July 4, 2012 – O2 World, Berlin, DEU

Pearl Jam Show Notes 7/4/2012:

A rare first song setlist scratch begins the show, with the band opting for Long Road instead of Release. The crowd doesn’t mind, as they execute a perfect call-and-response during the outro. Ray Cameron, becoming a semi-regular guest on this tour leg, joins on percussion for The Fixer. Ed greets the crowd and asks them to take care of each other and to “viel Spaß“ (have a good time). Faithfull makes its tour debut, a particularly rocking version in all of its quiet-loud glory. Ed toasts the crowd’s response to X and mentions having met a young boy named Andrew attending his first show, exclaiming “have a fucking blast, kid!” In My Tree is another highlight with Ed perfectly sitting in Matt’s unrushed groove before the song takes off. Mike’s mom Louise appears onstage and gets treated to ‘Happy Birthday’ by the crowd before Ed introduces Even Flow, joking “this next song is all her fault.” Mike tears the place down, with Ed stating after the solo “look ma, no hands!” Lukin leads into Unthought Known in a unique pairing. Ed says he visited the Ramones Museum for the first time yesterday and lauds the curators, locals Flo and Kathy, stating “It was always very important to [Johnny] that he be remembered” leading to a punchy I Believe in Miracles. Rearviewmirror includes the “I will forgive” lyric in the breakdown, with Ed asking the crowd to back up during the song. He opens the first encore asking the crowd to step back again, joking that “there’s good looking people here…we want to keep them that way.” A delicate The End and a surprise Hard to Imagine, brought back for the first time since 2009, highlight this section. It’s a throwback to the early days in the second encore, and an exuberant Leash is taken out of storage to the crowd’s delight. There’s an enormous banner in the audience calling for Rockin’ in the Free World (on July 4th), and the band obliges, this version bursting at the seams with a call and response section and Ray Cameron returning to help out on guitar. Indifference closes with the lights up, the crowd matching Ed’s volume at points. Lots of tour debuts and an enthusiastic crowd.