May 16, 2024 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 5/16/2024:

Ed ramps up the intensity on the build in Sometimes, adding “…wouldn’t that be amazing if you were here, god…” before the outro. The crowd is fantastic, singing along early. Hard to Imagine is a surprise early, Jeff, Stone, and Mike getting into the slow groove. Ed puts on a guitar halfway through, making it a 4-guitar assault with Josh also helping out in the back. Mike falls to his knees during a powerful, emotive Black solo, all Ed can do it just point over at him as it winds down. Ed then asks for the lights to come up, and toasts “everybody who came from somewhere else to join us in the desert,” pointing out that this is the smallest venue of the tour leg. Hail, Hail is the first non-Yield song to be in the 4th spot, two No Code this early is great to see. Daughter breaks up the Dark Matter 1st 4 set that had been played at every previous show on the tour. Ed thanks Andrew Watt afterwards, and says the next one is “for all the dreamers…” and Wishlist follows. He adds some lines at the end:

“I’m only betting on what’s important to me

my one true love and my family

I don’t need Vegas to feel lucky…”

He then adds in a quick line about losing $500 at blackjack, and then talks about how tonight’s setlist wasn’t written before the show or this afternoon, but at 4 am a few nights ago. Breakerfall follows, the only acknowledgement of Binaural‘s anniversary on the show date. Before the Even Flow solo, Ed exclaims “…alright, rip it up!” Upper Hand is another standout Dark Matter track so far on this run. Afterwards, Ed says the next song is about Stevie Wonder, then adds “…no, it’s about Stevie Nicks….no, it’s about Steve Gleason…or Stevie Ray Vaughan…it’s about the power of music,” leading into Waiting for Stevie, which is becoming a staple after being the last Dark Matter song to debut. After Tremor Christ, Ed says he “wants to experiment real quick” and pulls out $500 and gives it to a woman in the front row after making sure she’ll be attending the next show. He asks her to try and double it at the casinos by Saturday, “if you lose it, that’s the experiment, and if you win, we split it…” and then jokes that he took it from Stone anyway. Tonight’s projector message is:

Well Thank You Las Vegas!!!

Louder??

After the break, Ed tells a story about playing a solo show at the Pearl, a benefit for EB, and a woman came up with a wad of cash and asked him to play Black. He explained that he doesn’t do that, it’s a Stone song, but then more and more people came up with money, about $3000, and he said “I gotta fuckin’ do it.” The solo cover tonight is the Pearl Jam debut of “Maybe It’s Time,” the Jason Isbell-penned song from A Star is Born. Ed changes the lyric to “I’ve seen hell in Vegas” (instead of Reno). More tour debuts as Inside Job follows. Stone and Mike trade sides of the stage during Evolution. Ed plays a little of U2’s “Bad” as an intro to Corduroy, which has a long, great call and response, the crowd was in great form all night. Breath gets a huge reaction as always. Andrew Watt comes on stage for Alive, taking over the solo and going around to each band member. Ed says “sometimes it doesn’t even feel real…very, very grateful and we love you,” and once again, Ledbetter feels like it’s closing the show but then the lights go out and Setting Sun continues its run at the end. Best show of the tour so far.