I've always really liked it.

I can take it in little doses, I don't hate it, I just don't care. I don't remember much of the 2003 aussie tour being any good, so I have to back and check what wendy is talking about.

This is quite good.

It's a numbers favorite.

Cropduster, that is.

2003 had some great moments and if I recall, it's the last time they really did a lot of improvs and different covers.

I didn't really do the online stuff like the PJ message board back then so my gf now wife at the time told me her friend told her that PJ was coming out with a new record in 2002. That ignited my PJ fandom again and I requested for tickets for Denver and St Paul. I was going to do Alpine Valley but then called my friend and asked when his wedding was and sure as shit it was the same day as the Alpine show.

Denver was my first show since the 1998 Minneapolis show which was my first. It was also my first 10c seats show and I think I got 13th or 15th row on Mike's side. I forgot that at higher altitudes you get drunker faster so by the end of the show I was standing on my chair periodically. Whoops. I don't remember anyone freaking out about Bu$hleaguer as the news reported the next day. The guy telling Ed to "shut up" was definitely memorable. Great fun show but there wasn't a lot of YIELD which I was a bit disappointed with at the time.

I ended up getting a floor ticket for Fargo a few weeks before the show and then invited a friend along. It was an eclectic show with Sleight of Hand and a meandering/improvisational In My Tree being played. Ed was sick and you could tell, but he battled through it. Arc was a pretty cool thing to see as an opener.

St Paul was also a good show but again Ed was sick and blowing his snot on the stage and spitting a lot. Gross. Surprisingly enough it was the first time I heard Yellow Ledbetter after 3 other shows. It was one of the few times they played Ghost. Liked the shout out to Paul Wellstone during Wishlist. Ed made a mention of how long of a tour it was and that's the last time they did such an expansive one.

I loved the bootleg program back then where you could get an unmastered version of the show the day after the show! Then your discs would arrive a few weeks later. Pretty great although I don't think I had high speed internet yet back then so it took forever to download them.

Really like the Japan 2003 shows. First time I've listened to them, they sound really good.

from the spectrum? no, all of those shows were terrible, i dont even need to watch the video

Even I admit there were a few gems in the spectrum shows. The first encore of night 3 comes to mind.

Chud, are you feeling alright? Is everything OK?

My opinions are often nuanced, but people hear what they want to hear. I've been praising select performances from the Spectrum shows for years.

As I have always said, there are a handful of good performances from the Spectrum, but just a handful. I tried to make a compilation of worthwhile performances after the shows and I couldn't even fill half a disc.

NO YOU'RE A CHRONIC COMPLAINER SO THERE'S NO WAY YOU LIKED ANY OF THE SONGS PERFORMED DURING THOSE FOUR CONCERTS!

I only recall Parting Ways praise. I've always really liked night 3.

True story: I once put together a live compilation and used the spectrum version of In Hiding.

Ed actually sounds really great in that GSM! Impressed

Easily the best version they've done - it kicks off Lowlight79's The Mixer 2008-2010

I consider that the single best song performance that I've heard in person.

I wouldn't. It was a solid performance, made more special with the crowd involvement. From a pure performance standpoint there are much better examples throughout the years.

This is quite the discussion on the 2003 tour, eh?

Anyhoo.... I once tried to put together a 2 disc live compilation using the tours from '06-'12, but including only all of songs from S/T, Backspacer, and various others, covers, etc... from that time period. No songs from previous albums. I didn't have every show to pull from, nor did I spend much time on the whole thing.

I used Unemployable and Supersonic from 10-27, Johnny Guitar, The Real Me, and Speed of Sound from 10-28, and GSMF from 10-30.

For the most part, I only included these from the Spectrum because I need to find examples of every S/T and BS song, and I didn't feel like sifting through any more shit to find them.