April 29, 2016 – Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Show at a Glance

  • Number of Songs: 32
  • Show Length: 2:55

Setlist

Main Set: Once, Even Flow, Alive, Why Go, Black, Jeremy, Oceans, Porch, Garden, Deep, Release, Breakerfall, Corduroy, Who You Are, Let the Records Play, Spin the Black Circle, Do The Evolution

Encore 1: Bee Girl, Just Breathe, All Or None, Comfortably Numb, Mind Your Manners, Given To Fly, Daughter/(W.M.A.), Rearviewmirror

Encore 2: Last Kiss, Better Man, Leash, Throw Your Hatred Down, Sonic Reducer, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)

Pearl Jam Show Notes 4/29/2016:

After coming on-stage to the “Master/Slave” intro music, Once opens for the second night in a row, but instead of moving on with songs from the various albums, Even Flow and Alive follow, and they proceed to play all of Ten in order for the first time since 3/13/1992 in Munich, Germany! The crowd starts to figure out where things are headed when Alive, normally played at the end of the show, shows up as the third song in the set.

Black is an early highlight, with a beautiful We Belong Together tag, building towards a huge crowd swell at the end of Jeremy. Ed doesn’t address the crowd for the first time until after Deep, sharing a heavy story about love and loss and the healing power of music, and an emotional Release is introduced as “…one of those healing songs.” With the album complete, Ed addresses the crowd again: “Alright, there ya go…cheers, everyone…alright, we did that together,” adding that they chose to do this on the fly after hearing they were getting a “10” banner hung in the Wells Fargo Center to honor their 10th sold out show in Philadelphia. Ed then does a fantastic Bruce Springsteen impression, teasing that they have a long way to go to catch up to Bruce’s streak.

Breakerfall restarts the set after Release with a rare mid-set appearance. Ed talks about WMMR before Let the Records Play, saying

“There’s a place in town that’s been spinning records for 48 years…send one out to Pierre, Matt and Nick…keep playin’ the records, man!”

After the break, the crowd, after the huge high of the main set, seems quiet. Ed notices, asking

“Where are you? You still there?[…]Need to get home early? You got babysitters? I need to feel it, we need to feel it!”

Big cheer from the crowd before Bee Girl, as Ed tells the story of he and Jeff being drunk on the radio years ago and coming up with it. He shows off his impression skills again before Just Breathe, doing a pitch-perfect Willie Nelson, who covered the song. All or None is played for the first time since 2014. Mike has a soul-crushing solo during Comfortably Numb. Jeff and Matt propel a breakneck RVM.

Last Kiss is played to the back after the second break, with the crowd taking it over at the end.  Stone is shredding on the acoustic during a tight Better Man, with the crowd singing along loudly. Leash is loud, dirty, and energetic.

Smile is on the setlist, but is scratched in favor of Throw Your Hatred Down. Sonic Reducer and Baba O’Riley follow quickly, capping off a fantastic covers trifecta, not surprising considering they had played all of the usual Ten encore songs earlier in the night! Mike closes out the historic evening with a Hendrix-style Star-Spangled Banner at the end of Yellow Ledbetter.

Gabe Spece

Concertpedia Writer & Horizon Leg Patron

I’m fortunate to have been following Pearl Jam for 30 years. I love to study setlists and watch the band’s old late-night TV performances online. Some of the best times of my life have been at Pearl Jam shows, unforgettable nights with family and best friends. And with all respect to Mike, nothing grooves more than a Stone Gossard solo.


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