May 18, 2024 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 5/18/2024:

The unique opener streak continues with Of the Girl tonight, Ed is in a great mood and dancing all around. He holds the last note of Low Light beyond the song’s ending, and then afterwards talks about he had some vocal issues after the last show and had to get some drugs for it, adding “I’m gonna sing my ass off…I’m gonna have some fuckin’ fun too…” praising the Thursday night crowd and asking for help tonight. Garden is heavy, the crowd takes the last chorus, Ed is out on his platform conducting. After Mind Your Manners, he says “spotlight on Mr. McCready please…” and the silhouettes are out for the 5th song tonight, Given to Fly. The Dark Matter songs are mixed up tonight, breaking out of the formula we saw at the first few shows. Running has a fast and furious ending, Ed yelling “fuck off!” at the end. Before Dark Matter, he says if you called Matt Cameron “one of the greatest drummers on the planet, he’d still be underrated.” Following, he goes through a list of birthday acknowledgements, including a woman named Christina, who, along with her husband Pedro, are given an upgrade in seats from Ed. Wreckage has a false start but they quickly get back into it. Before Severed Hand, Ed says “here’s one we don’t play often,” and talks about the EDM festival that’s in town for the weekend, joking that there’s “more DJ’s that homeless people in Seattle” and that people out on the streets are “high as fuck,” quoting the late comedian Bill Hicks, “…not all drugs are good…some are great.” Mike rips the Severed Hand solo, one of the best of the night. Ed takes a piece of paper from a fan up front with a request for Gone, saying “we absolutely have to practice that.” Won’t Tell returns for just the 2nd time. Mike starts the Even Flow solo with his teeth, another showstopping performance. Ed then tells the story from 1993 when they had “Terry” Presley on stage to sing “My Way,” and Ed saw something coming toward the stage and grabbed it, it turned out to be an AA battery, he says “…someone was trying to kill Terry Presley!” He continues, asking “Who’s winning? Who’s losing?” and then remembers the woman from night 1 who he had given the $500 to, asking how it turned out. She hands over a thick envelope with a note on it, saying that she had lost the money but her and her friends had decided to go all in for EB, they have sheets of paper with the EB research logo on it, and Ed pulls out a significant amount of money. He says “…that I did not expect…now you’re choking me up” after reading the note. Out Of My Mind is played for only the 6th time. Spin the Black Circle has some vertical bar visuals, showing the band playing. The Porch jam is hypnotic and focused, another Mike highlight. Just a quick projector note from Ed tonight, including a U2 reference:

You up for a few more?

Uno mas?

dos, tres, catorce?

He comes out with a guitar, but then asks for the gold guitar, which is brought out, and he thanks Deep Sea Diver and talks about women playing music, referencing the Harrison Butker story from this week, and starts Throw Your Arms Around Me, but stops after a few seconds, taking the gold guitar off and asking for the red guitar, Tom Petty’s guitar, and plays I Won’t Back Down instead. You Are is played for the first time since 2018, with blue spotlights and psychedelic purple and green visuals. After Once, Ed says his daughter Harper is in attendance and finds her up front, and Josh comes up to the front of the stage again for Something Special. Mike has a shiny gold jacket for the encore, and Ed has his on as well for Alive. Jeff pretends to throw dice during the band intros, and they end the same way they did night 1, with Yellow Ledbetter into Setting Sun.