December 6, 2013 – Key Arena, Seattle, WA, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 12/6/2013:

Ed takes his first swig of wine as Pendulum begins. Following Mind Your Manners, Ed, grabbing the bottle, addresses the crowd for the first time of the evening, commenting:

“…it looks like a Seahawks game out there! It’s good to be back home…we’ve got a lot of friends here which is why I brought the extra big bottle of wine…”

while showing off the oversized bottle. He dedicates the next song, Given to Fly, to Seattle Mariner Raul Ibanez. Afterwards, he tells the crowd that the next song was written by the “intellectual of the group,” Jeff Ament, and Pilate is dedicated to Jeff’s lady friend. Ed, distracted, suddenly dashes to the microphone, getting there just in time to sing the opening line. He then stops the band, asks to “get it right,” and they begin the song again. Prior to Garden, he tells the crowd:

“the thing about playing Seattle is that most of these songs were written here…this one was written in Seward Park.”

This rendition is punctuated by Mike’s dark and soulful solo. He turns it up even more during Even Flow, bashing the head of his guitar in the speaker during the solo. Afterwards, Ed finally tells the origin story of Even Flow, talking about his homeless friend (also named Eddie) who he would see around town, until one day he was gone. Matt Vaughan from Easy Street Records gets a shout out, and City Bank gets a ‘fuck you’ toast for causing the 2nd location of Easy Street Records to shut down, as Let the Records Play features Stone in his element, providing the funky groove that has Ed dancing between verses. Lukin is introduced with:

“when we play this, we usually dedicate it to the guy it’s written about…it’s only on rare occasions that he’s actually here. This is for Lukin.”

The band thrashes through the song as the pit area is jumping. After the break, Ed starts a crowd wave, adding:

“I don’t remember this room sounding as good as it’s sounding tonight…it’d sound really good if we had a basketball team in here too.”

He toasts the first anniversary of the legalization of marijuana and gay marriage, saying “isn’t it great to live in a city and community that is on the right side of history.” Following After Hours, Let Me Sleep appears for the first time since Bridge School 1994! Afterwards, Ed tells the crowd how 7-year-old Ashley Baxter and her father, Keith, rescued him from some big waves in Hawaii about 11 years ago, and Ashley is brought out on stage, leading to Future Days. The Singles soundtrack trilogy of Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns, Breath, and State of Love and Trust is played at the same show for the first time! The historic encore closes with Porch, and Ed swinging and practicing his aerobatics on one of the hanging stage prop lights.

The second encore begins with Mike thanking the crowd for coming out and raising awareness for local radio station KEXP. Ed leads the crowd in shouting “KEXP, KEXP” then offers a toast to the SuperSonics, leading to Supersonic. Mike goes out into the audience and takes a walk through the crowd while soloing on Alive, joining the rest of the band on stage to finish the song’s last few bars. Mark Arm, Steve Turner, and Kim Thayil come out to join the band for Kick Out the Jams. During the song, Matt Lukin (with beer in hand) walks out on stage to embrace Ed, and they fall to the ground and begin to hug. Before getting up, Lukin is able to rescue his beer and quickly guzzle it while keeping it from Ed, who was grabbing for it. The guys get up laughing, and the party on stage continues with Tim DiJulio (Stereo Embers/Flight to Mars) joining in with the group as Mike hands out vinyl copies of the Christmas single (featuring his lead vocal on Turning Mist) to the crowd. Ed asks, “Does anyone here know how to play a rock tune?” Mike switches out his guitar, acting as though he was about to throw it into the crowd, and begins a blistering Eruption solo. Ed jumps down to the rail to give some hugs during Ledbetter, and Mike wraps up the song with Little Wing. Ed thanks the crowd, adding “it’s nice to have the chance to get better and grow old…and not die, be alive,” then wishes the audience a Happy Christmas before exiting the stage.