August 22, 2024 – Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, MT, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 8/22/2024:

Given To Fly opens up in this outdoor venue with a new visual, the screens showing moving down a river and up into the mountains, ending up looking over the stadium and Missoula. Ed changes the lyric to “…made it to the big sky, had a smoke in a tree…” An early nod to Jeff, the first of many in his home state, as Nothing As It Seems follows. After Low Light, Ed speaks, calling it a “big night under the big sky,” saying that they’re “energized to be here for Sen. Jon Tester.” He mentions that there are a lot of signs up front, and that some people spent the night to be up front, teasing “…if you spent the night I’ll be reading your sign.” Jeff takes a big drop step and leap at the end of Why Go. After a raucous Corduroy, Ed thanks Jeff for bringing them here and talks about how Trump only had 7,000 people when he came to Montana, but there’s more than 3 times that at the show tonight. He continues, mentioning that there was a shortage of hotel rooms in Missoula and people were asking about renting driveway space to sleep in their cars. He praises one couple who accepted 25-30 campers on their land, and even provided free cold beer! He proceeds to rattle off a list of small towns in Montana, of course leading into Small Town. React, Respond is introduced as “this one could be about voting, it’s called ‘Don’t React, Respond”, and Mike rips the solo into the stratosphere. Matt shows off on Even Flow, putting on a percussive masterclass, and Ed throws in the customary “…nevervoterepublican!” at the end. Afterwards, he tells an emotional story about 2 men, Adam Nelson and Jeff Walsh, with serious medical issues “battling hard and intensely,” noting that one of them left the hospital without permission to be there tonight, and Hard to Imagine is dedicated to them. As the song is ending, Ed steps up and repeats the “let us not fade” line from Setting Sun 3 times. Another block of Dark Matter songs follows, including only the 4th appearance of Jeff’s Won’t Tell. Gimme Some Truth is a huge surprise, it hasn’t been played since 2006 in Zagreb, Croatia, 341 shows! There’s a QR code shown on the screen to pledge to vote before Porch. After the break, Ed talks about a couple from Camp Make-A-Dream that he met around the Avocado record and congratulates them on getting married, and a calligraphy message from Ed is shown on screen. It follows with another one to Jeff’s parents:

And if you are

lucky you’ll

be like

GEORGE & PENNY

AMENT

Married 63 years

WE LOVE YOU, P.J.

He mentions that the last time he was in Montana was to see Paul McCartney, and dedicates “Her Majesty” to Jill. Lukas Nelson joins on stage and helps out on Just Breathe, Ed praising his father Willie’s version. The guests keep coming as opener Glen Hansard comes out for Smile. After Life Wasted, Jeff talks about his family, including his uncle Pat who introduced him to music, and starts to get a little emotional as he talks about his 40-year friendship with Stone. He continues, talking about how he’s known Jon Tester for 50 years, calling him “the real deal” compared to his opponent. After being tagged earlier, Setting Sun appears in full, possibly the first time that a PJ song has been tagged AND played in full at the same show. After Alive, Ed mentions that it’s Layne Staley’s birthday and Mike plays a quick tease of an Alice in Chains song. For the finale, the band (sans Ed) dons white Tester shirts, Jeff plays with a 2-fingered foam hand (Sen. Tester lost 3 fingers in an accident as a child), and Lukas Nelson and Glen Hansard (and his band) return. Jeff gets the biggest cheer at the end as Ed goes around the horn, and then Ed gets a sparkly captain’s hat and wears it as the band lingers on stage for a while before exiting.