May 4, 2024 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, CAN

Pearl Jam Show Notes 5/4/2024:

The Dark Matter tour opens with a new set up, a wide screen set up behind the band. The sit-down part of the set seems to be gone as they come out not with a new song, but with Wash, the same song that opened the final show of 2023. Ed speaks after Low Light:

“…welcome to the first night of the tour, new tour, new record…are you ready? I think we’re fuckin’ ready!”

The screens go unused until Given to Fly, when silhouettes of the band are projected on it. Scared of Fear is the first new song, with a dark sun rising on the screens, coming into full view as the song ends. McCready, as expected, tears apart the solo. He does the same on React/Respond with a explosive ending, with images of the band playing interspersed into the swirling colors on screen. Ed tags the opening lines of “Bobcaygeon” by the Tragically Hip on Daughter (“…when I left your house this morning/about a quarter after nine…”), a debut tag, after which he says “Love to Gordon.” Leatherman, one of the songs Matt had mentioned wanting to play in the Zane Lowe warehouse interview, returns for the first time since 2016 with a long intro by Ed, in which he mentions he had visited one of the Leatherman’s caves. Red Mosquito has to be restarted after Ed messes up the lyrics. Upper Hand debuts next, the band locked in on the ending, followed by Won’t Tell, which has a very cool usage of the screen, above and beyond the visualizer that was shown in theaters. Ed mentions their history in Vancouver, playing at the Town Pump, and asks the crowd to say hi to “Gary” if they see him around. He starts to intro the next song as a request by a daughter for her dad David, and says her name is in the song, then changes direction and wants to play a rocker, and they rip into Running. He returns to the story afterwards, leading into a reverent Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. Mike stumbles off the stage as he tries to step down off of it during Porch, but hardly misses a beat, a true professional. The screen shows the band playing in a rear view mirror…hmm.

A hand appears on the screen during the break, writing on an overhead projector, the calligraphy can only mean it’s Ed, on the side of the stage. He writes “How are you doing?” and then a series of messages:

GO KRAKEN

I’m fucking with you

but now GO CANUCKS

FUCK YEAH

WE HEART COACH TOCKETT

and Chris Chelios hahahaha

ANY REQUESTS?

One at a time….

Ok…May the Fourth be with you

He comes back on stage alone and talks about shopping for guitars before the tour, he has the guitar on that Tom Petty gave him, and the phone fireflies are out for I Won’t Back Down. The band returns for Black, Ed mentioning “Jennifer” and “Jack and Sue” at the end before a short We Belong Together tag. He finishes with “…always be together.” The animated Do the Evolution video appears on the screen during the song, but there are new scenes and images at the end, very cool. Ed talks about Josh, who comes up to the front, and says they’re going to do one they might not do every night, it’s the debut of Something Special. Mike is playing a ’50’s-style hollow body guitar, a Gretsch White Falcon. Ed shows off a Mexican flag given to him during Alive, and it seems like the show is ending after Ledbetter, the band waving and saying goodbye, but then the lights go out and they end the show with another new song, Setting Sun. Ed says a quick goodbye and the lights go out again as the band exits the stage with the final image on the screen, a dark sun setting. Nine songs from Dark Matter debut, only Waiting for Stevie and Got to Give are held back.