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

Pearl Jam Show Notes 7/5/2014:

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.