August 31, 2023 – Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 8/31/2023:

The band comes out seated, just like the US leg in 2022. Indifference is a surprise opener, it’s only the 3rd time it’s opened a show, the last time was Denver 1994! Ed gets a guitar brought to him as Buckle Up is finishing up for Sometimes, which has a little intensity to it before the end. Stone starts Black immediately after, but Ed stops him, saying “I’m anxious to play that too…but I wanted to say something I haven’t been able to say in 10 years…hello Minneapolis! Hello St. Paul!” and talks about how they were practicing in Seattle about 10 days ago and heard the news about the earthquake and hurricane in California. It’s not Black that’s played next, but Wishlist. Ed talks again afterwards, telling a story about his wife and daughters watching PJ’s MTV Unplugged performance from 1992. He says “…the girls liked it…I don’t think we remember it AT ALL…,” adding that they had just come off a European tour, and mentions the 2/19/92 show in Winterthur where the stage was too small so they played an acoustic show. Black is then played, and the chairs are removed. Mike has a soulful, powerful solo. The 500th performance of Given to Fly is next, a nice milestone 25 years out from Yield. Seven O’Clock is prefaced with “this one’s off the new record that’s 2 1/2 years old…it came out 3 days before COVID hit…” and Ed growls “…we had Sitting Bullshit as our fucked up president…” He looks up into the rafters and talks about the Twins, mentioning Justin Morneau specifically. The Even Flow solo has a slow build, but Mike lets loose not too far in as Ed says hello to the people in the back and meanders around the stage. Josh Klinghoffer, helping out again on this tour, gets a shoutout, and Ed tells a story about warming up in the hotel shower earlier in the day, when he turned off the water he heard someone harmonizing with him in the next room over, and it turned out to be Simon LeBon from Duran Duran (who played at the Minnesota State Fair a few miles away tonight). Ed then admits “…no it wasn’t…I don’t know who it was.” During Dance of the Clairvoyants, Ed sees two fans, Solomon and Jason, on the rail wearing sequin jackets and borrows one of them for the song, adding after that it’s Jason’s birthday. Insignificance appears in the set for the first time since the Binaural show in Toronto in 2016. Mike’s son, on the side of the stage, hands him some picks and gives him a hug. Before Daughter, Ed mentions that Stone and Jeff have had a working relationship for “39.9 years.” Boom starts the Love Boat Captain intro and Ed talks over it about the recent fires in Hawaii and his history there, surfing in 1993 and more, getting choked up a little and adding:

“…it [Hawaii] gave me songs, it gave me isolation, it gave me inspiration, it gave me waves…also a B3 player in Mr. Boom Gaspar, and we wrote this one together…”

They start LBC with a jam intro before the verse, and Ed changes the line to “…let the healing begin…” He mentions playing at First Ave. in Minneapolis in 1991 before State, “we played this song there.” After the break, Ed again mentions Justin Morneau, saying they went to the Twins game the previous day. He talks about Tom Petty (PJ opened for Petty in this building in 2006) and how Tom and Mike had struck up a friendship and smoked a lot of pot together. He continues, mentioning how in a short span we lost Bowie and Prince, and has another name on the tip of his tongue but can’t say it, getting choked up again (Cornell no doubt). There’s an issue in the crowd, someone needs help, they are taken care of and Ed keeps going, saying this next one is for someone who lost someone close to them recently, and it’s the first non-preset appearance of Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers” at a PJ show. The band returns and Small Town is played to the back. Boom calls Mike over for the Crazy Mary solos, very playful and celebratory. Ed gets the crowd going on Alive, everyone throwing up their hands in unison. Ledbetter closes out an emotional night with lots of storytelling. No Vitalogy songs are played, the first time that’s happened since night 1 in Philadelphia 2016.