2003 - The Peak of Pearl Jam?

Vedd Hedd

Zod said:

That's a good way to put.  Plus I think the 2013 and 2016 tours were also pretty amazing, when they stepped up their game, and 3 hour+ setlists became the norm.  I feel like 13/16 became a new peak too.. even if they have aged a bit.

My absolute favourite tour is Yield, because they were still young with piss/vinegar, but had also figured out their shit, and gained some wisdom.  So many fans seeing them for the first time on that tour.   I'd seen a lolla set when I was super young, but the Yield tour was my first real Pearl Jam exposure.    Maybe because it was my first tour, I'm super nostalgic for it.

For the 2003 tour, I only saw the shows in Seattle (technically 2002) at Key Arena, and Vancouver.    I will say Mansfield #3 is one of my most spin boots ever, and that says alot, considering I wasn't at the show.

Ha, I basically agree with all of this.  Yield was my first tour, too.  Although I had tried, and failed, to get tickets to other shows in prior tours...I got to see them twice on the Yield tour, so it was not only my first show, but also my first road trips for a concert.  So I have some nostalgia for that tour as well.  But also, I agree about 2013 and 2016.  And I would prob throw in 2018 in as well, although I got tired of Wrigley as a venue. 

mcgruff10

pjhawks said:

mcgruff10 said:

NewJPage said:

mcgruff10 said:

‘03 was definitely great but those second encores with sleater Kinney .......yikes.   

I did eleven shows that year, it was awesome.  Only bad one out of the bunch was Hershey and being with the ex.  :(

holmdel 2 nights later was the show the see...I did about 15 that tour and Hershey might have been my least favorite 

Holmdel might have been the best show that year; such an underrated show.  It has to be one of the most unique first sets in the bands history.  Ten to riot act in chronological order!!!!!

Also the show where you could trade out your MSG tickets for this one since they had so many requests for MSG this show was a late add on.  Ended up with row 7 dead center seats.  Was killer and a great tailgate day.

2003 was killer for the ability to get tickets to as many shows as possible.  With the new policies looks like those days are long gone

I got first row because of this.  

on2legs

Any tour that has Insignificance in regular rotation is top notch 😎  

OceansJenny

2003 was the last major tour before the 2006 “rebirth” with self titled. It definitely feels like a peak. Mastery of skills, nice big catalog, band maturity, risk taking / doing what they wanted, and not feeling drawbacks of age yet. 

I also feel like 2003 was the lowest with casual fan/commercial engagement. All the bandwagon fans gone as someone else mentioned. I doubt a group of young people would buy a bunch of tickets to go together because they liked a handful of the hits. So the majority of fans were those truly engaged with the catalog, which you can see returned in the band’s sets.

Also last album before shedding Epic, which someone else mentioned. May have contributed to the overall non-commercial attitude they took. Or perhaps shaking the last bit of pain from the 92-96 hype. Also music trends had moved on - we had post-grunge Creed Nickelback etc for a bit longer but pop-punk/emo was taking over. PJ was happily out or the spotlight individually but also in alt-rock. Maybe that happened a bit earlier but there were still echoes of imitators of their early sound in the late 90s which they were trying to distance from musically.

That’s my take.

Long Red

For me, 2006 was the peak of PJ in their second act (post 2000). Ed's vocals, band performance, overall songwriting. It just all came together. 

CP218430

Someone on here recommended the April run in 03 and it's phenomenal...give me another one....I remember Europe 06 as being super cool...come one what do we have? 

Zod

mcgruff10 said:

pjhawks said:

mcgruff10 said:

NewJPage said:

mcgruff10 said:

‘03 was definitely great but those second encores with sleater Kinney .......yikes.   

I did eleven shows that year, it was awesome.  Only bad one out of the bunch was Hershey and being with the ex.  :(

holmdel 2 nights later was the show the see...I did about 15 that tour and Hershey might have been my least favorite 

Holmdel might have been the best show that year; such an underrated show.  It has to be one of the most unique first sets in the bands history.  Ten to riot act in chronological order!!!!!

Also the show where you could trade out your MSG tickets for this one since they had so many requests for MSG this show was a late add on.  Ended up with row 7 dead center seats.  Was killer and a great tailgate day.

2003 was killer for the ability to get tickets to as many shows as possible.  With the new policies looks like those days are long gone

I got first row because of this.  

I kept getting further back.  Every time they came up with a new system, I got further back. Unlimited shows, that bumped me 4 or 5 rows futher back. Rows 1/2/9/10 lottery, 4 more rows further back.

I started dreading these idea because I always ended up seeing my seats get further away each tour.   It wasn't until the GA pits, that I started getting closer again.

mace1229

Not my favorite tour, but I really liked 2009 and I think it’s underrated. It just felt like they gave up the anti-rockstar image and just had more fun to me. I’d take 2009 over 2006 and 2013/14.

tbergs

cp3iverson said:

PB11041 said:

bbiggs said:

PB11041 said:

They were at their collective best in two periods, 1993 - 1996 and 2000 - 2006.

Damn.  1998 left out.  Very interesting.  I thought 1998 was a great year (not to take away from the others).  '03 still for the win.

Matt was learning the catalog.  It just wasn't nearly as good.  There were very good shows, but it was not as good as other years.  Just my opinion.  But I am right.

Matt said that’s the exact aspect that Ed loved about the 98 tour tho.  It brought a different energy to the songs and affected their playing.  The intensity and the unknown.  I guess it got them out of their comfort level on a lot of the songs and Ed loved it

Matt's drumming on GTF in '98 was awesome. He added some fills that made all the other tour years versions inferior. It's close in the 2000 tour, but pretty much gone by 03. In general, Matt was pretty buried in the 03 mixes. I prefer 00 bootlegs because the instruments the mix is cleaner.

tbergs

Ed's vocals for the slower songs and covers were peak '03 - '08. I do think the early catalog (Ten - Vitalogy) rockers lacked the vocal authority and sounded thin on the 03 tour, but seemed to be stronger again in 08. I think the 08 boots are a bit muddy, but Ed and the band sounded damn good. I liked most of the early stuff the least during the '03 - '06 run. Binaural still killed live in '03 though, but many sound too rusty after that tour. I'll never get enough of those '00 bootlegs and hearing Matt absolutely murder the drums on Breakerfall, God's Dice and Grievance.

ianh42

This is like picking your favorite PJ song...close to impossible, ha!  For me personally it is the 2003 tour, but things kept escalating through 2009.  Their journey in to creativity with sound and perfecting the live shows to the point in 2013 and later with three hour sets.  Amazing!  Sadly being in L.A. I haven't seen them since a travel show in 2014.  Can't wait for Ohana fest and hoping the band tours successfully again post COVID.  Going back to 2003 and the Riot Act tour was such an emotional time, and I think that's the biggest thing for me.  Connecting somehow with Eddie and what he was going through then on songs like LBC, Cant Keep and Save You with a gut wrenching closer in All or None.  So f'ing good!