October 22, 2014 – Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 10/22/2014:

“Good evening, welcome to the last night of the tour, glad you could make it.” Ed holds the last line of Low Light for 17(!) seconds. Matt quickly transitions from Last Exit into Why Go. Afterwards, Ed mentions the elevation and the legalization of  marijuana, and how Denver and Seattle are “sister cities on the right side of history.” Lightning Bolt is dedicated to Hannah, who recently had a kidney transplant, and Ed adds “…towards the great mountains…” Before Setting Forth, he talks about friendships built through music, dedicating it to the McCandless family, some of the sisters are in attendance. My Father’s Son is “to all the good fathers out there, for hopefully not becoming one of the bad ones.” After a frantic Even Flow, Ed mentions he was filming for his three brothers and shouts out Pete Cameron in attendance, saying Matt “is one of the greatest humans to ever get behind a drum kit.” Ghost follows, with a nod to Jeff for writing it. Ed goes up to the high register early on Present Tense. Introducing Eruption, Ed mentions the conversation from earlier about building childhood relationships with artists through music. Of The Earth, played for the first time since 2012, has an extended ending. Sirens is for “Todd, Kelly, and a little one named Alex,” adding that the singalong ending will be “the last time we’ll get to hear that for a while.” Stone thanks Ed prior to Don’t Gimme No Lip. Ed plays a slow, beautiful, melodic rendition of Lukin before the band kicks in and plays it the fast way, a very unique performance. Mike breaks one of the orbs during Porch.

After the break, Ed comments “we’ve got lights to break, songs to play, and different ways of saying goodbye,” and points out that the Canadian flag is slightly bigger than the American flag. Future Days is just Ed and Boom, and it’s dedicated to John and Ruth, Ed says “it’s not just the soldier, it’s their whole family.” He sends a wine bottle to the last row before Sleight of Hand. Mike has a wonderful solo on Breath. Ed sings the original “…get out of my fucking face” lines in Leash until about halfway through, when the “lucky face” line reemerges. He thanks everyone for staying, saying “we didn’t know until yesterday that 24 years ago today was our first gig in Seattle,” and as the crowd sings Happy Birthday, he adds “we’re proud to be in a long relationship…had to divorce a couple of drummers, but Jeff and Stone have been together for 30 years, thank you for the ride of our lives.” Mike has everyone hanging on every note of the Black solo, with a plaintive We Belong Together tag. As Boom begins to play Wasted Reprise, Ed continues:

“So I was thinking back today…October 22, we played our first show, not to be self-congratulatory, but October 23, it was a Sunday I think, we went in and recorded the 8 songs we had, or maybe 9 songs…October 24, I went back to work in the gas station in San Diego, it was like a crazy dream, except I had the tape! I had the tape, and working the midnight shift, and I could play the tape…and it really happened, and who knew what would happen, but I will tell you this, October 25 I think was the day I gave my 30-day notice. It’s a good feeling to just be able to say “I’m outta here…” 

As Mike intros Baba O’Riley, Ed exclaims “here’s to The Who…50!” Yellow Ledbetter is prefaced with Ed thanking the whole crew, adding

“This is our way of saying goodbye…it guess it has to happen at some point, this is goodbye…no! It’s like Hawaiian-style, you don’t say goodbye, you say ‘a hui hou,’ see you next time, ‘shaka, a hui hou!’”