As the Pearl Jam tour bus rolled into State College, Pennsylvania on May 3, 2003, the band was no doubt in good spirits and looking forward to the 3 week break that would follow this show, the last of the first leg of their 2003 North American tour. Besides that, they had just played Buffalo, NY the night before and had played for just about 3 hours, with nearly every song being a perfect rendition.

Perhaps the good mood translated into State College becoming the longest Pearl Jam show ever, or perhaps it was the crowd reaction, which some who attended said was positively awe-inspiring. Either way, once the setlist for the State College show was posted at the Synergy site, many many fans immediately went to pearljambootlegs.com and ordered the show.

The band decided to release all of their shows just as they did in 2000 to their website, but in order to satisfy retail's concerns, they decided to only release a couple of select shows. This was the one show released from the first North American leg, just as there was only one show released from the Australia shows, and one from the Japan shows. For the second American leg, the band decided to release 3 shows, both Madison Square Garden shows (the first of those also released as a double disc DVD set) and the third Boston show from July. Unfortunately, while the setlist surprises make a nice collector's item, the State College show just may possibly be the most over-rated show of the band's career.

That's not to say it isn't a GOOD show, it is. But it's mis-steps are the same that plagued the third show in Boston a couple of months later: the setlist wasn't put together in typical Pearl Jam fashion, and at points, it just seems they're playing whatever off of the top of their heads.

It doesn't start out that way though. Release, the gorgeous closing track to the band's 1991 debut Ten, begins the show and it sounds positively enthralling. The slow opener is something the band has long used, but they tend to make up for it quickly, and that proves true as Save You and a blistering Animal come thundering from the stage.

In a set featuring 34 songs (along with a pair of improvised introductions to Rearviewmirror and Blood respectively), you would think that a good amount of the Riot Act disc they are touring in support of would show up, but this is not the case. After the early Save You and main set versions of Cropduster and minor hit I Am Mine nothing else from the album is played at all. No You Are, no Green Disease, not even a Thumbing My Way (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). The only other Riot Act era song that shows up is the b-side Down, which as usual on the 2003 tour, sparkles and bounces with such a fun and exciting energy. But even Down doesn't appear until the elongated second encore.

In place of newer material, the band pumps out the hits and the popular album tracks that radio started playing just for the hell of it back when PJ was the biggest band in the world in 94/95. The versions range from bland (Corduroy, Black) to run of the mill (Jeremy, Even Flow) to loud, bombastic and anthemic (Do the Evolution is insane with energy, while Better Man of all songs stands out thanks to a nearly entire Save it For Later and improvised tag). In fact, Better Man might just be the best single song on here, which as most diehard fans know, can be a curse as much as a treat.

But there was one specific setlist surprise that had diehards like myself drooling. In fact, most people automatically assumed it was a fake setlist when they saw this song on it. Not played live since 1996, Satan's Bed from the Vitalogy album has always been a popular track with fans, mostly due to the excellent version the band played on the radio broadcast of their Easter Sunday 1994 show from Atlanta. Let me warn you now: if you are looking at all the 2003 boots available to retail
and you pick this one for the rendition of Satan's Bed, you are going to be disappointed. The song is a mess, the band barely knows the music, Eddie doesn't remember but a very few lyrics (mainly the "already...in love!" chorus), and at one point, he even just says into the microphone "Mike, do a solo or something."

The band does get some intensity going towards the end of the show, with a fiery version of Leaving Here, and promises to make this the longest Pearl Jam show ever. While the cover of Fortunate Son robs some of the energy of the show's final moments, the Rocking in the Free World and Yellow Ledbetter 1-2 closing punch is pretty powerful.

With all that being said, the one thing that comes across is that despite the show's 3 and a half hour plus running time, the band sounds a bit tired at times throughout the disc. The energy level just isn't there for some songs, and on others, it is, but the songs immediately following the high energy numbers that actually deliver (i.e. Evolution and the rampaging Blood) suffer.

In terms of the retail releases, I would put this behind both the first Madison Square Garden show and the third Boston show, and not because I attended those two. There's a reason the first MSG show got the DVD honor, and the third Boston show can be just as random in terms of setlist, but the one hour acoustic pre-set makes it stand out much more than this show.

And to be quite honest, if you look on Ebay and can find a copy of the May 2nd Buffalo show up for grabs, I would suggest that above all (or just email me for a copy of it). The Buffalo show might just stand as the band's tightest and most well played show ever.

State College Setlist, 5/3/03:
Release, Save You, Animal, Corduroy, Cropduster, Small Town, Even Flow, Grievance, I Am Mine, Improv, Rearviewmirror, Nothingman, Daughter/(Highway to Hell)/(Hell No We Won't Go)/(Another Brick in the Wall), Lukin, Whipping, MFC, Jeremy, Improv #2, Blood;
1st encore: Hide Your Love Away, Gimme Some Truth, Breath, Do The Evolution, Black, Alive;
2nd encore: Last Exit, Mankind, Down, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Satan's Bed, Leaving Here;
3rd encore: Crazy Mary, Porch, Fortunate Son, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter