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Calling anyone who was at the 2003 Mansfield Show No.3
I have spent the weekend listening back through all three shows in succession and absolutely loving every minute of them.
I was just intrigued to get some fan feedback on what that last show was actually like to attend? Did you guys have any idea when you originally bought tickets that something so epic would be happening?
Did you know in advance that they were starting extra early?
Did anyone miss the first set? (Did they actually start in the morning or was Ed just joking when he starts with "Good Morning"?)
It's one of those shows that if you WERE there, I imagine will be something you'll cherish forever.
Please feel free to share some memories...
I was just intrigued to get some fan feedback on what that last show was actually like to attend? Did you guys have any idea when you originally bought tickets that something so epic would be happening?
Did you know in advance that they were starting extra early?
Did anyone miss the first set? (Did they actually start in the morning or was Ed just joking when he starts with "Good Morning"?)
It's one of those shows that if you WERE there, I imagine will be something you'll cherish forever.
Please feel free to share some memories...
"I get into a state of consciousness that I can't explain. It is about feeling and not thinking. I get positive chills and insight into things that I can't get to any other way. It is Healing of the Soul." - Mike McCready
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I don't think it was announced before the tix went on sale.
It was announced before the show happened that they would be opening with an acoustic set, before the opening band.
The first was kinda like an Ed preset, but with the rest of the band, short break then the opener. Nobody had a valid excuse to miss the preset. Wouldn't people still be griping if they did?
I wasn't there but it seems like one of those shows everybody dreams of bein at. Maybe not quite on par with the Seattle 2's or the Randall Islands but at least worthy of mention in the same breath.
know in advance - yes
miss the first set - no place was packed
one of those cherish shows - yup its regarded as a top show
Stolen from Two Feet Thick
07/11/03 - Tweeter Center: Mansfield (Boston), MA [preset 50m/main set 165m]
support act: Sleater-Kinney
PJ preset: Long Road, Of The Girl, Sometimes, Off He Goes, All Those Yesterdays, Drifting, Thin Air, Sleight Of Hand, Footsteps, All Or None, Parting Ways, Indifference
set: Can’t Keep, Breakerfall, Brain of J, Spin the Black Circle, Ghost, Green Disease, Tremor Christ, Given To Fly, Nothing As It Seems, Cropduster, Faithfull, Why Go, Wishlist/(Why Can’t I Touch It?), Leatherman, Nothingman, Better Man, 1/2 Full, Untitled/MFC, Blood
enc 1: Breath, Habit, Down, Mankind, U, Black, Jeremy
enc 2: Arc, I Believe In Miracles, Know Your Rights, Fortunate Son, Rockin’ in the Free World
enc 3: Yellow Ledbetter
notes: This show is part III of the plan for PJ to play their catalog over the three Mansfield shows with no repeats. The unique full band preset starts early with a nearly full house with Ed thanking the crowd for participating in “the experiment.” After ‘Of The Girl,’ Ed asks the crowd to sit down saying, “We haven’t played to a seated crowd in a long, long time … there’s not gonna be an acoustic version of ‘Blood’ or anything like that …” The preset begins acoustic with Jeff playing electric on some of the early songs and Mike going electric on some of the later songs. Splendid song selection and very well executed. At least three-quarters of the crowd leaves after the preset Sleater-Kinney thanks Pearl Jam for opening for them in their set. PJ return for the main set, ripping through the first few songs at a staccato pace. Ed toasts Boston #3 after ‘GTF,’ and mentions saving the best for last. He says the next song could have been played in the preset but that they had saved it, and Mike begins ‘NAIS.’ ‘Faithfull’ was saved specifically for night three. Ed flubs ‘Wishlist’ but puts an extended jam on the end (acknowledging the crowd has “forgiven” him) that evolves into the ‘Why Can’t I Touch It?’ tag, enlisting the crowd to sing and joking about not giving Atlanta this part to sing. Ed introduces the “man” trilogy as three songs that “go together just like teeth in a Georgian’s mouth,” and then apologizes to Atlanta. In usual form, the crowd sings the first two verses to ‘Better Man’ before Ed even gets a word out. Returning for the first encore, Ed checks his notebook and says there are “… still quite a few songs on the list, so take a deep …” but doesn’t finish the sentence and they launch into ‘Breath.’ Unfortunately, there is no “speaking as …” in ‘Habit,’ but just a complete stop from the build up. ‘Down’ is introduced as a “b-side off the last record for the serious collector,” and is dedicated to Howard Zinn. Ed speaks more of Zinn’s writings at the end of the song. He addresses the 77 soldiers that have lost their lives in Iraq since the war is supposedly over and that he hopes that our thoughts and actions are still with those people overseas. “It will be a fine day when they all come home.” Ed introduces Stone, who says, “I’ve been waiting all tour to get the mic. Finally I have it. It feels so good. Since we’re playing all the songs, here’s the one that I sing …” leading to ‘Mankind,’ played under pink lights! He flounders on the repetition of the “… what’s got the whole world faking” lyric toward the end and says, “Well, it was sort of magic up to the last part … the second verse was pretty good, I thought.” After ‘Black,’ Ed says they only have one more of their songs to do and it is one the crowd knows so they can sing along, leading to ‘Jeremy,’ and afterward, leaving the stage with, “We did it … thank you!” The second encore begins with “Eddie, Eddie” chants and he responds, “Yeah, it’s just me up here.” He talks about how they were pacing themselves and the crowd outdid them. He says they are going to break the curfew and says it isn’t a deliberate act of disrespect but they want to finish the setlist and that next time they will probably play the Fleet Center. “It will never be like the Garden or like the Orpheum Theater.” After thanking those who showed up early for the “experiment” of the opener, he introduces ‘Arc’ as another experiment, following it with ‘I Believe in Miracles.’ Sleater-Kinney come out for ‘Fortunate Son’ and ‘RITFW.’ Then, “There’s one more we haven’t done. We’ve done it once in Birmingham …” and they repeat the loud “one note” and leave, to the dismay of the crowd that still continues to stay and cheer. The band returns, repeating the “one note” but then going into ‘YL’ (apparently the only song that would signal they were really done to get the crowd to leave). Mike adds a snippet of Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling.’ Playing 30 minutes beyond the 11 pm curfew allegedly cost the band $7,500. (Total count for the three nights at Mansfield = 82 songs plus 11 covers.)
Credit above to two feet thick
After the show, we realized that we left the lights on in our van, but got a jump from the nice PJ fans next to us, and were on our way back home to Philly sometime after midnight. Got back home around 6:30AM, slept for a few hours and drove up to Hershey for the show on Sat.
Good Memories.
Eddie Vedder solo: 2008 - Boston night 1 & 2 || 2009 - Albany, NY night 1 & 2 || 2011 - Hartford, CT, Boston, MA
London 28/10/96, Las Vegas 11/7/98, London 29/5/00, Nurnburg 11/6/00, Prague 14/6/00, Salzburg 18/6/00, Verona 20/6/00, Milan 22/6/00, Zurich 23/6/00, New York 8-9/7/03, Boston 11/7/03, Reading Festival 27/8/06, Shepards Bush 11/8/09, Berlin 15/8/09, Manchester 17/8/09, London 18/8/09, Dublin 22/6/10, Belfast 23/6/10, London (HRC) 25/6/10, Alpine Valley (PJ20) 3-4/9/11, Manchester 20-21/6/12, Leeds 8/7/14, Milton Keynes 11/7/14 To be continued....
... yeah, I was there. :? :?
3 Decibels Doubles the Volume
2006
Did you guys have any idea when you originally bought tickets that something so epic would be happening? - No
Did you know in advance that they were starting extra early?-Yes, it was announced somewhere
Did anyone miss the first set?-No
I'm a sole PJ fan, none of my family is really into them, all my PJ friends are on the web and not in person. I had a hard time finding someone to go with me so I took my younger brother. He introduced me to PJ in the early 1990's and had never had a chance to see them live. We left early..got stuck in traffic..but listened to a great Mike interview on the radio.. My brother and I travel in different circles so this was the 1st concert we attended together. "off he goes" reminds me of him, so when they played it live I slapped his knee and informed him it was his song..He really wanted to hear Yellow Ledbetter, its his favorite..I didn't think it was going to be played because PJ was doing as many songs from the catalog and that one was already played..but they played it..and he jumped for joy.. I will always cherish that day..
SHOW COUNT: (149) 1990's=3, 2000's=53, 2010/20's=89, US=109, CAN=15, Europe=19 ,New Zealand=2, Australia=2
Mexico=1, Colombia=1
Upcoming: Sacramento, Vegas x2, Manchester, London, Chicago x2, NYC x2, Fenway x2, Aucklandx2, Gold Coast, Melbournex2
Night one was amazing, odd set list, great energy.
Night two, my friends and I were as worn out and hung over as eddie. Still a great show though. Sat in 12th row center.
And the famous night 3... just amazing! It was weird seeing them in the daytime... If I could go back to one show it would be this one, just a perfect and long night. Sat maybe 16th or 17th row mike's side.
A few weeks ago in the Sunday NYT there was an article about the Grateful Dead fans and how now with so many shows available online the eternal Deadhead question - which show was the best? - is easier to answer. It got me thinking about 2003 and how "on" Pearl Jam was during that week and a half stretch I got to see them. - an interesting debate could be had for sure on which tour PJ was at their peak performance....
anyway, this is how I remember "the experiment:"
The week before Mansfield 1 fans (in Toronto?) were talking about meeting Ed in the parking lot before a show. Ed was riding his bike in the lot before some of the shows (he did this again before Mansfield 1) and stopped to talk with the fans. he mentioned that they were excited about the 3 shows in the Boston area and may try to play their entire catalogue over those 3 shows.
Until Ed announced their intentions during Mansfield 1, the experiment wasn't made public.
Before MSG 2 the band announced they would be playing an xtra set to try and complete the experiment. Radio stations promoted that heavily.
I lived in Boston at the time and the traffic that day was beyond terrible. I was running to my seats as they started Long Road, the place was 1/4 full at that point and as others have indicated became 3/4 full by the end of the first set.
Ed had to convince the crowd to sit during the preset - everyone who was there early knew they were going to witness something really special.
I've been lucky to see a few of the memorable shows (Boston Garden 2 '94, MSG 1 and 2 2003, Spectrum '03, Gorge 2005, Gorge 2006) and Mansfield 3 or as my friend refers to it "the show Pearl Jam opened for themselves" ranks right up there at the top.
The anticipation, the crowd (people were geeking out, just giddy), the energy of the crowd and the band - so many elements made this a memorable event.
Longtime Boston Globe critic Steve Morse included it in his list of top Boston concerts when he retired.
Listening to the preset today, I think it's one of the best live CDs they've ever released. It's nights like Mansfield 3 that have created PJ Fans' such incredible lofty expectations, and all the more amazing when PJ ends up topping themselves.
Can't wait for the next show!
I still think these three shows should be released as a DVD (or preferably Blu-ray Disc) box set.
"You need the patience of like a National Geographic photographer sitting underneath the bush in a tent, trying to get a picture of zebras fucking or something for the first time." -Eddie Vedder
I felt totally edified coming across to see those shows, so many songs that I thought I would never see live in Australia and the US crowds kick the Aussie crowds asses.
2003 - 11/2 (SYD1), 13/2 (SYD2), 14/2 (SYD3), 8/7 (MSG1), 9/7 (MSG2), 11/7 (BOS3)
2006 - 7/11 (SYD1), 8/11 (SYD2), 10/11 (BRIS1), 18/11 (SYD3)
2009 - 20/11 (MEL), 22/11 (SYD)
2011 - 18/3 (EVSYD1), 19/3 (EVSYD2), 24/3 (EVMEL1), 25/3 (EVMEL2)
2014 - 26/1 (BDOSYD)
10 club had me 2nd row center night 1 (2B), then I was in 2K night 2, and 2W night 3.
Did you step on my foot?
1998 - West Palm Beach 1
2000 - West Palm Beach 1&2
2003 - WPB,Tampa,Atlanta,Camden 1&2,MSG 1&2, Boston 3,Hershey Park
2004 - Asheville, Kissimmee
2008 - West Palm Beach,Tampa,Columbia,Virginia Beach, Mansfield 1&2
2010 - Hartford,Boston,Newark, MSG 1&2
2011 - PJ20 1&2, Costa Rica
2013 - Wrigley,Brooklyn 1&2,Seattle
2014 - Denver,Mountain View 1&2
2015 - Bogata, Mexico City
2016 - Ft Lauderdale,Miami,Tampa,NYC 1&2,Telluride,Fenway 1&2,Wrigley 1&2
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
Anyways, the show was awesome. A little rain in the morning and it was a bit dreary, but it certainly didn't take away from the show or the day as a whole.
E.V-06/08/09 - 06/09/09
Wrong, it's been pointed out already that there were widespread announcements.
Everyone has reminisced so well already. I'll just say that it was one of the freest nights of music I've seen Pearl Jam put on. They were so confident at that point of the tour (really the entire 03 tour was loose and fun) and it felt more like a celebration of music more than a performance. That Boston crowd was incredible as well. To hear more than half the house sing along to ATY's blew me away. Just seeing Pearl Jam do that song again blew me away!
Can't Keep rolled off the stage like waves and sent the crowd into a frenzy. I got this giddy feeling that I hadn't had in a long time. Tremor Christ, intense Given To Fly, Faithful, Why Go, Wishlist with the great tag, and an amazing 1/2 Full. Another memory was the intensity of Jeremy. I remember thinking that anyone reading the set at home would say, "Oh they closed with Jeremy :? " But it was the high point of the show up until that point. The crowd wasn't filled with TEN fans who had been waiting for Jeremy, it was Pearl Jam in their blood kind of fans who said, "This is our favorite band, they are giving us the best night of music possible, they are playing the song that got me turned onto them and we are all going to rock the fuck out to it like the gods are watching."
Arc was incredible. The base note that Ed hit rumbled in your chest. Unreal.
Great thread. Check out the Heartbreaker solo Mike throws into All or None.
I remember this guy in the parking lot of Hershey the next night. He was downplaying the Boston show saying, "It was long but the setlist was weak." :shock: I looked at him in amazement and said, "The played 45 songs. Which Pearl Jam songs do you like?" Some people just can't be satisfied I guess.
Highlight for me was definitely sitting at a PJ show. The irony of it all. Everyone was looking around in amazement.
"The advice we give to you is the advice we give ourselves...let's pace ourselves." Ed 7/11/03
A great night indeed.