May 2, 2016 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 5/2/2016:

Ed mentions that he can feel the stage rocking during the Corduroy outro. Following Given to Fly, Ed notes it’s their 36th time in the city and 10th at the Garden, and continues,

“…here with this garden party you never know what’s going to happen, like this next thing we didn’t know was going to happen until not too long ago…”

He then introduces Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick, who were “newly anointed, appointed, indentured” (according to Ed) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, leading to the first full performance of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender.” After the song, Rick Nielsen is seen taking a picture of the crowd to which Ed notes,

“this is amazing…Rick’s been at it so long, I didn’t know he’d know how to work an iPhone.”

Nothingman begins the “man” trilogy, played for the first time in nearly 5 years, and 10 years since they’ve done it in this order. Before Leatherman, Ed talks about the Leatherman and equates it to Chris McCandless from Into the Wild in the early 1900’s, noting “I know that’s exciting…history.” Ed plays to the crowd during the Save it for Later tag, with a frantic finish. Mike is playing out of his mind on the 2 ½ minute Even Flow solo, and then Matt also takes a solo! Ed throws the mic into the crowd for the finish. Sirens is dedicated to Lance Corporal Tom Rorke who “lost his life tragically last year at the age of 23 and he’s got a lot of family and friends here tonight, like a lot, maybe a hundred of them. He put himself in harm’s way in a dignified manner, and tragically got lost in a crazy accident.” Big moment as the crowd gets loud at the end of Jeremy. Ed slips one “get out of my fuckin’ face” in the middle of Leash.

Stone gets a spotlight for both solos in Do the Evolution. After the break, Ed jokes about going to Canada next, and how “they might not even have the internet up there.” You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away is Ed solo with the harmonica. Mike gets soulful on the underrated All or None solo. A fantastic Present Tense leads into both songs from Singles, with the crowd getting another chance to grab the microphone during Breath. Last Kiss’ is played to the back. Surprise guest Sting comes on stage during the first chorus of Driven to Tears and takes over the rest of the song, after which Ed gushes

“let’s hear it one more time, that’s incredible…that’s all time favorite singer, favorite bass player, favorite activist, favorite humanist…that was a real honor…what do we do next?”

House lights are up for Baba O’Riley, and at one point, Ed chastises someone for not giving a tambourine to a kid, muttering “give it to the kid you fuck.” Mike plays a long, feedback-drenched The Star Spangled Banner tag to close out the evening.