“Welcome to Pearl Jam's 50th show in New York,” Eddie Vedder said to a rapturous response onstage at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (September 4), the second of two shows featuring the iconic Seattle band plays at World's Most. Famous Arena this week.
“And for that we are grateful and want to give back. So enjoy the best – and Mike McCready promises to do the same,” he added, before the guitarist sang into a delightful version of “Evenflow”, playing an extended epic solo with his guitar behind his back.
This was a highlight of a show full of them, and one that captured the band in their element: pushing the songs to the limit, having fun with the audience, and also getting serious about some of the big issues in the country and the world at large.
“Women's rights are not just threatened, they've already been taken away,” Vender said after “Evenflow,” a handful of songs in the band's two-and-a-half-hour set. “I know it's a little early to get into this s–t, but let's get this over with! So suffrage was an issue, religious fanatics got involved, and then politicians got involved, not because they care one way or the other, they just want the votes. And it has evolved into judges and women of all ages facing a Supreme Court. Well, there's good news: it's time to vote, and as the great Patti Smith said, the people have the power. Truer words were never spoken. Women, feel empowered. women, vote for your own interests and help a sister while you're at it.”
The band then moved into “Daughter,” with an extended outro to the tune of “Another Brick In the Wall Pt.” by Pink Floyd. 2,” in which Vender changed the lyrics to sing, “Keep your bans off our bodies/ Politicians leave our girls alone/ Judges leave our girls alone.”
It wasn't the only time Vedder wore a Walter Payton Chicago Bears jersey and the band addressed the outside world. On a day when the US saw another mass school shooting, in which four people were killed and more injured at a Georgia high school, the band released a rarely performed song from their second album, Vs.called “Glorified G” — a cynical sneer at the fake bravado of gun owners, with Vedder introducing it by saying, “I hate guns!” More poignant and sadder, two songs later, the band played “Jeremy,” their first hit from the group's debut album, which is about a boy who brings a gun to school and shoots himself in front of the bullies in his class. Delivered with full power, the subject was not lost.
Otherwise, the band was clearly enjoying the 50-show milestone, with Vedder telling a story about the first time he came to New York (“as a Chicago and then West Coast kid, I'd never been east of Chicago before”) while performing 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town', while there were huge crowd reactions for intense performances of songs such as 'Rearviewmirror', 'Hail Hail' and 'Do the Evolution'. (The latter, at least for this fan, takes a different tack after watching three episodes of the documentary Crazy Chimpanzeebut I digress.)
After a set break, Vedder came out solo to perform the Steven Van Zandt-penned 'I Am a Patriot' and career gem 'Just Breathe', before bringing in Glen Hansard – 'Good human, great Irishman' – to the tour leader. onstage to perform the latter's “The Song of Good Hope,” calling out some fans who were going through a tough time and saying the song had helped him overcome his own problems. The full band — plus former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and producer Andrew Watt, who chipped in with a few solos on the night — then returned for John Lennon's “Gimme Some Truth” and the punk anthem “Sonic Reducer”.
The band then went through another rare take on fan favorite “Leash” and their iconic anthem “Alive,” before Vedder brought Little Stevie himself on stage to run through a jubilant “Rocking In the Free World ', with Hansard, Watt and The Whole Arena lights on, before closing with the unreleased classic 'Yellow Ledbetter' and sending fans home into the Manhattan night.
Definition list
- “Garden”
- “Bermuda”
- “Cheers Cheers”
- “Evenflow”
- “Daughter -> Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2″
- “Dark Matter”
- “React Respond”
- “I won't tell”
- “not for you”
- “Destruction”
- “I am mine”
- “Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town”
- “Glorified G”
- “Make progress”
- “Jeremy”
- “Waiting for Stevie” (with Andrew Watt)
- “mirror”
—
- “I Am a Patriot” (Eddie Solo)
- “Just Breathe” (Eddie Solo)
- “The Song of Good Hope” (with Glen Hansard)
- “Give some truth”
- “Sunset”
- “Sonic Reducer”
- “Strap”
- “Live”
- “Rockin In the Free World” (with Little Stevie, Glen Hansard and Andrew Watt)
- “Yellow Ledbetter”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/reviews/pearl-jam-rocks-out-gets-serious-50th-nyc-show-concert-recap-1235767900/