Episode 237: Bonner Springs, KS – 6/12/2003

When you think about some of the more memorable performances in the history of Pearl Jam, a lot of them have a key factor in common. They develop from spontaneous moments that happen within the song. Fan interactions especially can help turn a performance of a song played over 500 times into an unforgettable moment. One of the other spontaneous facets that happens at Bonner Springs in 2003 is how the weather impacts the show. To open this night, the band gets acquainted with the crowd by playing Release under a sky of a torrential downpour of rain. Quickly after the “oh dear dad…” lyric, there is a bolt of lightning in the background in which the crowd audibly reacts to. As Ed is singing one of his autobiographical masterpieces, he looks up to the sky and says “hi dad”. It’s a moment forever etched into this band’s legacy, and we’ll talk about it in full detail during the rundown of this show.

This show was an easy decision to cover during our continued run of 2003 show, but it was made easier due to the request sent in from our Patron, Chris Bigelow. Check out his story in the episode. After the big moment, we’ll go over how the rest of the set fared and talk about a few Riot Act songs we have yet to cover on this run – Get Right and Help Help. There is a big what-if in this set – a written encore setlist of 16 song choices with two songs that could’ve potentially made their return after almost a decade of not being played. Listen in to find out what those songs were!

We’ll read your answers for question of the week which asked about some of your favorite concert memories in the rain, and our Gear Guru segment will focus on Mike’s pedals from Immortality and how the country twang sound from Off He Goes is created.