Episode 288: Hershey, PA – 7/12/2003

There are countless Pearl Jam shows where all you need to do is mention a location by name and the majority of Pearl Jam fans know exactly what you’re talking about. For one lone night at a chocolate factory, when you mention this Hershey show from 2003, everyone knows that it’s remembered for one thing – mosquito bites!

No, this outdoor venue wasn’t infested with mosquitos. The band was greeted by a flasher at this show who had taken her top off in order for the band to recognize her. But what she didn’t realize was that they were coming off of one of the longest shows in their history in Mansfield, MA, meaning a six hour drive to Pennsylvania in the same night potentially left Ed a little sleep deprived. It leads to an all-time rant where he comments on the size of her breasts, a quote that has gone down as one of the most memorable things he’s ever said.

With that being said, the band faced the challenge of following up the experiment by putting together a fun show with a lot of energy. They made up for two songs that were left out of the experiment in Last Exit and Glorified G, dug into some of the deeper Riot Act cuts with Help Help and one of the last versions of Get Right to date, and we get a random appearance of a harmonica on… State Of Love And Trust? Yeah, you read that right. Also, we’ll uncover the true story about a friend of Stone’s who guested on Rockin In The Free World at this show. Where is he now? The answer may surprise you… really surprise you.

Javier makes his return in this episode and will talk about the unique tuning of Daughter, and how that helps transforms the song to make it sound acoustic, even on an electric guitar.