November 13, 2011 – Estadio Unico La Plata, Buenos Aires, ARG

Pearl Jam Show Notes 11/13/2011:

The sound of the crowds in Argentina always makes you wonder if they think they’re watching a one-on-one World Cup final between Maradona and Messi—that’s the level of passion they bring to a show, and this one was no exception. Humming along to the most recognizable riffs from nearly every song like another of the band’s instruments, they jump right into the first notes of Release. Ed dedicates the song in the third verse “Oh dear John” presumably for Johnny Ramone as he did earlier on this tour. The crowd’s hum, along with the intro to Go, is loud enough to compete with the band, and the next few tunes skip along at an energetic pace, with the crowd humming along unfailingly to every well-known riff. They’re even trying to squeeze their own chants in between songs. Ed either gets distracted or slips up on the last verse of Given to Fly, laughs and jumps back in at “hey, fuckers.” He greets the crowd in Spanish between chants of his name, “It’s good to be back. The stadium looks great, but you all look better,” gets the crowd to take three steps back for safety and announces that they’re live on the radio. As The Fixer wraps up, he seems to reach out, catch something and say de nada, de nada. Here the crowd breaks into an improvised adaptation of a popular football chant—they’ve been trying to do this on and off since the beginning of the show—that translated in English closes with “…oh, Pearl Jam, it’s a feeling, I can’t stop” and repeats. The band lets them go a few rounds until Ed says gracias and Amongst the Waves starts. A solid solo and overall rendition on Immortality, and Matt gets the first band introduction afterwards. The crowd’s energy remains steady and rising, and they even take the lead as Ed joins their riff humming as the breakdown of Even Flow transitions to the final chorus. The usual crowd singalong on Elderly Woman also has an extra energy underneath that swells right back up to the surface with Lukin. Stone gets the second introduction after Do the Evolution, Ed says hello to everyone in the back, and dedicates the Wasted Reprise intro (over some very audible chanting) to comparing the current moment to their small beginnings:

“[we] didn’t really pay attention to the globe or the planet because we knew we’d never get there…. And to come back here for the second time and have this kind of response from all of you is, if you could see what we see right now, you wouldn’t fucking belive it.”

Mike is on point on Life Wasted and the crowd’s energy continues straight through the close of the first set. Just Breathe opens the encore and receives applause during the instrumental part and Garden closes out strong, after which the third band introduction goes to Jeff. Ed flubs the start of Last Kiss and, of course, the crowd picks it up and sings the rest of the first chorus as it is played through before restarting. Before I Believe in Miracles, Ed tells the crowd in Spanish:

[translated] “Fifteen years ago I came to Argentina for the first time with the Ramones. I miss Johnny, Dee Dee, and Joey a lot. They loved all of you very much.”

Blood gets the Atomic Dog tag to fill the breakdown, before “Paint Ed big”—at this point, one has to wonder if he was hoping to start a callback, but this time the crowd doesn’t seem to catch on. Smile starts the second set with a dedication, “this one is for everybody” and afterwards Mike and Boom get their introductions to the crowd. Mother is introduced with “we’d like to borrow a song by someone named Roger Waters” and gets a big crowd reaction at “Mother, should I trust the government?” Black is the standard tour de force, and nearing the crowd still shows no signs of settling down, breaking out into various chants simultaneously, including the adapted football chant from earlier. The band stops and soaks it in for a while, until Ed responds:

“we have no words… maybe next time we’ll pay you”

Ed thanks and re-introducing the members of the opening act, X, and his guitar tech Ricky Ramone, all “to share this energy you give us.” And as the love that’s received is the love that is saved, the energy remains alight and flowing right through Why Go, Alive, the send-off and farewell to radio listeners after Rockin’ In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter with a Little Wing tag at the end, and Matt and Ed pretending to take running jumps into the crowd before they all take a final bow. The crowd even finds time for one more of its new favorite chant: “Pearl Jam, es un sentimiento, no puedo parar.”