August 13, 2018 – Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, MT, USA

Show at a Glance

  • Number of Songs: 29
  • Show Length: 2:45

Setlist

Main Set: Pendulum, Low Light, Go, Do The Evolution, Arms Aloft, Mind Your Manners, Corduroy, Pilate, Even Flow, In My Tree, Down, Lightning Bolt, Not For You/(Modern Girl), Daughter/(It’s O.K.), Setting Forth, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Can’t Deny Me, Porch

Encore 1: Bee Girl, Fatal, Imagine, Given To Fly, Throw Your Hatred Down, Better Man/(With or Without You/I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend/Save it For Later), Jeremy, Know Your Rights, Alive, Rockin’ In the Free World, Indifference

Pearl Jam Show Notes 8/13/2018:

The band partnered with Rock2Vote as well as several Montana organizations ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in setting up a festival on the grounds outside the stadium that included several musical acts and information booths, including “Goats for Votes” featuring actual goats. Ed arrives on stage wearing an Evel Knievel (Montana native) jacket. After Mind Your Manners, Ed says that “music brings people together, and we are glad we have gotten together for an important reason,” and thanks Jeff for organizing this event, and for “inviting us, it’s nice to be back,” which inspires a “Jeff” chant, to which Ed toasts, leading Jeff to also partake from the wine bottle. Ed mentions he saw Paul McCartney in the same place and then plays a few bars of Blackbird.  He then mentions the Rolling Stones played there, prompting Mike and Matt to play a few bars of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Then, Ed suggests they all play a different Rolling Stones song at the same time and counts it out, resulting in inevitable chaos.

Crowd takes the final Even Flow chorus, followed by Ed offering that since they are on campus, he should give a history lesson, saying that their first real show 20 years ago with Matt Cameron was right here, and thanks Matt for “the best 20 years of this band’s life,” leading into In My Tree, which features “textbooks” instead of “newspapers” in the first line. After Down, Ed brings up the lights and points out a young girl on her dad’s shoulders who is keeping perfect time and giving him so much energy, remarking that it’s good to know that that is where the future of our country lies. He then gets the crowd to pass back a tambourine, which makes its way to her roughly 20-30 rows back despite Ed’s hesitancy noting “it’s better to give than to receive.”

Lightning Bolt features the line “towards the great Big Sky.” Prior to Can’t Deny Me, Ed begins by remarking that election day should be a national holiday before noticing a couple in the front wearing matching “I Love Sex & Beer” shirts. He asks if they found each other today as they just happened to be wearing the same shirts, before getting each a beer, which they chug. He teases that he hopes that the other thing isn’t done as quickly. After the encore break Ed and Jeff appear alone on stage and Ed says

“can I talk about my friend Jeff Ament, a hometown hero? Our friend, the activist, philanthropist, not only is he an incredible skater, he builds skateparks and I would ask him how many he builds, but he doesn’t like to brag. He is much loved in the Seattle community and he’s never forgotten his roots here at home. Here’s our man, great bandmate, great bassist, writer, painter, Jeff Ament…Amen Ament. One more round as his mom and dad, George and Penny[…]on that fateful night a number of years ago, drunk on sex and beer, created this man here,” to which Jeff adds, “possibly.” Ed continues: “this is one of many collaborations…does that mean we colluded on this next song? We are guilty of collusion on this next song,” leading into Bee Girl.

Betterman clocks in at nearly 9 minutes, with snippets of U2 and the Ramones before Save it for Later. Following Jeremy, Ed notes that this is the biggest benefit show they have ever done, and its importance with the upcoming midterm elections, and that they would never tell you who to vote for (while all band members have “Tester” shirts in honor of incumbent Senator Jon Tester). Ed dons the Evel Knievel jacket again before Indifference. Set heavy on Jeff songs, timely covers, and a unique 11-song encore.

Nick Smith

Writer & Contirbutor

I still remember the night as a 14 year old when a friend gave me a CD to listen to and the first notes of “Once” were so powerful it took hours to move on to “Even Flow.” Needless to say I was hooked for life. Since the age of 18, when I skipped school twice to get tickets, my never ending quest to see the band that changed my life as much as I could was on. Pearl Jam has been the constant companion on this crazy trip called life. Still hoping for a swig off the wine bottle, Bugs, and to be at a Buenos Aires show. I’d totally give the tambourine away to a kid, maybe mine someday.


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