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Pearl Jam's 2012 United States Tour Leg

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October 3, 2012 – Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA, USA

Main Set: Do The Evolution, Animal, Corduroy, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Wishlist, Got Some, Unthought Known, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Just Breathe, Down, Green Disease, Black, Once, Come Back, Porch

encore 1: Better Man, Alive, Baba O’Riley

Show Notes:

The final show of the year is a corporate gig for Oracle employees, part of the Oracle OpenWorld conference held at Treasure Island in San Francisco. This massive tech conference included a multi-day music fest, tonight featuring X and Kings…

Show Notes: 

The final show of the year is a corporate gig for Oracle employees, part of the Oracle OpenWorld conference held at Treasure Island in San Francisco. This massive tech conference included a multi-day music fest, tonight featuring X and Kings of Leon alongside PJ. Some enterprising PJ fans found a way in by obtaining badges from conference goers who weren’t going to the concert part of the proceedings, creating a crowd mixture of both the faithful and the more casual. The sound isn’t perfect, as Stone’s guitar seems quiet on Evolution and Animal, but Ed’s in fine screaming voice tonight. Jeff’s bass has the word “FREE” scrawled on it, possibly a nod to one of his heroes, Andy Fraser from the English band Free. Ed attempts to give the audience some lines during Animal, but it doesn’t quite catch and he moves on pretty quickly. Corduroy’s outro seems to connect better, as Ed leads a clap before Mike and Matt throw down in expert fashion. He then greets the crowd:

“It’s nice to be here with you celebrating the fruits of your labor…I think we thought we were playing some guy named Larry’s backyard, but it’s a big yard and he’s got a lot of friends…” 

Small Town is dedicated to the 50,000 conference attendees. Wishlist is a setlist addition for Mark, who “can only stay for a little bit because has to work early in the morning.” Unthought Known is a lovely version that Ed sets up by saying “this song was written while staring at a big moon in the sky, and it’s nice to be able to play it and see the muse right there…” Given to Fly is dedicated to the gold-medal-winning US women’s soccer team, who are in attendance. After a pulverizing Even Flow solo from Mike, Ed mentions the corporate nature of the gig and intros Just Breathe by saying:

“…outside of his kids, there’s nothing, Mike McCready, I don’t think he’d rather do than play guitar like that all night long. All day long. So yes, he would do that for free.  But even though he’d do that for free, we are getting paid tonight. And we’re grateful because there’s a lot we can do in addition to good things in our communities, we get to play for some people, something we’d do anyways… we can turn this into something really nice for people who really, really need it. So for that we are grateful and thank you for having us. And one of the things is, there is a close race in Washington state, fight for right for gay marriages to take place in Washington state. We ‘d like to dedicate this to couples in love. Of the same sex, of opposite sex, of tons of sex…this is called Just Breathe…”

Green Disease sounds fantastic with Jeff and Matt propelling the song’s forward-leaning rhythm throughout. Mike’s Black solo features a snippet of a Spanish-guitar-inspired flourish near the end. Once sounds a bit rough, as again Stone’s guitar sound seems to be having issues. Prior to Come Back, Ed gives attention to the Wounded Warriors Project and the mental health issues the soldiers are facing on their return home. Jeff and Matt stand out on an inspired, swirling jam on Porch. After the break, Ed mentions they aren’t the last band on the bill tonight, that X will be coming up next. Ed again tries to give the crowd something, the Better Man chorus, but again it doesn’t quite take and he playfully says “…you should stop. I mean, really quit while you’re ahead,” to laughter. There’s no tag, the band just jams on the outro a bit longer. Alive and Baba close things out with Ed really pushing it on the Baba screams to finish with great energy. By the end of the song, he’s yelling “X is next! X is next” to keep the crowd in place for X’s upcoming set. Later on, Ed pops up during their set to sing on Devil Doll.

September 30, 2012 – Adams Event Center, Missoula, MT, USA

Main Set: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Got Some, Given To Fly, Amongst The Waves, Severed Hand, Unthought Known, Not For You, State Of Love And Trust, Jeremy, Ghost, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop), Know Your Rights, Comatose, Why Go

encore 1: Last Kiss, Off He Goes, Low Light, Man Of The Hour, Nothingman, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 2: Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Fortunate Son, Alive, Kick Out The Jams, Rockin’ In The Free World, Indifference

Show Notes:

Billed as Pearl Jam’s “one and only non-festival US show for 2012,” this benefit for Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election campaign at the Adams Event Center seats only 5500 patrons, leading Ed to say early in the set “this is about…

Show Notes: 

Billed as Pearl Jam’s “one and only non-festival US show for 2012,” this benefit for Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election campaign at the Adams Event Center seats only 5500 patrons, leading Ed to say early in the set “this is about as cozy a place we’ve played for as long as I can remember.” Got Some is the first of many Jeff songs in the set in his home state, after which Ed greets the raucous crowd with “…it’s nice to be literally surrounded by family, friends, Senators, and Mudhoney!” He adds “we are asked to do many benefits…the difficult part is finding a candidate you believe in,” before dedicating Given to Fly to Tester, with the amended lyric “…made it underneath a Big Sky tree…” Jeremy gives Jeff the spotlight again and has the crowd pumping. Ghost appears for only the second time since 2003, Ed says it’s “not one that’s played that often. This is another one that Jeff wrote.” Daughter follows, with an alternate take on “Blitzkrieg Bop”: “hey ho, let’s vote,” before The Clash’s “Know Your Rights” is played for the 3rd time out of 4 shows this month. Last Kiss” opens the first encore with the band playing to the back. Ed dedicates Off He Goes to Jeff and his friends, which is followed by yet another Ament-penned track, Low Light. Man of the Hour is brought back for the first time since 2009 and starts a three-song, alternate “Man” trilogy to close out the first encore, with Nothingman and Better Man. Prior to the second encore, Jeff addresses the crowd, stating “…it doesn’t really get any better than this for me.” CCR’s “Fortunate Son” returns for the first time since 2006 and the last time to date. The crowd goes crazy when Stone plays the opening chords of Alive, which is complete with “Montana look at us…we’re all still alive!” in the final chorus. Mark Arm and Steve Turner from Mudhoney join for a very loud “Kick out the Jams” before RITFW sends the crowd into raptures. Before closing with a slow-burn Indifference, Ed acknowledges the crowd, saying “this is the best American crowd we have played for in I can’t remember how long…”

September, 22 2012 – Music Midtown, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, USA

Main Set: Why Go, Save You, Animal, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Corduroy, Got Some, Amongst The Waves, Wishlist, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Do The Evolution, Even Flow, Know Your Rights, Nothingman, Supersonic, Jeremy, Porch

encore 1: Crazy Mary, Given To Fly, The Fixer, Rearviewmirror

encore 2: Unthought Known, Black, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World

Show Notes:

First show in Atlanta in 9 years (and last to date), in front of 50,000 people in Piedmont Park, the band gets off to a flying start with Why Go, but there are technical issues as Stone’s guitar cuts out.…

Show Notes: 

First show in Atlanta in 9 years (and last to date), in front of 50,000 people in Piedmont Park, the band gets off to a flying start with Why Go, but there are technical issues as Stone’s guitar cuts out. It’s quickly corrected and he kicks into Save You with no problem. With the downtown city skyline off to the side, Ed says hello after Animal:

“Good evening…it’s been a long time, and I’ve never quite seen it [the city] from this perspective right here…and it’s a beautiful sight…”

He continues, complimenting Florence and the Machine (who preceded PJ on stage) and “their great singer.” He asks for the crowd to help sing along leading into Small Town, and they take the “hearts and thoughts” lines. Corduroy is raucous and wild, Matt especially in fine form. Ed asks “Do you need it? Do you need it?” during Got Some. He wants to explain the next one:

“…there’s a lot of ways to write about love, and then the other side of love is, you know, the other thing, I won’t even mention it ‘cause we don’t have room for that here, but if you have something as deep as love, love is deep, love is as deep as, let’s say, the ocean…and even that first six months, it feels deep, and the next year, but then it gets a little shallow, sometimes, but I’m also talking about the deep, 20-year love, the deep deep ocean love, we have that up here, us guys. Yes that’s right, men can love men…but, with life comes weather, and with weather comes wind, and with wind you get waves, and there’s no way around it, with love there will be waves, big ones, small ones, this one’s called Amongst The Waves…”

After the crowd takes the Better Man intro, Ed interjects “…it’s really pretty from up here, it’s really nice…” and then holds the “Oh” for a long time before jumping back into the song. He improvs and riffs on the Save it for Later lyrics for a while before kicking into the “don’t run away” lines. Matt pounds out a short drum solo after Mike finishes up on Even Flow, and the crowd takes the last chorus. Ed speaks afterwards about the election, saying sarcastically “…it brings out the best in everybody…” but then imploring everyone to vote and bringing up the photo ID law again, adding that a firearms license would also be valid, which gets some boos from the crowd. Ed notices and says that got a bigger response in Florida, but that voting is your right, leading into T The Clash’s “Know Your Rights.” Crowd helps out on a lovely Nothingman and Ed asks for it again on Jeremy. He goes down and runs along the barricades during Porch. He speaks after the break:

“Now that, you know, the stage is built, we’re here, the buildings are all put up, and we’ve got people from front to back, we’re gonna play every second we can until they kick us out…”

Boom takes the whole Crazy Mary solo while Ed goes down to the barricade again and plays around with a cameraman. Given to Fly is dedicated to Steve Gleason. Ed talks about how a lot of PJ records were made in Atlanta with Brendan O’Brien, who is in attendance, and says that their name for Brendan behind his back is The Fixer. RVM has the slow build intro and the “I will forgive” lines during the jam. Ed thanks the local crew during the second break and points out a young kid up front, saying that’s a good sign that everything’s going well. He jokingly offers the kid wine and then adds “…tequila. Okay.” He continues:

“…all of the friends that we have that showed up to be here tonight…you know, if you get old enough you get a lot of friends, and we have a lot of ‘em here tonight. It’s just been a great, great vibe and we got great weather, great scenery, and it’s taken a bit of something to stick together for as long as we have without any kind of real hateful arguments or ever breaking up, and we’ve all supported each other through that…I told this story last night, and I usually don’t repeat it, but I was watching the PJ20 movie with a good friend of ours, and at one point Jeff was speaking, it was about halfway through, and she just said ‘Jeff Ament’s a fucking badass’…she’s absolutely right. You have no idea.”

“This one’s for the moon” introduces Unthought Known. Steve Gleason is side stage for the last few songs. After Black, Ed hurries the band to start Alive with the curfew fast approaching. He speaks quickly after Alive:

“They’re telling us that we only got two minutes…the next song’s, like, we’ll play it as fast as we can, but we gotta play one more…”

Someone from the festival comes on stage to talk to Ed and he says “I’ll pay for it,” referring to the fine for going past curfew, as they start a speedy Rockin’ in the Free World.

September 21, 2012 – DeLuna Fest, Pensacola Beach, Pensacola, FL, USA

Main Set: Oceans, (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Got Some, Once, Given To Fly, Amongst The Waves, Grievance, Even Flow, World Wide Suicide, The Fixer, Daughter/(It’s O.K.), Of The Earth, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Parachutes, Unthought Known, Do The Evolution, Porch

encore 1: Black/(We Belong Together), Comatose, Why Go, Rearviewmirror

encore 2: Better Man/(Save It For Later), Lukin, Alive, Baba O’Riley, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)

Show Notes:

Ed joins Gaslight Anthem early in the day for State of Love and Trust. Oceans fittingly opens a hot summer night at this beachside venue. The stage appears a bit smaller than some of the other places on the tour,…

Show Notes: 

Ed joins Gaslight Anthem early in the day for State of Love and Trust. Oceans fittingly opens a hot summer night at this beachside venue. The stage appears a bit smaller than some of the other places on the tour, there are also 2nd level side stage sections with handfuls of fans, adding to a more intimate feel. Beach balls show up in the crowd near the stage during Once and appear throughout the show. Before Given To Fly, Ed notes “…we haven’t been here since 1994, so thanks for welcoming us back,” and points towards the sea during the “…made a trip to the ocean…” lyric. Amongst the Waves continues the ocean theme, with Ed noting beforehand that “…it isn’t often that we get to play next to the ocean, this one suits the mood,” as he waves to some boaters. A muscular version of Grievance is introduced with a mention of the new Florida voter ID laws, Ed adding that if you’re going to swim naked after the show, don’t lose your ID. He mentions Mike just told him he was born in Pensacola, saying “welcome home,” and urging to people to support Wounded Warriors to help support those coming home from their service before tearing into a searing Worldwide Suicide.  Leading into the “It’s O.K.” tag in Daughter, he asks the crowd if they could be loud because “20 years of playing, I can barely hear anything so if you can sing, you have to be kinda loud…” Ed jokes that Of The Earth is “one you might not know, this is one we might not know” and makes its American debut with a crunchy swagger that resolves into a spacey jam. Parachutes is supplemented by a lyric sheet and dedicated to Johnny Ramone and anyone who’s suffered recent loss. Unthought Known is dedicated to the moon and is particularly strong with Ed and the band really feeding off Matt’s heavy hand. Ed gives the crowd a shot at the Evolution riff, which doesn’t quite take, but it’s a strong performance nonetheless. After the break, a gorgeous Black sees Mike, with his new Joe Strummer-style mohawk, looking to the heavens before his solo even starts, and Ed repeating “…baby, baby, baby…” before “…we didn’t belong…together….” Encore 2 features a shoutout to Ben Folds and Guided by Voices, with Ed noting Robert Pollard responded to his invitation to play with “I’ll be there…but I’m going to be really fucked up at that point.” Ed says he appreciated the honesty, which reminded him of Matt Lukin, leading into an interesting Lukin/Alive pairing. Ed wanders side stage during Alive and climbs up some scaffolding, channeling 1994 a little, to the crowd’s delight. Mike adds on the full feedback-drenched Star-Spangled Banner at the end of Yellow Ledbetter. Ed leaves with “don’t forget to vote…goodnight, love you…very kind. Have a great weekend…see you next year!”

September 2, 2012 – Made In America Festival, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Main Set: Go, Corduroy, Save You, Given To Fly, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Unemployable, Even Flow, Got Some, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop), Unthought Known, The Fixer, Nothingman, Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Know Your Rights, Rearviewmirror

encore 1: Love, Reign O’er Me, Spin The Black Circle, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Comatose, Black, Alive, W.M.A., 99 Problems, Rockin’ In The Free World

Show Notes:

This is the first time back in Philadelphia for the band since the legendary Spectrum shows in 2009, and Go gets things off to an electric start. Corduroy keeps the energy high. Save You in the third spot sends an…

Show Notes: 

This is the first time back in Philadelphia for the band since the legendary Spectrum shows in 2009, and Go gets things off to an electric start. Corduroy keeps the energy high. Save You in the third spot sends an early signal to the Philly faithful that this will not just be a greatest hits set. Ed welcomes everyone, saying “Cheers! Good to be in Philadelphia. We’d like to thank Jay-Z for giving us wings…giving all these fans wings. Anybody for levitation?” Of course, Given to Fly is next, with the lyric change “…made it to the City of Brotherly Love…” Ed before Unemployable:

“This is a story about a man who had a job, who worked hard, who went to church, who raised his kids. He was an honest, good American. He paid his bills. He did everything he was taught and told to do and this is the sad part of the story…the sad part is that it’s true. This man gets let go of his job along with hundreds of coworkers and colleagues. So we just want you to remember when they are talking about tax breaks for the job creators…it oftentimes happens that they are creating jobs in other countries. We would like to see a few more things made in America.”

“He’s made in America…that’s Mr. Mike McCready,” shouts Ed during Even Flow. As the rain falls, Unthought Known is prefaced with:

“…we are really happy to be sharing the stage with all these people…this song is best played under an open sky. I wish you could see the moon. Maybe it will come out on this one…” 

Following a loud Nothingman, Ed says “…it’s about politics, it’s about childbirth, it’s about music, it’s about art, it’s about love, it’s about me, it’s about you, it’s about us, it’s about them, it’s everything because it’s evolution, baby!” and Do the Evolution gets the Philly crowd going again. Before a fiery Know Your Rights, reappearing in a PJ set for the first time since Mansfield 2003, Ed makes a plea:

“Thanks for singing and using your voice. We would like to talk about rights for a second. The rights that have been acquired and earned and fought for all of these years…there is something interesting that happened, where one of the parties, of which there are only two…and we won’t say which one…it’s the party that shall not be named…they have gone to some great efforts to put things into place where it made it harder for people to vote…one side doesn’t want you to vote. These are rights that have been fought for…only recently by women and minorities have been earned. Due to the amount of effort that they have put into it, it still means something to vote. I hope that their actions actually empower you to make a difference, use your voice and vote.”

To open the encore, Ed says, “He’s also made in America, but from the far end. The last state added to the United States. From the Hawaiian islands, our brother, Mr. Boom Gaspar…” and Boom is featured on the opening notes of Love, Reign O’er Me. As the song builds, a light rain, a little mist, begins to fall again. Big singalong on Better Man. After Alive, Matt’s drum beat teases a little W.M.A. Ed introduces and thanks the band, then starts into W.M.A. and the crowd is both intrigued and fired up. The FULL version of the song is underway…a truly surprise performance at a festival and this late in the set as well. As the song concludes, the surprises aren’t finished as out comes Jay-Z, who bursts into “99 Problems” with PJ as his backing band, Jeff holding it down with the W.M.A. bassline. Ed signs off after Rockin’ with “…have a great rest of the summer. Thanks for letting us be a part of it…keep the love flowing. Philly…love you, goodnight.”