October 15, 2013 – DCU Center, Worcester, MA, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 10/15/2013:

Subbing in for Boston, scrappy Worcester becomes the two-night home for the band. The historic and underutilized venue and timeliness of the shows (with the Red Sox currently in the midst of a playoff run down the street in Boston) underscored the lively setlist, which kicked off with an emotional 1-2 punch of an opener–a powerful Release followed by Long Road, the first time these two classic opening songs have opened a show consecutively! An anthemic Small Town serves as the logical follow-up, before a segue into a rotation of Lightning Bolt-era tracks that sustains the energy of the night. Hail, Hail and Whipping rip with furor, and Nothing As It Seems is atmospheric and moody. Ed frequently chats about the Red Sox and the band’s friendship with former GM Theo Epstein, who is referenced on Better Man. Corduroy anchors the back part of the set, a surprise at that part of the night. However, the biggest setlist highlight is, not surprisingly, Leash, played in response to Ed’s recognition of a sign-waving fan that had been following the band around for several shows. The encore features a poignant Man of the Hour opener and another fan request, the first Fatal since 2010! A blistering Porch closes out encore one before a unique second encore blends solo-driven stalwarts like Crazy Mary and Alive with an atypical closing pairing of Sonic Reducer and a big singalong on Indifference. Ed leaves the crowd with “it makes a difference, no matter what they say…thank you very much.”