November 16, 2024 – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, AUS

Pearl Jam Show Notes 11/16/2024:

It was a very hot day in Melbourne, so Ed came out dressed to the weather with shorts and much lighter top than his standard Dark Matter tour Walter Payton jersey. Marvel Stadium was packed out, and you could feel the love and excitement oozing through the place. Why Go opened with Jeff’s extremely thick bass grooving through the speakers. Jeff was a standout on the whole Australian tour, and he doubled down on this. Ed spoke a lot earlier than he normally would, and really set the vibe for the whole night by saying:

“If you could see what we see now… good evening Melbourne! Well if it ain’t good to be in Melbourne on a Saturday night… it’s been a while, it’s been too long… They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, we’re feeling pretty fondly right about now. Look it’s been a long hot day, we just wanna pace ourselves, and just check and make sure everyone’s dong ok, front to back… this is much better than lightning (referencing Gold Coast show delay) but it is pretty hot, in fact I’m wearing shorts tonight, not because I’m feeling nostalgic, just ‘cause it’s really fucking hot…”

Elderly Woman, which tends to always be a staple of Melbourne shows, crooned in, and Given to Fly was huge, like it had been all tour utilizing the video displaying all of the scenic elements of Australia. Hail, Hail was very groovy and the crowd was jumping to every beat. Corduroy was, as always, immense and powerful, into React, Respond which was a crowd favorite from the new record. After Ed mentioned, “The incredible Mr. Matt Cameron” Dark Matter pounded in and sounded huge in the enormous stadium with Matt filling the whole space, which was followed by a face-melting Mike intermission into Wreckage with the huge screen filled with incredible pictures. Garden came next, a real highlight of this section of songs, which fell into a Mike mind-bending Even Flow. In My Tree thundered in with Matt opening it up, crowd went silent for the drums, which was amazing given there was over 70,000 people packed in, a quite heavy sounding and feeling version. The standout thread of the next five tracks was Jeff, giving an absolute powerhouse bass masterclass across the run of Running, Jeremy, Wishlist, Not for You and Porch, which closed the main set.

The encore kicked off with Just Breathe as a tribute to EBRP’s work and all those impacted, with the whole stadium encapsulated by Ed. It had been 18 very long years since Inside Job was played in Melbourne, a hypnotic version kicked off with Ed saying, “We would like to do this one written by Mr. Mike McCready”. Then the party started. The run of Do The Evolution, Better Man, State Of Love And Trust, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World and finally an incredible Yellow Ledbetter, which all could have been picked by popular vote, put a fire in the venue, much hotter than the weather.