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
Yeah we defiantly didn’t realize how good we had it. RA had a few songs that didn’t really work live but it was and is miles better than any new material since.
"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."
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.
This is quite ironic when one considers the backlash from the high ticket prices on this year´s tour.
Accurate. The ticket prices go up and the shows get worse…
"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."
Yeah the 4 nights at the Spectrum and Hartford, Boston, MSG2 2010 weren’t special enough for replay 🤦🏽♂️
I was at almost all of those shows. Really fun to be at and cool setlists if you are looking for rare songs, but there was a lot of rust and not a ton of exciting playing/extending songs. Like I said shows are still fun now but i more or less look forward to catching up with old friends and the music is just a bonus.
"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."
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
Yeah we defiantly didn’t realize how good we had it. RA had a few songs that didn’t really work live but it was and is miles better than any new material since.
I love Riot Act, but I think I disagree here. Lots of good material since then.
Spring-Summer '03 was my favorite tour. Catalog wasn't as diluted w/ the more recent albums. Good mix of the earlier albums. Great covers every night. Great energy every night. The new arrangements with Boom in the mix really worked. Band playing at a really high level, probably their tightest since the early days given how much they were playing live. They really started pushing the show lengths longer this tour. Not trying to s*it on post-2020 shows but night and day difference listening to these 2003 bootlegs compared to last couple years. Played all over NA so didn't have to put up with people on the message boards complaining how they never play near them.
Bunch of hall of fame level shows: State College, MSG1, Mansfield3. Even the next tier really good: Spectrum, Buffalo, Holmdel, many others.
October '05 another really good tour too. The Philly '05 still one of my favorite bootlegs. No album to promote so got some very unique sets every night.
TFC '97, TFC '98, Pittsburgh '98, Camden I,II '98, Camden I,II '00, Pittsburgh '00, Philly '03, Camden I,II '03, MSG I,II '03, Hershey '03, Reading '04, Philly '05, Camden I,II '06, Meadowlands I '06, Camden I,II '08, DC '08, Spectrum I,II,III,IV '09, Made in America '12, Philly I,II '13, GCF '15, Philly I,II '16, MSG I '16, Apollo ‘22, MSG ‘22, Camden ‘22
Just realized I saw get right five times that tour.
Haha that’s a wild stat! You could tell that was going to be one of the songs shelved after the tour 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."
Spring-Summer '03 was my favorite tour. Catalog wasn't as diluted w/ the more recent albums. Good mix of the earlier albums. Great covers every night. Great energy every night. The new arrangements with Boom in the mix really worked. Band playing at a really high level, probably their tightest since the early days given how much they were playing live. They really started pushing the show lengths longer this tour. Not trying to s*it on post-2020 shows but night and day difference listening to these 2003 bootlegs compared to last couple years. Played all over NA so didn't have to put up with people on the message boards complaining how they never play near them.
Bunch of hall of fame level shows: State College, MSG1, Mansfield3. Even the next tier really good: Spectrum, Buffalo, Holmdel, many others.
October '05 another really good tour too. The Philly '05 still one of my favorite bootlegs. No album to promote so got some very unique sets every night.
LOVE that Philly show and the Canadian tour that preceded it. They threw down hard every night.
"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."
2003 is the allstar selection of live bootlegs, but I think the tour with the best combination of great setlists, set length, energy from the band and fans was 2016. Every show fantastic. So my personal ranking would be
2016-2003-2005/6-2018-2013-2014-2022-2023
Special mention for Bogota 2015 which had the best fan sound and interaction I've heard so far. Skipped most of 2008,2009 and 2011 (except Toronto, Lima and Curitiba) because I thought the sound wasn't always as great as in other tours. 2000 is great, as well, but something about the mixing isn't really enjoyable to listen deeply.
This was my favorite tour too. Saw five shows which was the most I ever saw in a year. Not sure how the hell I afforded it because I was only 19. But the band was awesome that year.
Remember that cool bootleg companion book that came with the fanclub newsletter?
Comments
2007 Venezia
2010 London
2012 Oslo
2014 Milano
2018 Milano
2018 Krakow
2019 Barolo (Ed)
2022 Berlin
2022 Frankfurt
2022 Krakow
Here to die.
Scared alive.
Here to die.
Scared alive.
Spring-Summer '03 was my favorite tour. Catalog wasn't as diluted w/ the more recent albums. Good mix of the earlier albums. Great covers every night. Great energy every night. The new arrangements with Boom in the mix really worked. Band playing at a really high level, probably their tightest since the early days given how much they were playing live. They really started pushing the show lengths longer this tour. Not trying to s*it on post-2020 shows but night and day difference listening to these 2003 bootlegs compared to last couple years. Played all over NA so didn't have to put up with people on the message boards complaining how they never play near them.
Bunch of hall of fame level shows: State College, MSG1, Mansfield3. Even the next tier really good: Spectrum, Buffalo, Holmdel, many others.
October '05 another really good tour too. The Philly '05 still one of my favorite bootlegs. No album to promote so got some very unique sets every night.
So my personal ranking would be
2016-2003-2005/6-2018-2013-2014-2022-2023
Special mention for Bogota 2015 which had the best fan sound and interaction I've heard so far.
Skipped most of 2008,2009 and 2011 (except Toronto, Lima and Curitiba) because I thought the sound wasn't always as great as in other tours.
2000 is great, as well, but something about the mixing isn't really enjoyable to listen deeply.
Remember that cool bootleg companion book that came with the fanclub newsletter?
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com