Episode 34: State College, PA – 5/3/2003
About the Episode
Episode Release Date: May 3rd, 2019
Episode Guests: Patrick Boegel
State College, PA is a show that goes down in history as a fan favorite. Being the final show of the first leg of the 2003 US tour, the band decided to pull out all the stops to make this one of the longest shows in their history. 3 hours and 37 minutes later, the band made good on their promise.
This is a set list where strength is less in numbers and more in… well, strengths. It’s proof that going by the book and playing common songs in common spots is never a bad recipe for a Pearl Jam show. Within 36 songs lies 4 separate sets with an incredible encore 3 that lasted for about 45 minutes.
Funny enough, it’s the rare content that has its tough spots in this set. Songs like Mankind and Satan’s Bed hadn’t been played in some time, but both songs (which were played due to fan requests in encore 2) had a rough go of it that night, even if the band was out there having fun with them. They are memorable moments from this night, but will we give it a pass because of it?
Patreon donor and friend of the podcast Patrick Boegel joins us for this show talking about his experience on that night.
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I was at this one and am a Penn State alum. It was a great time during the day in the lead up – BBQ with friends at a house downtown, endless beers, and a massive crowd outside the venue. I listened to the podcast and I can get behind some of the criticisms in hindsight, but I guess we all gave the band a pass on the slip ups that night because we were just as drunk as Eddie!
Hey Brian, first off, thank you for joining up on our Patreon! This episode was… I won’t put it lightly, a train wreck. It is easily the longest we’ve ever recorded and was probably deciding factor as to why we changed our format up. So while a lot of what we said in this I probably still agree on (I think I rated it low, the rating was designated for how pissed off I was during the recording process. That’s kind of how bad it got) if we did this show now, I think we would have approached it differently. Maybe a bit more objective. The encore 3 really is the best part about it, but in order to get there, there is a lot to breakdown from such a long show. Hope you get to listen to newer episodes and see how the show works now! – Randy