Pearl Jam European Concert History

Opening night of the European tour, and the band is in a great mood to open the night. Ed forgets some of the lyrics to Nothingman, but the crowd picks him up. He says that he “really fucked up his knee,” and a little wine would be “the best medicine.” He speaks in English, saying:

“you don’t want to hear me speak Dutch…I don’t want to be disrespectful. It’s only been two years since we have been here last. This was very evident when we got off the plane, direct from the United States, and we walked into customs and they just said ‘Oh, hey.’ That’s a good way to start a trip. We got here just in time to see you for the first game of the World Cup. So this song is off a record that at one time was called Five Against One. We are playing it now because that was pretty much the score in the game the other night,” 

The speech leads into Animal. Who You Are is played for the first time since 2011, and for the first time in Europe since 1996! Even Flow is prefaced with Ed:

“Alright, this here one features the guy on the right here. He’s a dad three times over now. And his youngest just got his passport stamped for the first time the other day. And the head of his penis cut off about 8 weeks ago…I digress, but Happy Father’s Day, Mike. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers…Happy Motherfucker’s Day. I mean it’s true. You can’t be a father unless you’ve fucked the mother…I’m sorry, don’t quote me on that. Especially in front of your kids…or mine. Ok, this song’s about baby bottles…”

Light Years is dedicated to “someone we know…the dear and lovely Antoinette.” Afterwards, he continues, adding

“this next song…the reason we have come up with to play this one is that most cities have one or two big bridges, but I believe you have 1,432 bridges here within the five circles…1,432 bridges. Most songs you see have one bridge, so this song which is written by the great Matt Cameron…his other group, the really good one, they, way back in the way back when, they played a festival and were introduced as ladies and gentlemen, Songbird [referencing the controversy over the use of the Soundgarden name]. Songbird kicked ass that day…can’t believe how intense this band was…what was the name of it…Songbird. Here is the drummer of Songbird and his incredible song that doesn’t get played very often. It’s got three bridges and it’s called Evacuation.”

It’s the first performance of Evacuation since the Spectrum shows in 2009. Wishlist lyric is “I wish I was the full moon shining off your bicycle’s hood…” After the break, Ed says he read that PJ was the first foreign group to play the Ziggo Dome, and said:

”we are really happy to be a part of the foundation of this place, even in a very small way…it could’ve been Shakira…it would have been equally important. I mean, I like Shakira. Well I don’t. I don’t really…one way or another. I mean I’ve watched enough where I can belly dance too.”

Low Light opens up the first encore, almost mirroring the opening of the main set with a slow and melodic tone. Before Come Back, Ed addresses the crowd:

“you know, we’ve wrote a few songs over the years that talk about life and how fucking precious it seems…it’s kind of incredible how you forget how fragile it is, and how we are able to take it for granted and don’t feel like we are going to be shot every time we go to school…well that’s America. Anything can happen and there might be…we’ve been through some things recently and it’s one thing to play the songs and to have written the songs and to have felt them, and it’s another to have just experienced it again in the last few days. We’d like to play this one for Johnny, for Tam, and anyone and everyone who might have felt the loss recently. We’re with you.”

There’s some symmetry in the second encore as Go leads into Why Go, then Supersonic is followed by Sonic Reducer. Ed wishes the crowd luck in the World Cup and picks his preference to win:

“We are actually going for the underdog…the Tibetan National team. The Dalai Lama…he supports it. I think he plays all forward positions and the goalie at the same time. One day, I hope they get to win.”

With the house lights up for Indifference, Ed signs off with:

“wherever you came from…local…or if you had to get your passport stamped to get here. It’s great to be here with you. It’s great to be alive. It’s great to be in a group still. From there, to there, to there. You look great from here all night. Have a great life…thanks so much for everything.”

There have been guest contributors to setlists in the past, most notably the crew choosing the set in April 1994 at the Orpheum. As we would come to find out, tonight’s set was created by Brian Farias. Brian was an original member of the Mother Love Bone fan club, who was then grandfathered into the Ten Club. His reward for such loyalty was to not only attend both shows, but to help create the setlist for night two. Rolling Stone interviewed him and reported that 90% of his dream setlist was used that night. Following the house lights going down and the walk-on music of “Metamorphosis 2” by Philip Glass, it’s the familiar chords of Wash, the first of 11 tour debuts, 7 of which would not appear again on this tour. Ed’s voice, showing no ill effects of the previous night, hits the screaming lines at the end and the show is off and running. Matt Cameron’s driving beat powers Last Exit. Animal is next and the crowd gets a chance to take on lead vocals. If Wash was the first hint at something special, State of Love and Trust as the fourth song of the night is further proof. Following, Ed says:

“Last night I tried to speak a few words in a great language…I tried in Dutch. Today, I met somebody who said I spoke it in an absolute wonderful way. So I’ve met at least one liar in Amsterdam. But maybe he was just feeling sorry. I’m not going to speak in Dutch tonight. Another thing that happened last night, somebody at some point vomited and didn’t clean it up…this building is now an official rock and roll building…”  

The Ziggo Dome has only been open for three days, and Pearl Jam are the first rock band to play it. Corduroy has a ton of energy with great crowd involvement and great full-band jam to finish it off. After I Got Shit, Ed offers a toast:

“…to someone very special to us who is here tonight, someone who we’ve known all her life. She’s part of our family. She’s one of the coolest girls in all of Seattle and she’s here celebrating a birthday from being 11 to the magnificent age of 12. This is dedicated to Lily [Cornell Silver]. Happy birthday Lily, we love you.” 

There’s a lyric change in the first verse of Daughter, “…make her mama proud…” The original set list has an “It’s O.K.” tag listed, but W.M.A. is played instead, and the spacey guitar work by Mike carries the tag to another level, leading him to get a shoutout from Ed. Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers appears as Stone’s guitar tech during Nothing As It Seems. “You guys got some?” is how Ed introduces…Got Some. Dissident makes its only tour appearance next, and the next song on the setlist was Hitchhiker, which would have only been its second appearance, having made its debut in Manchester a week earlier. Instead, however, Once is played. After the song (and a little delay for the crowd ovation), Ed says:

“You can’t spend a couple days here and look around and not have a high level of admiration for seeing as many bikes as you do on the street. I wish back home we could trade in all the guns for bikes. You know, if you get mad at somebody you could try and run them over…this one here is dedicated to the states of Arizona and Florida, who seem to be in an arms race together. This song’s called Glorified G…” 

Ray Cameron helps out on percussion during The Fixer. One of Brian’s main requests had to be negotiated a bit, as Ed forgot to pack his accordion for the European tour, but it’s Bugs, the first one since the Spectrum in 2009, but this time it’s Ed on solo electric guitar! The crowd takes over the first verse of Better Man, to which Ed offers “thanks for that…” Out of the break, Ed again thanks the crowd, adding “It’s a little bit of a different setlist tonight…we had some help making it. This is one we don’t usually play here…” and Release opens the encore. “I think this is one for the serious collector…” introduces Alone, the first performance in over two years. A thunderous finish to a nearly 8-minute version of RVM closes out a unique and exhilarating first encore. “We got a few more, you all good?” asks Ed as the band returns. As a nod to Brian’s fan club status, Crown of Thorns begins the third set, a poignant and powerful performance. The crowd chanting to the beat during Alive as Mike plays his outro solo is wonderful. After introducing the band and thanking the crew, Ed finally lets us in on the evening’s plan:

“We’d like to thank also…you, come. [Brian comes up on stage] We had a little bit of help making the setlist. There [were] some people, a guy called Brian. He’s from the northeast part of the United States. He’s been with us since we played a little tiny club that was about from here to the barricade. He’s been listening to us ever since, and between the last two nights, we’ve reached…he kept a list…we’ve got him to 2500 songs played over the 20 years. So thanks for sticking around and making us think that we’re doing something important. Here’s to Brian everyone…”

Mike continues the run of LIttle Wing tags on Ledbetter, and Ed leaves with “…thank you Ziggo Dome…thank you up there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

During the opening chords of Given to Fly, Ed holds the mic stand and pumps it up into the air, almost like an extension of his fist. He sings “…made it out to Holland, smoked a joint in a tree…” Mike looks rather suave in a dapper suit jacket. Ed greets the audience with his gravelly “hello” after Amongst the Waves. He follows with “Goedenavond Amsterdam” (‘Good evening Amsterdam’). He talks to the crowd in broken Dutch and it roughly translates to

“This is our twelfth time playing in Holland. I hope it’s the best ever. This is the first rock and roll show in this new venue. Let’s write history together. The rest of the show I’ll speak English as my Dutch is fuck.” 

Mike is introduced as ‘Mike David McCready’ before Even Flow kicks off. During the second chorus, after he sings “thoughts arrive like butterflies,” Ed clasps his hands together and motions butterflies fluttering away. He introduces “a nice quiet one for a singalong” and they belt out Lukin, going straight into Not For You without taking a beat. The audience covers the first two lines of the second verse when Ed appears to forget the lyric. He watches them, says “got it” and jumps back in for the second half of the verse. He also changes the lyrics to “…with no power and so much to prove…” After Not For You, Ed addresses the crowd again:

“It’s a little different tonight, and pretty special for us. The first time we ever played here, a long time ago, we were kids, and now we HAVE kids. They’re all here tonight, all the kids came. They’re just getting old enough. They’re pretty wise and worldly and of all the places they wanted to come, it’s pretty obvious why they wanted to come here. And I’m just gonna leave it at that so as not to incur any suspicion from the authorities concerning our parenting. We’re gonna play this next one for the kids. It’s a Kinks song, called Better Days.” 

The song is in fact called Better Things, but nobody’s correcting him, and it’s the live debut! Ed messes up the verses of Evolution and it comes out as a mishmash of both with a made up line: “…wanna say I wanna do it again yeah..I’m at peace with my lust…” At the end of Last Kiss, Eddie plays a little of “Pulled Up” by the Talking Heads. Smile and Green Disease are crowd requests, with Ed saying Green Disease is “about a scourge, a disease on the planet…the disease is greed.” During Rockin’ in the Free World, the band are joined on stage by John Doe of X and Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, who both play tambourine and sing back up, and Ray Cameron, Matt’s son, on guitar. At some point Mike takes his shirt off, loses the guitar, and plays tambourine instead, while Jeff and Ed launch themselves into the air in unison as the song closes out. In his usual signoff for the evening, when he mentions all band members by name, Ed precedes Mike’s name with “He started off the night fully dressed, he looked quite natty, now he’s close to naked, Mr. Mike McCready…” He also gives a special mention to D.J. Bonebrake, X’s drummer, and the rest of the band, who opened the show. The house lights come on as Indifference closes the show with a slight lyric change: “I might change direction, and I might change my mind…” Ed tells the crowd “be good, be well, be strong…” before exiting.