August 29, 2024 – Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Pearl Jam Show Notes 8/29/2024:

Returning to a ballpark for the first time since 2018, Pearl Jam opens night 1 at Wrigley to no one’s surprise with Release. Instead of “Dear dad…”, Ed sings “Uncle John…” in the last verse. Of the Girl has a nice tempo, with Mike going off on the leads. Ed introduces Off He Goes with “…this is for all your friends that instead of saying ‘see you later,’ they say ‘see you on the flipside.'” Immortality always elevates a set when it’s early like this, Mike lets loose a searing solo and Matt brings the thunder at the end. Given to Fly has the lyric “…made it down to Wrigley Field…” and the crowd is into it. Before Why Go, Ed says “…we’re already home.” After Scared of Fear, Ed talks about listening to Stevie Wonder and tells the story from the recording of Earthling about how Stevie was running late, and thanks him because it led to Waiting For Stevie, which makes an early appearance here. Stone and Jeff jam together in front of Matt, and Mike destroys the solo. Ed adds some lyrics onto the end of the Daughter tag, “…a woman’s right to choose is her own.” He speaks afterwards:

“Are most of you Chicagoans? In the old days, there might have been a few people in the crowd that came to see our group that were maybe older than us…now that’s less likely, because we are old ourselves! But if you grew up in Chicago, before the Cub game came on on WGN, in the morning there was a guy called Phil Donahue…he loved Chicago, he loved this place, I got to know him, work with him [on 2007’s Body of War], I got to love him, and we lost him about a week ago. I’ve been thinking of him nonstop, and I just felt like here, in Chicago, we need to raise our glass and raise our arms for our friend Phil Donahue, a great, great Chicagoan. We love you Phil.”

He also mentions Howard Zinn and Down is played for the first time in 2024. Afterwards, he talks about Mike:

“We’ve been in a group for more than 30 years, 33, 34…and I didn’t realize until fairly recently that our good friend, Michael McCready, the master of the Stratocaster, that’s he’s fucking left-handed! [Mike motions that he writes and swings a bat left-handed] You write left-handed, even uses a left-handed bat…but he throws right…okay you’re all fucked up. But whatever crazy shit happened in your life, and I don’t know why you’re so infected, but we’re so grateful…it comes out in crazy, crazy ways. So, Mike McCready, we’ve played Wrigley Field three times before, who knows how many times we’ll get to play it again, I challenge you to be above any other time ever…”

Mike responds “I accept your challenge” and Ed exclaims “Game 7, World Series, you’re starting, let’s go!” and they tear into Even Flow. Mike immediately plays behind his head as the solo begins, going down to the rail for a little while before going back up on stage, still playing, showcasing his patented mix of technical wizardry and raw emotion as Stone, who’s moved over to Mike’s side, and Jeff look on. Mike uses the mic stand as a slide, dropping to his knees, an amazing display. U follows, played for the first time since Fenway Park in 2018, with Matt adding some of his own technical skill at the end. Mike’s hot streak continues on Black, another powerful performance. Ed improvs at the end, “hold me now, let me help you through, hold me now, one last time…just a dream I had, just a dream, just a dream, dream…” Josh is helping out on percussion during DTE, and not to be outdone, Stone breaks off two excellent, melodic leads of his own. After the break, Ed comes out solo and wishes Happy Anniversary to his friends Joe and Eliza before Just Breathe. He stays out by himself, talking how other musicians say that Wrigley Field is their favorite place to play, and adding some of his own memories, adding “it’s very powerful to play here.” He continues, talking about how he once heard from Tom Petty when Petty played Wrigley, and that Petty told him “…wish you were here,” but now it’s Ed who wishes that Tom was here. He asks the crowd if they can help make a moment and thousands of fireflies are lit up for I Won’t Back Down. After State, Ed says they’re going to try something different:

“There’s a song called Won’t Tell, they’ve been playing it a little bit on the radio, there’s a woman in the front row who said that she could sing it. Now, it took me about I don’t know how many years for me to get from the front row to the stage, ma’am it just took you about ninety seconds,”

The fan, named Abby, is brought up on stage and introduced by Ed, and Jeff is recognized. Ed tells Abby “just jump in, the water’s fine,” and they both jump right in, Abby singing along to Won’t Tell with Ed! They dance and jump around together, and they take a bow as the song ends. Ed picks up his guitar and starts to play Better Man, but changes his mind and starts Corduroy instead. Ed leads a long call-and-response with the crowd clapping along. Ed puts some passion behind the Setting Sun vocals. The lights are up for Alive, which transitions right into RITFW, and Ed’s wearing a Cubs jersey and hat. He finishes off the song with “We love you Chicago! Thank you!”