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2003 had the wildest setlists and the best playing

reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
in The Porch
of the last 20 years…

The only other tour in the last 20 years that can compete with it is Canada 2005 imo. In 2003 they pretty much opened up the entire catalog  (why go, Glorified G, Deep, and Blood, all returned after long absences) at a time when they’d only put out A+ albums.  Songs (including the heavy hitters) could show up anywhere in the set and none weee even guaranteed to be played every night. They really took some classic  songs to new places like Crazy Mary, Wishlist, and RVM. And it seemed like we got a cool full band improv every few shows, which is very rare now.


This was the first tour I went to multiple shows (Mansfield Trio, Toronto, and Montreal), but I wish I went to more! This list is not meant to be exhaustive but rather to highlight my favorite moments and unique things at live shows we haven’t really seen since. 


Some of my favorite unique tour highlights:


Brisbane 2/8/03: Closing the opening show of the tour with C-Mary and jamming it for the first time.


Melbourne 2/18/03: Opening the show with Betterman out of left field.


Sendai 2/28/03: Of the Girl> Immortality to open the show and corduroy in the second encore with a porch to close the show.


Nagoya 3/6/03: opening with GTF and then the incredible string of mfc>improv>immortality.  One of my favorite segments from the band and easily a top 10 show of the tour.


St. Louis 4/22/03: Present Tense opener and no covers.  Jammed out Daughter (10+ minutes) with Ed adding in some harmonica


Champaign 4/23/03: nothing crazy about the setlist but easily a top 5 show of the tour with maybe the best Driven to Tears- wish they’d play this more often.


Philly 4/28/03: Epic Crazy Mary opener- outside that standard setlist on paper, but the panting is anything but and the crowd energy is nuts!


Buffalo 5/2/03: State College gets all the love l, but for my money this is the best show of the entire tour.  Opening run of LBC>Brain of J>Hail Hail>Save You> Corduroy cooks and the Wishlist is incendiary.  Second encore with Sonic Reducer into People have the Power rips.


State College 5/3/03: longest show ever and best Porch since Europe ‘96.


Dallas 6/9/03: best Crazy Mary ever (10+ minutes of heat) with an awesome Ed WMD joke/rant.


Council Bluffs 6/13/03: A sneaky top 10 show of the tour with Mike ripping a new one on every song to start the show: Save You>Hail Hail>Animal>Grievance>Faithful>Cropduster 


Columbus 6/24/03: this show is a hidden gem- awesome Can’t Keep/Daughter opener and killer Yield heavy encore with a super fun Start Me Up tag on NFY in the style of the Folksmen (iykyk). 


Detroit 6/26/03: Ed was pissed at all of the corporate dbags upfront night 1 so on night 2 they played a ton of No Code and Vitalogy. 


Montreal 6/29/03: My vote for most underrated show of the last leg.  Standard show on paper at the time (though I think we’d all kill for this setlist now), but the playing is anything but.  Top five versions of Not For You and Wishlist and my favorite version of Fuckin’ Up.


Mansfield Trilogy- y’all know how six these shows were.  My hot take- the acoustic preset is better than Benaroya, but the rest of the show is just ok.  The first two Boston shows have better main sets and if you added the preset to either of them you’d have a top 5 PJ show of all time. 


Holmdel 7/14/03- such a cool setlist playing a couple of songs off of each album chronologically in the main set.  Even Flow is a top version ever and the Hunger Strike bust out is a delight.


And there are so many more but these are a few unique moments and examples of PJ firing on all cylinders that I really love.  Please feel free to post your favorites as well.

"What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    JD87070JD87070 Posts: 152
    Those Detroit shows were my first PJ shows! Such great nights.
    The Raleigh show was also really good-wasn’t there just have had the bootleg since way back when. Great version of I Got Id, and before it Ed tells a funny story about Mike wearing sandals on stage, then after the song reveals that he’s actually wearing them because he broke a toe.

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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    JD87070 said:
    Those Detroit shows were my first PJ shows! Such great nights.
    The Raleigh show was also really good-wasn’t there just have had the bootleg since way back when. Great version of I Got Id, and before it Ed tells a funny story about Mike wearing sandals on stage, then after the song reveals that he’s actually wearing them because he broke a toe.

    Good call on Raleigh- super fun show and solid setlist.  And I’m jealous you were at Detroit 2- that show rips!
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    HailHailVitalogyHailHailVitalogy Posts: 4,558
    My first show was Uniondale and then both MSGs. I agree with everything you said….busting out the catalog, extending jams, and this is the tour that started the long sets on the regular. 
    What blows my mind is you listen to the shows towards the end of the tour, and Eddie’s voice just got better after a million shows. 
    Probably the best year for Blood (Mansfield 3 after 60 shows 🤯), Brain of J, Spin the Black Circle, Save You, etc 
    I think we took Riot Act for granted too. To tour on a new album, and get those songs was awesome. 
    Post 2000’s tour rankings for me 2003 > 2010 > 2006
    2003: Uniondale, MSG x2 | 2004: Reading | 2005: Gorge, Vancouver, Philly | 2006: East Rutherford x2, Gorge x2, Camden 1, Hartford | 2008: MSG x2, VA Beach | 2009: Philly x3 | 2010: MSG x2, Bristow | 2011: Alpine Valley x2 | 2012: MIA Philly | 2013: Wrigley, Charlottesville, Brooklyn 2 | 2014: Milan, Amsterdam 1 | 2016: MSG x2, Fenway x2, Wrigley 2 | 2018: Rome, Krakow, Berlin | 2021: Sea Hear Now | 2022: San Diego, LA x2, MSG, Camden, Nashville, St. Louis, Denver | 2023: St. Paul 1, Chicago x2, Fort Worth x2, Austin 2
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    Dude totally agree with you on almost everything. We really did not appreciate RA enough at the time and agree that 2010 tour is terrific.  Jealous you were at that Uniondale show- that was shaping up to be a top show of the tour before ethe Bushleaguer incident and even still it’s an awesome show.  Though it always makes me sad looking at the written setlist and what could have been!
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    JD87070JD87070 Posts: 152
    reedrothchild said:
    JD87070 said:
    Those Detroit shows were my first PJ shows! Such great nights.
    The Raleigh show was also really good-wasn’t there just have had the bootleg since way back when. Great version of I Got Id, and before it Ed tells a funny story about Mike wearing sandals on stage, then after the song reveals that he’s actually wearing them because he broke a toe.

    .  And I’m jealous you were at Detroit 2- that show rips!
    Best free show i’ve ever been to, by far! Perks of being there early and tailgating for show 1. Because of the band’s anger about the corporate season tickets up front, they had a stack of lawn tickets and were giving a pair to 10C members for N2 when we went up to get our N1 tickets. I hadn’t planned to go to both since i had also seen Ben Harper and Jack Johnson the night before (had hoped Ben would sit in N1, but didn’t happen), but after getting the free tickets i called in sick to work and saw PJ again, and definitely made the right choice! 
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    Sick story man- love that!
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    Lost In OhioLost In Ohio Posts: 6,773
    edited March 9
    I totally agree with that Columbus, especially as it was my first time seeing them live.

    The "Call me, doctor!" line comes from the fact that Eddie was on the tail end of a flu bug. You can also sense it in Eddie's voice...he sounds tired/sore during the "see my brother again" part of YL.

    What also makes that show special is that they had left the stage after Fuckin Up and some fans had started to go home before the band came back onto the stage for Y Led....stuff like that doesn't happen all the time.
    Post edited by Lost In Ohio on
    Presidential Advice from President-Elect Mike McCready: "Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?"
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    Yeah I love the awesome crowd bringing them out for one more
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    pledgeagrievancepledgeagrievance Posts: 2,820
    OP, great job. Love the passion. I’ve listened to the entire tour and you’ve got me wanting to go back and seek out your gems 
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    2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,144
    Check out Release from Kansas City OP. 
    www.cluthelee.com
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    pledgeagrievance said:
    OP, great job. Love the passion. I’ve listened to the entire tour and you’ve got me wanting to go back and seek out your gems 
    Hell yeah man- it has the most replay value of almost any tour!
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    CO278952CO278952 Orlando, FL Posts: 1,233
    Same for me.  Went to 7 shows that year and enjoyed every minute of it!  Was nice living in NJ at the time and being so close to Philly, MSG, Camden, Hershey and Holmdel. Tickets were like 45 bucks each then too. 
    4.17.94 Paramount 9.28.96 Randall's Island 8.25.00 Jones Beach 4.28.03 Spectrum 7.5.03 Camden 7.6.03 Camden
    07.08.03 MSG 07.09.03 MSG 7.12.03 Hershey 7.14.03 Holmdel 6.12.08 Tampa 10.19.13 Brooklyn 4.11.16 Tampa
    5.1.16 MSG 5.2.16 MSG 8.7.16 Fenway 9.2.18 Fenway 9.4.18 Fenway 9.11.22 MSG 9.16.22 Nashville 9.18.23 Austin 9.19.23 Austin
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    CO278952 said:
    Same for me.  Went to 7 shows that year and enjoyed every minute of it!  Was nice living in NJ at the time and being so close to Philly, MSG, Camden, Hershey and Holmdel. Tickets were like 45 bucks each then too. 
    Yep same living in Boston- as a poor college kid I could still swing a handful of shows.  Tix we’re $40 and posters could be grabbed after the show was over.
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    ST66483ST66483 Posts: 696
    Great thread - 2003 was a very fun tour. Did 4 shows and they were fantastic. Another fun element of that era was the number of times Ed came out before the opener for a one song pre-set - always a fun treat. Although I didn’t attend Champaign, I love the DTE opener. Starting was a song like that just sets the vibe for a fun show imo.
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    CarryTheZeroCarryTheZero Posts: 2,152
    Fantastic tour! Wish I had gone to more shows. I did Atlanta and MSG N1. These boots are amazing!
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    mcgruff10mcgruff10 New Jersey Posts: 27,903
    i saw them 11 times that year and the only dud was hershey.  Holmdel was definitely my favorite show from that year. Porch was on another level that night.
    I'll ride the wave where it takes me......
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    pledgeagrievancepledgeagrievance Posts: 2,820
    edited March 9
    CO278952 said:
    Same for me.  Went to 7 shows that year and enjoyed every minute of it!  Was nice living in NJ at the time and being so close to Philly, MSG, Camden, Hershey and Holmdel. Tickets were like 45 bucks each then too. 
    I went to 7 too and am from NJ. Didn’t do Hershey though. I don’t remember the decision on that but of course the set incredible. I did all you did but Cleveland instead of Hershey. I still remember them breaking into Sonic Reducer and losing my shit. And getting the WMA tag was always welcome. Got the rare Driven to Tears which I didn’t recognize at first 
    Post edited by pledgeagrievance on
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    mcgruff10 said:
    i saw them 11 times that year and the only dud was hershey.  Holmdel was definitely my favorite show from that year. Porch was on another level that night.
    Yeah Holmdel is such an underrated gem and yes porch delivered! 
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    washed in blackwashed in black Posts: 832
    ST66483 said:
    Great thread - 2003 was a very fun tour. Did 4 shows and they were fantastic. Another fun element of that era was the number of times Ed came out before the opener for a one song pre-set - always a fun treat. Although I didn’t attend Champaign, I love the DTE opener. Starting was a song like that just sets the vibe for a fun show imo.
    Made it to three shows on that tour: Spectrum, Camden 2 and Holmdel (which is seriously underrated - absolutely loved that show)

    We purposely went in early for Ed's preset at Holmdel - Dead Man is in the extras on the Live at the Garden DVD and my husband and I are in it.
    2003 Spectrum, Camden 2, Holmdel 2004 Reading, PA 2005 Philly 2006 Hartford, Camden 1&2, E. Rutherford 1&2 2008 Camden 1&2, MSG 1&2  2009 Spectrum 1,2,3,4  2010 Hartford, Newark, MSG 1&2 2013 Wrigley, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn 1&2, Philly 1&2,  Baltimore 2014 Leeds, Cincinnati  2015 GCF  2016 Sunrise, Miami, Hampton, Philly 1&2, MSG 1&2, Fenway 1&2  2017 RHoF Induction 2018 Seattle 1&2 Fenway 1&2 2021 Sea Hear Now 2022 Hamilton, Toronto, MSG, Camden 2023 Indy

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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    washed in black said:
    ST66483 said:
    Great thread - 2003 was a very fun tour. Did 4 shows and they were fantastic. Another fun element of that era was the number of times Ed came out before the opener for a one song pre-set - always a fun treat. Although I didn’t attend Champaign, I love the DTE opener. Starting was a song like that just sets the vibe for a fun show imo.
    Made it to three shows on that tour: Spectrum, Camden 2 and Holmdel (which is seriously underrated - absolutely loved that show)

    We purposely went in early for Ed's preset at Holmdel - Dead Man is in the extras on the Live at the Garden DVD and my husband and I are in it.
    That’s awesome!  Loved those presets- I got Dead Man and Hide Your Love Away at the first two Mansfield shows for presets which was sick and then of course the third night preset…
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    LCLC North Andover, MA Posts: 260
    Awesome topic and original post.  Completely agree with all your points as I listen to the 03 boots on a regular basis, and was also at the Montreal and all 3 Mansfield shows.  I still get chills when Eddie announces the plan of attack for their 3 nights in Mansfield to not repeat a song.

    For shows I didn't attend, definitely agree on Detroit 2 and Buffalo....those shows/setlists and crowds sound electric on the boots.
    8-29-00 Mansfield, 6-29-03 Montreal, 7-2-03 Mansfield, 7-3-03 Mansfield, 7-11-03, Mansfield, 9-28-04 Boston, 9-29-04 Boston, 10-8-04 Kissimmee, 9-15-05 Montreal, 9-16-05 Ottawa, 5-12-06 Albany, 5-13-06 Hartford, 5-24-06 Boston, 5-25-06 Boston, 6-28-08, Mansfield, 6-30-08 Mansfield, 5-15-10 Hartford, 5-17-10 Boston, 7-19-13 Chicago, 10-15-13 Worcester, 5-2-16 New York City, 8-5-16 Boston, 8-7-16 Boston
    EV- 2008, 2011 Boston
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    LC said:
    Awesome topic and original post.  Completely agree with all your points as I listen to the 03 boots on a regular basis, and was also at the Montreal and all 3 Mansfield shows.  I still get chills when Eddie announces the plan of attack for their 3 nights in Mansfield to not repeat a song.

    For shows I didn't attend, definitely agree on Detroit 2 and Buffalo....those shows/setlists and crowds sound electric on the boots.

    Hell yeah!  The spontaneity was terrific and the playing was so good because they were doing full 70+ show tours still. There’s so many highlights I couldn’t even get to half of them.   I just remembered at the Dallas show they also opened with Alive- the only other time they’ve gone that in the last 20 years was Newcastle I believe. 
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    3days3days Posts: 1,152
    I thought '03 East Troy was one of the best PJ shows I have ever seen, if not THE best. It was a magical night. 
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    yosiyosi NYC Posts: 2,638
    reedrothchild said:
    of the last 20 years…

    The only other tour in the last 20 years that can compete with it is Canada 2005 imo. In 2003 they pretty much opened up the entire catalog  (why go, Glorified G, Deep, and Blood, all returned after long absences) at a time when they’d only put out A+ albums.  Songs (including the heavy hitters) could show up anywhere in the set and none weee even guaranteed to be played every night. They really took some classic  songs to new places like Crazy Mary, Wishlist, and RVM. And it seemed like we got a cool full band improv every few shows, which is very rare now.

    I think you are spot on. The setlists were so unpredictable and the band just sounded incredible. I have always loved Riot Act, but the songs really shined live. 

    HailHailVitalogy said:
    My first show was Uniondale
    Mine as well! Loved the show, but it was listening to the bootleg on repeat all summer that took me from fan to obsessed. 
    you couldn't swing if you were hangin' from a palm tree in a hurricane

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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    3days said:
    I thought '03 East Troy was one of the best PJ shows I have ever seen, if not THE best. It was a magical night. 
    That show is an absolute heater with one of the best setlists ever and the playing to match it. I used to spin that disc a ton in the day.
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    mcgruff10mcgruff10 New Jersey Posts: 27,903
    edited March 10
    I think the 03 tour is only second to the 98 tour.  
    Post edited by mcgruff10 on
    I'll ride the wave where it takes me......
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    mcgruff10 said:
    I think the 03 tour is only second to the 98 tour.  
    This is a great take.  Man that 98 tour smokes and the majority of the shows were under 2 hours!
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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    ceskaceska New York Posts: 1,077
    2003 was great... You still had Yield and No Code stuff from the 98 tour (which was also phenomenal), plus all the great songs from Riot Act and Binaural.. That was the end of the Peak PJ studio + live era. 2005 Canada tour was really fun, but I would say that 2013/14 was the next live peak.
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    Niko80Niko80 Posts: 1,562
    I remember being quite disappointed with Riot Act at the time. I was more of less dead center on the very first row at the Perth show that year. Great show looking back, but for some reason I let my distaste for Riot Act get in the way. A hard to please 22 year old B)
    I will swallow poison
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    reedrothchildreedrothchild Posts: 538
    ceska said:
    2003 was great... You still had Yield and No Code stuff from the 98 tour (which was also phenomenal), plus all the great songs from Riot Act and Binaural.. That was the end of the Peak PJ studio + live era. 2005 Canada tour was really fun, but I would say that 2013/14 was the next live peak.
    I mostly agree with this- I’m a huge 2005 stan.  I do really like 2013/14 and honestly that’s the only tour since 2006 with replay value imo.  I still love going to shows, but there is almost nothing I listen back to from the current era.  
    "What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again."
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