What Makes the 2003 Tour/Boots Great?

TamaDrummer91 · December 2010

Up until recently, I did not pay proper attention to the 2003 tour and therefore did not listen to many of the boots very often. I had the impression from just listening to a few shows that the band had low energy and was somewhat sloppy. After listening to the 00,05,06, and 2010 boots religiously I found my way back to 2003 when I popped in Tokyo 03. What an incredible show and I had not enjoyed just chilling and listening to a boot like that in a long time. Since that, I have downloaded and bought some more of the 2003 boots.

I understand now what makes the tour so highly praised on this board. The songs may be played a little slower than what the band played them in 2006 for example, but that does not equate them to being sloppy or low energized. It is actually closer to how they sound on the studio versions. I forgot how fantastic Ed sounded with his voice being incredibly deep. I certainly misplaced in memory how great the boots sounded as well. When you put on some good headphones or in a decent CD player you can truly hear Jeff's bass very clearly and can also hear the depth in in Ed's voice. My only complaint about the 03 boots would be the drums being a bit in the background, nonetheless I can still hear what Matt is playing almost all the time.

The 2003 tour was my least favorite for a good while and is now becoming my possible favorite. The setlists were great, the boots sound warm, the band was on, and it is just an awesome tour for an awesome album. So my question is, what are some of your favorite aspects of the 2003 tour/boots and what are your favorite shows and why?

Newch91 · December 2010

TamaDrummer91 wrote:

Up until recently, I did not pay proper attention to the 2003 tour and therefore did not listen to many of the boots very often. I had the impression from just listening to a few shows that the band had low energy and was somewhat sloppy. After listening to the 00,05,06, and 2010 boots religiously I found my way back to 2003 when I popped in Tokyo 03. What an incredible show and I had not enjoyed just chilling and listening to a boot like that in a long time. Since that, I have downloaded and bought some more of the 2003 boots.

I understand now what makes the tour so highly praised on this board. The songs may be played a little slower than what the band played them in 2006 for example, but that does not equate them to being sloppy or low energized. It is actually closer to how they sound on the studio versions. I forgot how fantastic Ed sounded with his voice being incredibly deep. I certainly misplaced in memory how great the boots sounded as well. When you put on some good headphones or in a decent CD player you can truly hear Jeff's bass very clearly and can also hear the depth in in Ed's voice. My only complaint about the 03 boots would be the drums being a bit in the background, nonetheless I can still hear what Matt is playing almost all the time.

The 2003 tour was my least favorite for a good while and is now becoming my possible favorite. The setlists were great, the boots sound warm, the band was on, and it is just an awesome tour for an awesome album. So my question is, what are some of your favorite aspects of the 2003 tour/boots and what are your favorite shows and why?

I think one reason why I love the 2003 boots is the tone of Mike's guitars, especially Even Flow. His guitar sounds fantastic. Also, 2003 tour had some of the best shows amongst the band's career: Penn State, Buffalo, both MSGs, and the Mansfield experiment. The set lists were also great.

TamaDrummer91 · December 2010

Newch91 wrote:

TamaDrummer91 wrote:

Up until recently, I did not pay proper attention to the 2003 tour and therefore did not listen to many of the boots very often. I had the impression from just listening to a few shows that the band had low energy and was somewhat sloppy. After listening to the 00,05,06, and 2010 boots religiously I found my way back to 2003 when I popped in Tokyo 03. What an incredible show and I had not enjoyed just chilling and listening to a boot like that in a long time. Since that, I have downloaded and bought some more of the 2003 boots.

I understand now what makes the tour so highly praised on this board. The songs may be played a little slower than what the band played them in 2006 for example, but that does not equate them to being sloppy or low energized. It is actually closer to how they sound on the studio versions. I forgot how fantastic Ed sounded with his voice being incredibly deep. I certainly misplaced in memory how great the boots sounded as well. When you put on some good headphones or in a decent CD player you can truly hear Jeff's bass very clearly and can also hear the depth in in Ed's voice. My only complaint about the 03 boots would be the drums being a bit in the background, nonetheless I can still hear what Matt is playing almost all the time.

The 2003 tour was my least favorite for a good while and is now becoming my possible favorite. The setlists were great, the boots sound warm, the band was on, and it is just an awesome tour for an awesome album. So my question is, what are some of your favorite aspects of the 2003 tour/boots and what are your favorite shows and why?

I think one reason why I love the 2003 boots is the tone of Mike's guitars, especially Even Flow. His guitar sounds fantastic. Also, 2003 tour had some of the best shows amongst the band's career: Penn State, Buffalo, both MSGs, and the Mansfield experiment. The set lists were also great.

I agree, you know for some odd reason I can not get into that massive 3rd Mansfield show. I know its a good show, I just don't tend to listen to it very often. Buffalo is certainly one of my favorites from 2003. I love how Ed screws up the first verse of Hail Hail and says, "Whats the next line I always forget" singing it in the context of the song. Buffalo has my favorite version of Love Boat Captain. Great set and solid performance. I wish they would have used Buffalo as the 2003 DVD release instead of MSG 1.

dimitrispearljam · December 2010

that i dont have them in cd

only them missing to complete the whole

randallanddarcy · December 2010

I attended 20 shows (10 in Oz and 10 in the US as a guest of one of the support acts, Idlewild), which is earlier in the tour than most folks like to talk about. Omitting the Aussie shows, as most of these discussions are US-centric, I'll say that the sound quality of the US boots are superior to any other year, and some of those southern/mid-west shows were phenomenal. LA 1 was fabulous, as was Vegas, Little Rock and Council Bluffs. Those shorter shows were intense-it's like the band knew they'd play a slightly shorter set so they played harder for the duration. The latter two shows I just mentioned were particularly memorable. Additionally, at a show like Vegas, they played like 8 covers, and I didn't even really think about that until years later-they could play a lot of covers in one show and make them all seem like they were the band's own songs. It was a really memorable tour, and not just the later shows that everyone talks about. I never listen to that Boston acoustic set, for example, I think it's a snoozefest. Other than that, a fabulous tour all round.

What Makes the 2003 Tour/Boots Great?

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