July 11, 2014 – Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes, ENG

Show Notes:

Ed opens the evening with an acoustic, pre-set Porch before the opener, hardcore band OFF!. Perhaps inspired by them, PJ opens with quickfire versions of Pendulum and Wash. Ed acknowledges the crowd during Nothingman with “I can see you in…

Show Notes: 

Ed opens the evening with an acoustic, pre-set Porch before the opener, hardcore band OFF!. Perhaps inspired by them, PJ opens with quickfire versions of Pendulum and Wash. Ed acknowledges the crowd during Nothingman with “I can see you in the sun”. Black returns to the early part of the set for the first time since Stockholm, tagged with Ed questioning “Did we belong together? Did we belong?” During Brain of J., Ed says to the crowd “Look out for your neighbor,” and after the song he again checks on them, adding “…it’s getting a little tight up here. It’s all good if you’re all good. Is everybody looking out for their neighbor? Please.” Comatose is cut short, with Ed pointing something out in the crowd to security, “right here, right here. We’re going to have to stop for a second.” Trying to settle things down, he says:

“I’m gonna say hello, good evening and cheers. I was going to do it in a minute after some fast songs. Is everybody okay there?”

He then pokes fun at the local crowd, asking:

“Would you like some tea? How many lumps?”

Save You is for “to a friend of ours called Rabbit”. During Hail, Hail, Ed is again heard sounding concerned for the crowd, shouting “Look out!” during the song. He compares the weather in Milton Keynes to Seattle; having rained earlier in the day, he now thinks it’s turned into “a beautiful Seattle day” and thanks the crowd for coming out. Again turning his attention to crowd trouble, he observes:

“That gentleman there has no business doing that on top of the crowd, when you’re heavier than three or four of the people under you it’s a problem,”

This prompts chants of “you fat bastard,” leading Ed to tease:

“‘You fat bastard’? Is that what you’re saying? Hey dude, you don’t need to insult him, we’re just trying to tell him to keep his feet on the ground, his head in the sky…and his food on his plate.”

Toasting Chrissie Hynde, he declares:

“tonight will be a long one, but work with me, maybe let females be the ones to float on top, no big giant with the boots. If you’re small enough to think I could kick your ass, you’re fine!”

He then shouts, “all I’m saying is mind your manners!” which leads the band into…Mind Your Manners. After Lightning Bolt, Ed asks the crowd “a man told me you can get four pints for £20, is that true?” which is followed by booing. Attempting to explain the cost, Ed says “you’re paying extra because a man carries it to you…it’s a posh gig, this one!” Before Nothing As It Seems, he says “a stranger told me we haven’t played this song in Europe for fourteen years, so here’s to a total stranger!” He tells a story about the band’s first visit to the U.K. to mix Ten. He explains how a woman who worked at the studio told him she thought Black was “brilliant” after discovering Ed had written it, he was pleased with the praise until she told Stone he was “brilliant” after cutting a slice of bread, which proved to be a lesson in humility. He then thanks Stone and Jeff, “who were the bosses at the time, still now!” Before Even Flow, Ed jokes “this song was written in ancient times”.

Returning to stage after the break, Ed makes a “special toast” to his younger brother who turned 40 the day before, then saying “my tallest brother turned 45 today.” He explains how Simon Townshend “came to Seattle and we played this song, and we’d like to play it for you”. He then invites Simon onto stage to play I’m The Answer, making its PJ debut. Before the song, he adds that Matt Cameron’s brother Pete is 54 today and leads the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday. During the intro of Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns, Ed remarks “the moon, the sky…you know Andy would’ve loved it”. Bad Radio’s Believe You Me is played for the first time since 2005, tagged onto Crown of Thorns. Porch returns for a full-band performance, after which Ed introduces the band and jokes “thanks for keeping us up so late”. He adds:

“We paid the rent, but we will be evicted – we’re staying until we are!”

Rain is prefaced with “we learnt this song in case we needed it, we didn’t but we’ll still play it anyway,” Dhani Harrison joins on stage to play along. Daughter is tagged with War, during which Ed makes a passionate plea that people stop engaging in wars:

“We don’t pay our taxes for them to spend it on dropping bombs on children.”

Rockin’ In The Free World closes the show with assistance from OFF! and Ray Cameron. Ed thanks the crowd for “giving us wings so we could fly” and shouts “Mookie Blaylock!” twice, before leaving with “thanks for all that energy, use your powers for good.”


July 8, 2014, First Direct Arena, Leeds, ENG

Show Notes:

Ed, with a huge grin on his face, greets the crowd with “Good evening!” There’s an incident in the crowd during Once that Ed alerts security to during the song. Following Mind Your Manners, a smirking Ed jokingly begins reading…

Show Notes: 

Ed, with a huge grin on his face, greets the crowd with “Good evening!” There’s an incident in the crowd during Once that Ed alerts security to during the song. Following Mind Your Manners, a smirking Ed jokingly begins reading from a sheet in Dutch, mentioning Werchter, before ripping it and saying “Ah, fuck this, it’s good to be here in Leeds.” After Wishlist, Ed takes a phone from a fan, and a basketball is thrown up on stage, which he passes back to Matt, saying “We’re getting all kinds of gifts tonight!” He compliments a t-shirt he has seen in the crowd and a “nice blouse” that his wife “would look good in…Mike McCready would look good in that blouse!” Turning to take aim at Mike, Ed asks:

“Did you ever get naked in Leeds? I know there’s a bunch of places you used to get naked in…”, Mike takes to the mic and says, “Only in Germany…maybe in England…Dublin for sure!”

This goes down to much laughter from the band and crowd. Ghost is given its European debut and is followed by an apology as Ed states, “I fucked that song up, I went into the last verse quicker…it’s my fault, so I’m going to take a picture of me fucking up”. He takes a selfie of him and Jeff, who also gets some of the blame for “fucking up”, on the fan’s phone he placed on the stage earlier and jokes, “My daughter will like that one.” Present Tense is followed by a crowd chant of “Let Jeff sing!” Ed suggests Fernando by Abba as “all you’ve got to do is start it then they’ll sing”. He theatrically breaks into Fernando, and the crowd do take over while Jeff shakes his head no. Following Given to Fly, Ed tells the crowd he “spent a thousand hours in Leeds with the headphones on,” listening to Live At Leeds by The Who. After another chant for Jeff to sing, he takes to the mic to shout “Abba at Leeds!” to which Ed responds, “it wasn’t as popular as The Who’s!”

The band are seated when they return after the break, and Ed begins by introducing his guitar tech Simon to the crowd. He continues, talking about cancer, paying tribute to doctors, nurses, and affected families, stating how it is often “not a fair fight” and explains how he lost his uncle John days before the tour started. Mentioning his Chicago Bears #34 shirt, a regular sight on the tour, he explains that he was wearing it as his uncle passed away, which is why he had been sporting it so often. Man of the Hour is dedicated to a young man called Jonathan who had lost his battle with cancer. Fatal is added to the set after Ed sees a sign from someone who requested it to celebrate their 30th show. The Real Me is the first of the inevitable Who covers of the evening. Porch is nearly 10 minutes long with an extended jam, the band really in a groove. Ed thanks some of the crew, and brings Karen Loria and Matt’s drum tech Neil Hundt on stage and leads the crowd in Happy Birthday for them. Black is transcendent, everyone leaving it all on stage, and Ed gives some insight before the tag:

So crazy, all the incredibly beautiful faces…

from someone who is the loneliest person on Earth,

then all of a sudden this song gets you to all these beautiful faces, it’s crazy…

Leaving Here and Baba O’Riley finish off the Who portion of the program, and Matt’s son Ray plays guitar on All Along The Watchtower. A fantastic show with plenty of rare songs, great performances, and the band in excellent spirits.


July 5, 2014 – Rock Werchter Festival, Werchter Festival Park, Werchter, BEL

Show Notes:

RVM opens a show for the first time since 2007. Ed’s first address to the crowd is a call out in Flemish, to which the entire crowd responds in unison with some form of a chant. As the crowd finishes…

Show Notes: 

RVM opens a show for the first time since 2007. Ed’s first address to the crowd is a call out in Flemish, to which the entire crowd responds in unison with some form of a chant. As the crowd finishes their part, the band begins a much quicker than usual version of My Father’s Son. During Do the Evolution, the crowd sings along with Stone’s guitar riff, not only in its usual spot, but even goes back to singing it after the band finishes the song. Once again, Ed speaks to the crowd in Flemish, this time for a much longer address, obviously working hard on his pronunciation, drawing lots of cheers and the occasional laugh. Pivoting to English, Ed then begins a short music history lesson on British vs. American popular music, which sets the tone perfectly for what was about to come:

“After liking The Who, and lots of early British bands, there weren’t many American bands that you liked, and then all of a sudden there was Sonic Youth and that was about it. But for years and years it was only The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks, you know, all this great, great music..but it was all 20 years old already in nineteen-eighty-something…but then there was a record by the band called the Pixies, and it was the greatest record that I had heard in years. I just can’t believe that we’re playing at the same time as the Pixies. I just want to toast the Pixies for being, still, one of the greatest bands ever.”

He then introduces members of the band Midlake, who had played earlier that night, and they join for All Night, with extended vocal breakdowns. Matt gets a short but sweet drum solo on Even Flow. Sirens is sensitive and intricate, showcasing the interplay between Stone and Mike. Once again, the crowd continues singing even after the band is done playing. Ed acknowledges this incredible audience participation by saying “thank you for being the best part of the band.” After the break, Ed begins acknowledging the band members, saying:

“Let’s hear it for Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron…he’s played for more people in three days than we used to play to in about a year. In the last three days, of course, he had to play with two different bands in order to add up the numbers, but in three days he’s played to about 150,000 people…once with us, then last night with Soundgarden in Hyde Park, and now here he is. He’s a fucking hero and he’s not even cocky about it, he’s just a great human being…let’s hear it for Matt Cameron!”

Black returns to its usual encore spot, with a “you belong together” tag. The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” is tagged onto Daughter for the first time. After Porch, Ed sees a fan and interjects:

“What’s that? No, I can’t sleep in your tent with you sir. I can’t. The yellow tent with the blue, okay, you’ll be wearing what? Oh, lingerie in the shape of black, red, and yellow uniforms? Hey, Euro Cup two years, you got them. Black, Red, Yellow! We’re still playing. Fuck it!”

The crowd thinks they’re getting “Black, Red, Yellow,” and it seems like that is what Stone thinks as well, but after a jumbled start, Ed stops, turns to the audience, and in a radio announcer voice says:

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen…as the opening band for the Kings of Leon we just wanna thank you very much, thank you. Uh, Stone was taking a piss when we were figuring out what song we were gonna do next, but that’s okay, people gotta piss, that’s what people do, say no more, say no more,”

They end up playing the intended song, Sonic Reducer. Launching into Rockin’ in the Free World, with members of Midlake on guitar and tambourine, Ed changes the first two lines to honor the Belgian crowd:

There are colors on the street, 
Black, yellow and red,
There are people on the street,
Oh, they’re crazy in the head…

Ed thanks the crowd again, yelling “Kings of Leon are up next….tomorrow!” Suddenly, there’s a lot of activity on stage, they aren’t sure what to play next. Ed sings “‘I pulled into Nazareth,’ yeah, I know that one, what else do you know? We’ll play here all night!” Mike begins “Angie” as Ed and the crowd sing along, but before you know it, he transitions perfectly into Ledbetter, ending with Little Wing, and Ed joins in to sing the first verse before taking the final bow.


July 3, 2014 – Open’er Festival, Gdynia, POL

Show Notes:

After some much-needed days off, the night kicks off with a fury of light and sound as Go roars to life. Ed welcomes the crowd with a safety check and some ground rules for front-row moshing. With these instructions, he…

Show Notes: 

After some much-needed days off, the night kicks off with a fury of light and sound as Go roars to life. Ed welcomes the crowd with a safety check and some ground rules for front-row moshing. With these instructions, he reminds the crowd to…Mind Your Manners. He shows off his (lack of) Polish speaking skills before Given to Fly, translated as “It’s a beautiful night…it’s a beautiful night…It’s getting chilly…let’s warm up…to each other…bless you.” Afterwards, he dedicates the next song to the promoter Nicolas, saying:

“He had to call someone in Warsaw because one of us didn’t have his passport and couldn’t get in.  But as you can see, we are all here and we are very grateful for them trusting us. Thank you, authorities. Usually you like to say, like, “fuck the police,” “fuck the government,” but every once in while you gotta think…like, oh god we will suck their cocks if they just let us get in to play the goddamn show…”

Ed pauses for some creationist criticism around Do the Evolution. After Jeremy, Ed takes a moment to introduce Matt Cameron on the drums and informs the crowd he will be back again the following night playing drums with Soundgarden. Shout outs to MGMT, Jack White and Faith No More (all performing at the festival) as the band begins Unthought Known and blends it into Public Image. After the break, Ed begins listing places in Poland they have played. After mentioning Gdynia twice, he quips:

“…this guy, we saw him four years ago and he still hasn’t put on a fuckin’ shirt! I am not sure….you are either going to get laid tonight…or you are definitely not getting laid, I’m not sure how it’s going to go. What the fuck, you must have a huge…ego. And maybe a small…town.”

And with that, the band moves into Small Town, Better Man, and reaches a crescendo with Porch. Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT) joins for a closing Baba O’Riley, with Ed telling the fans “Goodnight, ciao…let’s do it again sometime…”


June 29, 2014 – Telenor Arena, Oslo, NOR

Show Notes:

The fourth show in five days, and the rigor of the tour has taken a toll on Ed’s voice. Pendulum starts things off just fine, to enthusiastic crowd response, and Hard to Imagine is solid, but the vocal fatigue creeps…

Show Notes: 

The fourth show in five days, and the rigor of the tour has taken a toll on Ed’s voice. Pendulum starts things off just fine, to enthusiastic crowd response, and Hard to Imagine is solid, but the vocal fatigue creeps out during the outro. This is where the band begins to step in, with Mike overlapping Ed’s last vocals with a very nice closing solo. No early Black here, but Ed heads into the crowd for a good part of Last Kiss, mingling with the crowd and holding a fan’s hand throughout the last chorus. He quickly asks if things are good before opening up Mind Your Manners. Ed holds his own for the most part, but is short on breath. He starts to crack on Animal, and finally asks the crowd for help. After Last Exit, he greets the crowd with “Hello, Oslo” in Norwegian and briefly mentions the “wear and tear on the voice” before commending the fans who’ve followed them through four cities in five days, and introduces Interstellar Overdrive as “a quick instrumental to give the voice a rest for one second.” After Corduroy, he tries to get a father with a young daughter safer seats, and then better seats. He greets his new friend, Isabel, asks her for a joint, and explains he’s been told everyone would understand English “unless you’re seven or eight, or very drunk.” Mike really starts taking the weight of the show onto his shoulders at this point, and delivers one of his best solos of the night on Lightning Bolt. In Hiding begins with an invitation to help sing, and afterwards Ed quips “…quit drinking after last night, but thought I might have a few more” before asking the crowd to tell Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme “føkk deg” (fuck you) at the Øya festival in August. Boom has an expanded role on My Father’s Son. Sad is teased with a short “Norwegian Wood” a capella. With Ed’s voice now holding on cautiously, aided by strong crowd participation, and Mike leading the band in filling any gaps, this is where this concert lands in its groove for the rest of the night.

On the final chord of Light Years, Ed approaches Stone and points towards a fan in the front row. Immediately we hear someone re-tuning as a change is made to the setlist, which Ed announces as “for this person here, who…she’s got a complaint: 22 shows and we haven’t played a certain song.” After a Garden more reminiscent of the album version than recent live renditions (and with the lucky fan starring on the Jumbotron) Ed takes her empty cup, fills it with wine, gives it back, and tells her “Cheers… 22 shows, I think I can at least buy you a drink, you paid for this very nice wine.” Mike outshines himself once again on Even Flow, after which Ed explains that, as punishment for a mistake made the night before, he has to play Eruption on Mike’s guitar while Mike is holding it. He touches it, makes some noise, then tells the crowd, “this can be our special song that we only play when we come to Norway.” In an emotional preface to Love Boat Captain, Ed mentions the anniversary of the Roskilde tragedy and expresses the band’s appreciation of the victims’ families, present at the previous night’s show in Stockholm, for maintaining a relationship with them. An extra long jam-out on Porch nearly brings the song to 10 minutes.

After a long encore break, they’re greeted with applause after coming back on stage, Ed responds “we’ll take that as a sign of encouragement.” Sleeping by Myself gets botched near the end, Ed takes the blame and plays the final chorus to close it out. The first-ever live performance of Strangest Tribe follows, it is slow, steady, and perfectly dreamy, dedicated to the people who’ve been in the front row over four consecutive nights, whom Ed honors by nicknaming them after the song. Lukin is given its quasi-traditional introduction as a “quiet singalong.” The last set begins with thanks to the crowd and a nod to “getting to play all these different songs.” As Alive transitions straight into Rockin’ in the Free World, “Mr. Raymond Caper Cameron” (Ray Cameron, Matt’s son) is introduced as he comes onstage to play on a Les Paul. The original setlist included Setting Forth, Small Town, Black, Got Some, and Better Man, but were replaced with Garden, Strangest Tribe, and Footsteps.


June 28, 2014 – Friends Arena, Stockholm, SWE

Show Notes:

The band takes the stage bathed in blue spotlights, easing into the evening with Release into an uptempo Sometimes. Black finishes with Mike reeling off a searing solo, Stone delivering a complementary dance of chords, and Ed asking “Did we…

Show Notes: 

The band takes the stage bathed in blue spotlights, easing into the evening with Release into an uptempo Sometimes. Black finishes with Mike reeling off a searing solo, Stone delivering a complementary dance of chords, and Ed asking “Did we belong together?” during the ending tag. Corduroy finishes in a storm of guitar sonics. Ed addresses the crowd before Lightning Bolt, saying “tomorrow I’m going to quit drinking, so TONIGHT…,” continuing in Swedish. Mike is supercharged during Red Mosquito, but the rest of the band gets lost getting to the finish line. The crowd picks this up and tries to guide the band, swaying in time, with Ed even adding “that’s nice, we made a mistake there and you made something beautiful out of it.” Ed grabs a monopod towards the end of Given to Fly and films the stage for a fan. Daughter is tagged with a brief bit of Hey Jude prior to the WMA tag. Introducing U, Ed states to the crowd, “lot of people out there, there’s maybe ten of you who know the next song.” Before Green Disease, he discusses how SwedeBank donated the naming rights of the arena to a youth support organization called Friends that works to prevent bullying. He references Jeremy and how it came about, and how great it is to see a corporation using their ability to promote social good. Rearviewmirror is dedicated to the Hives.

After the break, Ed notices a woman with a sign in the crowd that says “sign my shoe”.  Ed manages to get her to throw both shoes on stage, which he promptly hands to a roadie to take backstage. He turns to the mic and deadpans “shoe the shoeless,” a comical nod to the infamous Indio 1993 improv. He then teases the fan, saying “you trusted me…you don’t know me.”

Prior to Oceans, Ed drinks wine from the sneakers before handing them back to their owner. Mike and Stone trade off excellent solos on a fever pitch Porch. Things start to get a little weird on stage as the band looks to kick off encore 2. Finally, Ed reins in the shenanigans with “…sneakers, flip flops, high heels… it’s evolution, baby!” A beautiful, poignant Indifference ends the night, and Ed leaves with another “Shaka” Hawaiian goodbye.


June 26, 2014 – Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide, Berlin, DEU

Show Notes:

The opening sequence is gorgeous, the crowd seems to energize the show right from the beginning, and Ed sounds outstanding. In My Tree soars just like it did in 1996, everyone locked in during the ending jam. Go flows seamlessly…

Show Notes: 

The opening sequence is gorgeous, the crowd seems to energize the show right from the beginning, and Ed sounds outstanding. In My Tree soars just like it did in 1996, everyone locked in during the ending jam. Go flows seamlessly into a ripping Why Go, not the first time on the night that two similarly-named songs would be paired together. Ed gives the Evolution break to the crowd and they run with it, even continuing to sing it after the song is over. He addresses the crowd, saying:

“I think this is the 27th time we’ve played in Germany, and maybe number 6 here…but I don’t think we’ve ever had a night as nice as this.”

Corduroy features a superb McCready solo. Mind Your Manners loses its way a little bit about halfway through, but they pick it back up before the end. Hold On is played, by request, for the first time since Wrigley the previous year. You Are is “a toast to all of you who are lucky enough, and strong enough, to be still in love,” paired up with Who You Are. Following Even Flow, Ed shouts out Stone for writing it, “he writes great songs and makes beautiful kids,”  leading the crowd to start a “Let Stone Sing” chant, with Ed and the band picking up on it and doing a little impromptu jam, with the following lyrics:

Let Stone sing, they say
You don’t understand
The reason being
We don’t insist
It’s nothing, it’s with me
I tried and i tried
Oh, but to no avail
It has to keep his voice clean
He don’t just sing anywhere
Let Stone sing

The crowd keeps the “Let Stone Sing” chant going throughout, and Ed adds “see, he wouldn’t even sing that…played the shit out of it, though…” and that Stone only sings if Jeff says it’s ok. Ed eggs Stone on to sing something, “maybe from the movie Frozen?”, singing a bit of “Let It Go.” Stone thanks the crowd for wanting him to sing, teasing “I’m not doing it, fuck you guys,” and Ed sings “…for the first time in forever…,” also from Frozen. The pretty Immortality intro transitions awkwardly into the song, but it’s a powerful version nonetheless, with an atmospheric crescendo at the end. Ed has to ask the crowd to take 3 steps back again, which he had done twice earlier, due to the surge of people at the front. Driving RVM jam with Ed and Jeff holding down the rhythm before Matt takes over. After the break, Ed points out some request signs in the crowd, and the one for Sleight of Hand is granted. Sleeping By Myself is dedicated to 20 drunk guys in the front, because it’s “what they’ll be doing tonight.” Boom adds the riff from the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” to the Crazy Mary solo, which ends up in a duel with Mike. False start to Comatose, but they recover. Afterwards, Ed jokes that the next one is “not dedicated to the tiny little girl in the front row who’s 4, maybe 5,” leading into Blood. Coming out after the second break, Ed asks if they can find out the name of the girl in the front, and after a few moments, gets everyone to say hi to Matilda, and plays Bee Girl for her. Stone takes a long solo in Rockin’ in the Free World. Mike finishes off Yellow Ledbetter with a harmonic, and Ed thanks the crowd with a little Hawaiian, leaving with “super shaka”.


June 25, 2014 – Stadthalle, Vienna, AUT

Show Notes:

Ed does a call and response with the audience at the end of Long Road. The early set Black run continues here, with the crowd erupting during the opening chords. A short “We didn’t belong together” improv by Ed leads…

Show Notes: 

Ed does a call and response with the audience at the end of Long Road. The early set Black run continues here, with the crowd erupting during the opening chords. A short “We didn’t belong together” improv by Ed leads into the crowd taking over the background vocals, and Ed saying “…it’s gonna be a good night.” Matt starts off the Last Exit beat quietly before kicking in full-throttle. Mike imitates a record spinning during STBC, taking a few laps around the stage. After Got Some, Ed delivers a speech in broken German to the crowd, following it up (in English) with “…and with the rain, the thunder, and the lightning” before launching into Lightning Bolt. Amongst The Waves is introduced as:

“about the ocean…it’s about love, it’s about the oceans…it’s not necessarily about loving the ocean…its not necessarily about loving love…its about learning how to live on the ocean of love when you’re in the middle of a hurricane, and the waves are big and it doesn’t seem like you’re gonna get out of it, but you might. Don’t jump ship…don’t become the man overboard. They may never find you.” 

The crowd cheers for Stone afterwards, and Ed points out the “Stone supporters,” adding that Mike requested the band play the next song, a full-band cover of The Beatles’ “Rain”. Even Flow is introduced as “an old Alice Cooper song called ‘Cold Ethyl’.” Following his usual amazing solo, Ed asks Mike when he learned to play like that, and Mike replies “one night after taking acid and seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan.  But kids, don’t do that. Don’t do that.” To which Ed replies:

“Hear that kids, don’t do that. Don’t take acid and practice for twenty thousand hours. And don’t mix it up. Don’t do twenty thousand hits of acid and then play guitar. If there are any Austrian journalists out there, make sure to get that right. Don’t do acid and play guitar. Mike wrote this next song, and I don’t believe there were any drugs involved at all, right Mike?”

Mike confirms drugs were not involved during the creation of the next song, Sirens. After the break, Ed mentions how bad the sound was in the building during soundcheck, “the worst or second to worst sounding” building that he’s ever been in, but that the band was happy to have a full and engaged audience. Ed breaks out the acoustic guitar for Needle and The Damage Done solo, a surprise, as it’s played for the first time since 2009! Not to be outdone, the rarely played Speed Of Sound makes an appearance in the first encore as well, played for only the 6th time. After Brain of J., Ed asks if he “should get an acoustic guitar for this…the 12-string? Mandolin, is there a mandolin?” A not-acoustic Lukin follows. An impassioned Indifference ends the night, after which Ed thanks the crowd, saying “so kind…we love you, thank you so much, so kind, we had a blast…good night, goodbye” and points out a “little dude” in the front, adding “thanks for taking care of each other.”


June 22, 2014 – Nereo Rocco Stadium, Trieste, ITA

Show Notes:

Another long, slow beginning section, with another early Black, eases the crowd into the festivities. “You ready?! You ready?!” Ed shouts before a torrid Why Go, and as Matt Cameron starts pounding the drum intro, the crowd is in an…

Show Notes: 

Another long, slow beginning section, with another early Black, eases the crowd into the festivities. “You ready?! You ready?!” Ed shouts before a torrid Why Go, and as Matt Cameron starts pounding the drum intro, the crowd is in an absolute frenzy, indicating their readiness. The crowd seems confused by Leatherman, even though Ed says it’s being played as a request. Mind Your Manners gets a HUGE crowd reaction. Mike reaches into his bag of tricks on a raucous Even Flow, and even after Infallible seems to sink the energy of the show, the set closing trio of Whipping, Do the Evolution, and Rearviewmirror is killer, each one building off the last. Let Me Sleep is played for the first time ever in Europe (and only the third time ever) to open the encore, right before a stunning version of Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. Ed introduces the band before Wasted Reprise, highlighting that it’s Boom Gaspar’s second-ever trip to Italy. Porch packs a frantic punch to end the encore. Ed leads the crowd through a long, complex call and response during the Better Man jam, before an impassioned Save It For Later tag, stretching the song past the 10-minute mark. Once precedes Alive, but no Footsteps to complete the trilogy. Alive and Rockin’ in the Free World are straight-forward and powerful. Ed thanks the crowd before a somewhat somber Yellow Ledbetter closes the show – even McCready’s closing solo just seems to fade to black. The band sounds in good spirits, but the song selection and pacing of the set is totally hit or miss and seems to confuse the crowd into silence from time to time.


June 20, 2014 – San Siro Stadium, Milan, ITA

Show Notes:

80,000 fans packed into San Siro, home of European soccer giants AC Milan and Inter. Ed comes out to play Porch solo before the start of the actual show. The crowd is in excellent form all evening, singing along loudly…

Show Notes: 

80,000 fans packed into San Siro, home of European soccer giants AC Milan and Inter. Ed comes out to play Porch solo before the start of the actual show. The crowd is in excellent form all evening, singing along loudly to almost every song, aided by a Release/Nothingman opening, the extended outro to Sirens, and a very early, powerful, rousing version of Black. After its conclusion, Ed addresses the audience in Italian before asking, “Are you ready?!” They immediately shift gears, tearing into Go and not letting up until after Mind Your Manners. Jeff gets some recognition after Pilate, and the crowd chants his name. Following MFC, Ed proclaims “I was very high when I wrote that song…but not as high as those people back there! This one’s for you,” leading into Given to Fly, which has Ed translating the “…fuckers” line into Italian. Mike solos for over 3 minutes on Even Flow, and Ed introduces him as “Michelangelo McCready” afterwards, adding

“I was watching Mike play…and watching this great crowd, and I was wondering, what would be easier…if you all moved to Seattle or if we just moved here? Maybe 6 months we try it. Almost all of the band, we have our wives and family here, I think we might just stay.”

Following Swallowed Whole, he addresses the crowd again:

“There is a young man out there, his name is Michael, it’s his first concert and I would like to totally ruin him by saying Happy Birthday Michael in front of all the people, and have a great birthday, he will be 13 in a couple days. See, other bands…especially the singer, he would never fuck up a song like I’m about to fuck up this song…that’s a guitar solo right there. And Michael, the next time I see you you will probably be 15. And next time, maybe your dad won’t be around and we smoke a little pot or something.”

After the break, he mentions the first time they played in Milan, at a small club called Sorpasso on February 18, he can’t remember the year but eventually lands (correctly) on 1992. Just Breathe is beautiful, just Ed and Boom. Daughter transitions into W.M.A, with Jeff laying down the full W.M.A. bassline and Mike adding some strummy guitar, and then when it sounds like It’s O.K. is imminent, Ed starts singing “Let It Go” (yes, the one from Frozen) before going into the Dead Moon tag, finishing triumphantly, a standout version. Prior to Better Man, everyone sings Happy Birthday to April Cameron, “‘cause I know it will freak her out,” adds Ed. The Porch jam is very guitar-heavy and less jammy, reminiscent of the early 90’s. Ed thanks the wonderful crowd before Alive, taking a few moments to add:

“I want to say before we leave… you have cities in this country that are eternal…we are now in the greatest age of science, and knowledge, and technology, and discovery, the greatest age our world has ever known. And at the same time, war, and people’s mental health, and corruption and the government, keep all the people from living in peace. And so, we agree on this, and again, it’s such a beautiful thing to go anywhere in the world and see this many people agree on anything. It’s fucking beautiful, so thanks for letting us witness this, because it gives us the hope that, as long as the sun keeps fucking burning, that we won’t keep trying and trying together to make this a world, where peace, and joy, and love, and health, that we can win, we will win, we can win!”


June 17, 2014 – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, NED

Show Notes:

Hard To Imagine is an unexpected opener. Halfway through Mind Your Manners, Ed appears to be having issues with his microphone. He motions to the crowd to keep singing as he takes the mic stand and slams it to the…

Show Notes: 

Hard To Imagine is an unexpected opener. Halfway through Mind Your Manners, Ed appears to be having issues with his microphone. He motions to the crowd to keep singing as he takes the mic stand and slams it to the floor angrily, then tosses it and the microphone off to the side of the stage. A crew member runs a new mic out to Ed and he finishes the song. Following Getaway, Ed tells the crowd:

“…that was a nice little love song about religion…could have been called ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.’ We would like to dedicate this one to an American named Edward Snowden,”

The band goes into Dissident. During Even Flow, Ed is noticeably having some pain in his right leg. As Mike begins his solo, Ed limps off stage for a few moments, but limps back in time to finish the song. He then talks about how he hurt his leg:

“trying to jump buses like Matt Cameron and Evel Knievel…moral of the story is you’ll never be as cool as Matt Cameron so don’t even try!”

Marker in the Sand is prefaced with:

“this is a song Mike McCready wrote. We haven’t played it in a while and if I were a betting man, I think we might fuck it up.”

After completing the song with no issues, Ed speaks to the crowd, comparing the similarities between Amsterdam and Seattle: coffee, beer, lots of music venues, and rain, leading into a cover of Rain by the Beatles, only the second time the band has played this song in its entirety, After the break, Ed dedicates Just Breathe “for a great player, number 5.” A makeshift “family trilogy” is played, with Mother, then Daughter, with an intense ABITW tag, Ed shouting “…leave your fucking guns at home, bury your FUCKING guns in a hole….,” and My Father’s Son. He tosses the microphone to someone in the front row to sing during SOLAT. Before Black, he tells the crowd:

“I feel like we have a friendship. I hope that you don’t end our friendship because of the shit way I pronounce your language”

He then addresses the crowd in Dutch. Mike’s Black solo is soulful and emotive. Ed sees some flags in the crowd and calls out a few, saying that “…Black is all the colors…” before a crowd singalong of We Belong Together. Before Yellow Ledbetter, someone in the crowd yells to Ed, and he responds, laughing

“Oh! He wants me to jump in the crowd. Oh fuck yeah! Sure, no problem, I feel fine. Yes, let me drink three more bottles of wine.”


June 16, 2014 – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, NED

Show Notes:

Opening night of the European tour, and the band is in a great mood to open the night. Ed forgets some of the lyrics to Nothingman, but the crowd picks him up. He says that he “really fucked up his…

Show Notes: 

Opening night of the European tour, and the band is in a great mood to open the night. Ed forgets some of the lyrics to Nothingman, but the crowd picks him up. He says that he “really fucked up his knee,” and a little wine would be “the best medicine.” He speaks in English, saying:

“you don’t want to hear me speak Dutch…I don’t want to be disrespectful. It’s only been two years since we have been here last. This was very evident when we got off the plane, direct from the United States, and we walked into customs and they just said ‘Oh, hey.’ That’s a good way to start a trip. We got here just in time to see you for the first game of the World Cup. So this song is off a record that at one time was called Five Against One. We are playing it now because that was pretty much the score in the game the other night,” 

The speech leads into Animal. Who You Are is played for the first time since 2011, and for the first time in Europe since 1996! Even Flow is prefaced with Ed:

“Alright, this here one features the guy on the right here. He’s a dad three times over now. And his youngest just got his passport stamped for the first time the other day. And the head of his penis cut off about 8 weeks ago…I digress, but Happy Father’s Day, Mike. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers…Happy Motherfucker’s Day. I mean it’s true. You can’t be a father unless you’ve fucked the mother…I’m sorry, don’t quote me on that. Especially in front of your kids…or mine. Ok, this song’s about baby bottles…”

Light Years is dedicated to “someone we know…the dear and lovely Antoinette.” Afterwards, he continues, adding

“this next song…the reason we have come up with to play this one is that most cities have one or two big bridges, but I believe you have 1,432 bridges here within the five circles…1,432 bridges. Most songs you see have one bridge, so this song which is written by the great Matt Cameron…his other group, the really good one, they, way back in the way back when, they played a festival and were introduced as ladies and gentlemen, Songbird [referencing the controversy over the use of the Soundgarden name]. Songbird kicked ass that day…can’t believe how intense this band was…what was the name of it…Songbird. Here is the drummer of Songbird and his incredible song that doesn’t get played very often. It’s got three bridges and it’s called Evacuation.”

It’s the first performance of Evacuation since the Spectrum shows in 2009. Wishlist lyric is “I wish I was the full moon shining off your bicycle’s hood…” After the break, Ed says he read that PJ was the first foreign group to play the Ziggo Dome, and said:

”we are really happy to be a part of the foundation of this place, even in a very small way…it could’ve been Shakira…it would have been equally important. I mean, I like Shakira. Well I don’t. I don’t really…one way or another. I mean I’ve watched enough where I can belly dance too.”

Low Light opens up the first encore, almost mirroring the opening of the main set with a slow and melodic tone. Before Come Back, Ed addresses the crowd:

“you know, we’ve wrote a few songs over the years that talk about life and how fucking precious it seems…it’s kind of incredible how you forget how fragile it is, and how we are able to take it for granted and don’t feel like we are going to be shot every time we go to school…well that’s America. Anything can happen and there might be…we’ve been through some things recently and it’s one thing to play the songs and to have written the songs and to have felt them, and it’s another to have just experienced it again in the last few days. We’d like to play this one for Johnny, for Tam, and anyone and everyone who might have felt the loss recently. We’re with you.”

There’s some symmetry in the second encore as Go leads into Why Go, then Supersonic is followed by Sonic Reducer. Ed wishes the crowd luck in the World Cup and picks his preference to win:

“We are actually going for the underdog…the Tibetan National team. The Dalai Lama…he supports it. I think he plays all forward positions and the goalie at the same time. One day, I hope they get to win.”

With the house lights up for Indifference, Ed signs off with:

“wherever you came from…local…or if you had to get your passport stamped to get here. It’s great to be here with you. It’s great to be alive. It’s great to be in a group still. From there, to there, to there. You look great from here all night. Have a great life…thanks so much for everything.”