Let's Talk about the 2003 Tour

[Birds in Hell]

The 2003 boots are mixed great, but the mastering is bit overdone. They're a little overcooked. They went back to a US-2000-style mastering for the 2006 boots...those tours were mastered with a gentler hand and breathe a little more. Great mixing by Brett Eliason on all of these.

This guy gets it.

Yup.

I think I've said somewhere before that the 2003 boots give me a headache when listening with earphones, and I'd say it's the hot mastering. To see what I mean compare how much better Bu$hleaguer sounds on the PJ20 soundtrack to the original boot...

Agreed, my experience exactly.

[super nintendo chalmers]

The Pacific Rim stretch is pretty interesting. Not so much for the performances, but for the atmosphere. They have a intimate sound to them, especially those Japanese shows.

They haven't played Japan since, right?

[surfndestroy]

Great tour, but the beginning of the end for Pearl Jam.

Cmon dude, the beginning of the end was the 2006 tour.

Nah, 2003 was when they became self aware and started the whole "Pearl Jam live: the celebration" thing. It's the attitude I think that ultimately led to where they are right now. "Look how awesome we are, all we have to do is show up and it's a party".

I don't agree with this. The shows weren't Ten heavy. You still got songs from No Code and Binaural. To me 2005 was the beginning of the end. It was a great tour but they weren't touring on new music and Ten started creeping in as the set staples.

[Norah]

Great tour, but the beginning of the end for Pearl Jam.

Cmon dude, the beginning of the end was the 2006 tour.

Nah, 2003 was when they became self aware and started the whole "Pearl Jam live: the celebration" thing. It's the attitude I think that ultimately led to where they are right now. "Look how awesome we are, all we have to do is show up and it's a party".

I don't agree with this. The shows weren't Ten heavy. You still got songs from No Code and Binaural. To me 2005 was the beginning of the end. It was a great tour but they weren't touring on new music and Ten started creeping in as the set staples.

My statement had nothing to do with song selection.

[warehouse]

Great tour, but the beginning of the end for Pearl Jam.

Cmon dude, the beginning of the end was the 2006 tour.

Nah, 2003 was when they became self aware and started the whole "Pearl Jam live: the celebration" thing. It's the attitude I think that ultimately led to where they are right now. "Look how awesome we are, all we have to do is show up and it's a party".

I don't agree with this. The shows weren't Ten heavy. You still got songs from No Code and Binaural. To me 2005 was the beginning of the end. It was a great tour but they weren't touring on new music and Ten started creeping in as the set staples.

u think 2005 is when ten started becoming tour staples?

[dsb1218]

Other than the Japan compilation (which is great), is there a 2003 compilation making the rounds?

[lowlight79]

Other than the Japan compilation (which is great), is there a 2003 compilation making the rounds?

I made one which I nicknamed the love boat mix. It's not as good as my 2006 which ridley recently made nicer. I am planning on going back and fixing some errors and song selection. I am in the process of getting all my mixes on mega.

[matt reeder]

I made one too which I can upload at some point if there is interest.

[jdopj]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

[matt reeder]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

[CopperTom]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

Champaign impressed on paper, not so much by ear. That was one of the hyped shows of 2003, IMO it disappoints.

[Birds in Hell]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

Champaign impressed on paper, not so much by ear. That was one of the hyped shows of 2003, IMO it disappoints.

I'm not crazy about Champaign either.

Nashville, Lexington and Bonner Springs are great, though.

I've always been a big fan of the first Irvine show too.

[CopperTom]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

Champaign impressed on paper, not so much by ear. That was one of the hyped shows of 2003, IMO it disappoints.

I'm not crazy about Champaign either.

Nashville, Lexington and Bonner Springs are great, though.

I've always been a big fan of the first Irvine show too.

I, too, like Irvine 1. I'm a big fan of July. Yes, the whole month - it's one of their best. I also recommend Mexico 3. Holmdel is the most unique show of the tour. Charlotte features Creed Disease. I want say that Melbourne 3 is pretty good ( but It's been a while).

[matt reeder]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

Champaign impressed on paper, not so much by ear. That was one of the hyped shows of 2003, IMO it disappoints.

I'm not crazy about Champaign either.

Nashville, Lexington and Bonner Springs are great, though.

I've always been a big fan of the first Irvine show too.

Champaign was my first PJ show so I'm biased. It's still fantastic, though.

[dsb1218]

I made one too which I can upload at some point if there is interest.

Definitely

[dimejinky99]

OP. the 2003 tour was the longest stretch of consecutive shows I've seen on a Pj tour and I still haven't made up my mind about it as a whole. 4 of the performances were in my top ten gigs ever by them. But as a whole, I'm still unsure. 3 weeks, 12 shows across umpteen states left me and my two pals utterly bedazzled. (It was my first time in the US).

I do know I never want to do a tour of that length ever again. It's fucking tiring both from travelling but also from burn out from gig adrenaline.

But to be able to rank it among the tours I have been able to see, I've never managed it.

[Kevin Davis]

There was definitely a power to the live performance in the room at that Champaign show that doesn't come across on the boot, which reveals it to be a more or less standard performance for the year. I will speak up for Bonner Springs, too--my favorite show of 2003, short but sweet.

[dimejinky99]

Any under the radar boot recommendations from this tour?

Nashville
Lexington
Champaign
Bonner Springs
Fargo

Champaign impressed on paper, not so much by ear. That was one of the hyped shows of 2003, IMO it disappoints.

I'm not crazy about Champaign either.

Nashville, Lexington and Bonner Springs are great, though.

I've always been a big fan of the first Irvine show too.

That first Irvine show tore our minds out. It was really awesome.

[jdopj]

I saw Tampa, WPB, St. Paul, Chi, Chicago, East Troy, Toronto.

Boot and being there: East Troy, WPB are great.
Chicago, Tampa were meh.

[TouringReg]

Fargo was my first show so nice to see it get some recognition.

A few boots I enjoyed were St. Louis (first Present Tense opener ever and no covers) and Missoula (first show of the second US leg, a bit sloppy but a fun show). Holmdel was also pretty cool, I think the main set was two songs from each record/era played chronologically.

I remember seeing PJ at The Gorge in 2005 and we were talking to someone that had been at the Missoula show a few days earlier and he just said, "they're back." In hindsight a lot of us miss the early 2000s PJ because of our bootlegs, etc. and they sound so tight (and Ed's voice sounds so full) compared to now. I remember following the message boards a lot during the 2003 tour and while the shows were fun, a lot of people hated the band's (lack of) energy. Watch Live At The Garden again and The Showbox DVD. The band hardly moved on stage and isn't having nearly as much fun as they do now. A lot of people wanted Pearl Jam to "rock" again, and well, that's led maybe a bit what we have today.

Also, I think that second US leg was tough on the band. It started in May in Missoula and went into July. It was almost six weeks which is unheard of now (although the 2005 Canada/mini US leg was long too). Plus they were dealing with backlash from the Bushleaguer thing which I remember even seeing on Access Hollywood (funny that was the only press they'd get for a record/tour at the time). If I recall, there were rumors of a fall European leg for 2003 but that obviously never came to fruition.