August 5, 2016 – Fenway Park, Boston, MA, USA
On the Pod
Show at a Glance
- Venue: Fenway Park
- Location: Boston, MA
- Number of Songs: 32
- Show Length: 2:50
Setlist
Main Set: Release, Long Road, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Low Light, All Those Yesterdays, Given To Fly, Mind Your Manners, Why Go, Daughter/(W.M.A./Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)), Even Flow, Faithfull, Grievance, I Am Mine, Down, Black, Do The Evolution, Masters Of War, I Am A Patriot, Porch
Encore 1: Strangest Tribe, Society, Just Breathe, Sleeping With Myself, Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, State Of Love And Trust, Comfortably Numb, Corduroy
Encore 2: Draw The Line, Alive, I’ve Got A Feeling, Baba O’Riley
Pearl Jam Show Notes 8/5/2016:
Pearl Jam’s first ever show at Fenway Park opens with the 1-2 emotional punch of Release and Long Road. The mellow opening sequence continues with Elderly Woman and a stellar version of Low Light where Ed holds the final note for what seems to be an eternity. All Those Yesterdays features an incredible moment for the hometown fans as Ed points out all of the pennants hung around the park as the band all sings during the ending jam.
Daughter has a short “Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2)” tag after W.M.A., with an enthusiastic crowd joining in. Faithfull is dedicated to David Ortiz, and Down is preceded by Ed giving a shout out to “the greatest American historian in our lifetime…one of my favorite Bostonians who didn’t wear a Red Sox uniform”, Howard Zinn. Continuing the Red Sox theme, former pitcher Bronson Arroyo is brought on to play Black.
Mike goes crazy on a fiery Masters Of War (played for the first time since 2008), followed up by a full band, rocking version of I Am A Patriot. After the break, Ed says “this thing might go extra innings tonight” and shows some Polaroids from early area shows, showing how small the crowds were, and tells a story about breaking into an empty Fenway Park to take Polaroids of the field. The ultra-rare Strangest Tribe opens the encore, followed by the Into the Wild track Society, each played for only the 2nd time at a PJ show.
Before Sleeping By Myself, Eddie asks “Can I get a uke up here?”, and a ukulele is promptly brought out by yet another Red Sox player, Kevin Youkilis, to the delight of the hometown fans. A tight SOLAT is followed up by a fabulous version of Comfortably Numb, and the extended Corduroy ends the first encore. The band borrows a song from 70’s Aerosmith as they begin encore 2 with “Draw The Line,” covered for the first time.
After an energetic Alive, Ed introduces Stone as “the guy that writes most of the songs and is way more handsome than he thinks”, calls Matt “our batter,” and says Mike “throws a no-hitter every time.” I’ve Got A Feeling is played for the first time since 2004 in Boston (Ed mistakenly says it may be the first time since the 1994 Orpheum show), and is dedicated to a fan, Matthew Plummer, who had recently lost his father, via sportswriter Peter Gammons, who comes on stage as well. An epic show full of classic rock covers, rarely played songs, and baseball.
Add a comment
Nice Review. One thing you didn’t point out was that Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith plays with them for the Aerosmith Cover. This was such a cool show to be at especially in one of my favorite places. Also this was the show that got me into collecting the posters from all my shows. The Catch poster is one of the coolest and I now have it framed in my office at home. It took some time but I now have the posters from all 14 shows I’ve attended. Hopefully I get to attend some more soon.
Tom Hamilton was night 2 (Aug 7)
Yup, I was pointed that out. For some reason I thought he played both nights. My Bad