorable. It felt that night as if they were never going to stop. In Philly, everybody knew it was going to be a long and special show. Either way, both were great shows in their own unique way.

PJammin' · November 2009

BeerBaron wrote:

Looks like it was the longest show. As for the "best" show - not even close.

haha...so then the "best" show would be?????

jerrylovesjam · November 2009

PJammin' wrote:

BeerBaron wrote:

Looks like it was the longest show. As for the "best" show - not even close.

haha...so then the "best" show would be?????

ALL OF THEM!!!

dimitrispearljam · November 2009

jerrylovesjam wrote:

ALL OF THEM!!!

Gary Carter · November 2009

PJammin' wrote:

BeerBaron wrote:

Looks like it was the longest show. As for the "best" show - not even close.

haha...so then the "best" show would be?????

9/29/96

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

I've gotten word that Twofeetthick.com will dissect the matter and report on which show is longer: Halloween or Mansfield.

LeatherMosquitoMan · November 2009

metsfan wrote:

PJammin' wrote:

BeerBaron wrote:

Looks like it was the longest show. As for the "best" show - not even close.

haha...so then the "best" show would be?????

9/29/96

I would almost agree with this...

breath123 · November 2009

TooMuchBlood wrote:

I've gotten word that Twofeetthick.com will dissect the matter and report on which show is longer: Halloween or Mansfield.

btw, I consider mansfield out of the running.

it is two seperate sets. By this logic you could say that the three mansfield nights are one show.

also, under this criteria, the gorge 05 show now has to be considered in the running as that was an opening set and a primary set. plus dirty frank elevates it into an epic show.

discuss.

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

breath123 wrote:

TooMuchBlood wrote:

I've gotten word that Twofeetthick.com will dissect the matter and report on which show is longer: Halloween or Mansfield.

btw, I consider mansfield out of the running.

it is two seperate sets. By this logic you could say that the three mansfield nights are one show.

also, under this criteria, the gorge 05 show now has to be considered in the running as that was an opening set and a primary set. plus dirty frank elevates it into an epic show.

discuss.

Well, you could consider the four Spectrum shows one, too, considering there was a repeat at Mansfield. PJ was there to close the Spectrum — not exactly perform The Experiment No. 2 — and yes, there were many more repeats. But this was a straight-up four-out-of-five-night stand, not interrupted by two Camden and two MSG shows.

Yes, the 2005 Gorge is superlong and amazing, at 35 songs, and that's a great show you introduced into the mix (other than the too-many Petty calls — the minor thing that irritates me). I don't recall anyone, though, saying that was the longest — the one that beat Mansfield. But then again, you raise the other point I brought up about the longest straight-shot show: The one played straight through. Perhaps we might wind up with one show lasting the most minutes straight through without interruption, and the other lasting the longest overall.

It will be interesting to find out. Thanks for chiming in.

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

TooMuchBlood wrote:

breath123 wrote:

TooMuchBlood wrote:

I've gotten word that Twofeetthick.com will dissect the matter and report on which show is longer: Halloween or Mansfield.

btw, I consider mansfield out of the running.

it is two seperate sets. By this logic you could say that the three mansfield nights are one show.

also, under this criteria, the gorge 05 show now has to be considered in the running as that was an opening set and a primary set. plus dirty frank elevates it into an epic show.

discuss.

Well, you could consider the four Spectrum shows one, too, considering there was a repeat at Mansfield. PJ was there to close the Spectrum — not exactly perform The Experiment No. 2 — and yes, there were many more repeats. But this was a straight-up four-out-of-five-night stand, not interrupted by two Camden and two MSG shows.

Yes, the 2005 Gorge is superlong and amazing, at 35 songs, and that's a great show you introduced into the mix (other than the too-many Petty calls — the minor thing that irritates me). I don't recall anyone, though, saying that was the longest — the one that beat Mansfield. But then again, you raise the other point I brought up about the longest straight-shot show: The one played straight through. Perhaps we might wind up with one show lasting the most minutes straight through without interruption, and the other lasting the longest overall.

It will be interesting to find out. Thanks for chiming in.

Again, this is just the boots, but when I sort using Windows Media Player, State College falls under the 190 minutes category and the 2005 Gorge show, 170 minutes. Like I had mentioned before in the original post, these boots are slightly edited for CD space reasons — and then consider the fact that different outfits mass-produced the mp3s and CDs.

It's going to take a lot to figure this out. "We're going to keep it interesting," as Eddie said during the Spectrum run about the band's inability to logistically play every song.

breath123 · November 2009

TooMuchBlood wrote:

breath123 wrote:

TooMuchBlood wrote:

I've gotten word that Twofeetthick.com will dissect the matter and report on which show is longer: Halloween or Mansfield.

btw, I consider mansfield out of the running.

it is two seperate sets. By this logic you could say that the three mansfield nights are one show.

also, under this criteria, the gorge 05 show now has to be considered in the running as that was an opening set and a primary set. plus dirty frank elevates it into an epic show.

discuss.

Well, you could consider the four Spectrum shows one, too, considering there was a repeat at Mansfield. PJ was there to close the Spectrum — not exactly perform The Experiment No. 2 — and yes, there were many more repeats. But this was a straight-up four-out-of-five-night stand, not interrupted by two Camden and two MSG shows.

Yes, the 2005 Gorge is superlong and amazing, at 35 songs, and that's a great show you introduced into the mix (other than the too-many Petty calls — the minor thing that irritates me). I don't recall anyone, though, saying that was the longest — the one that beat Mansfield. But then again, you raise the other point I brought up about the longest straight-shot show: The one played straight through. Perhaps we might wind up with one show lasting the most minutes straight through without interruption, and the other lasting the longest overall.

It will be interesting to find out. Thanks for chiming in.

It's all good fun....

let's try to remember what's important here: There is no such thing as too much Pearl jam!

TooMuchBlood · November 2009

breath123 wrote:

It's all good fun....

let's try to remember what's important here: There is no such thing as too much Pearl jam![/quote]

Absolutely!

Halloween: The longest and best PJ show?

Comments

Categories