Pearl Jam Canada Concert History

List of Pearl Jam Concerts in Canada

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May 6, 2024 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, CAN

Main Set: Long Road, Nothingman, Immortality, In Hiding, Scared Of Fear, React, Respond, Wreckage, Dark Matter, Wishlist, Even Flow, Quick Escape, Upper Hand, Got To Give, Running, Jeremy, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 1: Keep Me In Your Heart, Why Go, Do The Evolution, Alone, Alive, Baba O'Riley, Smile, Setting Sun

Show Notes:

Night 2 in Vancouver kicks off with another 4-song set of 90’s material, Ed commenting during Nothingman “…good singin’,” and the house lights are up for the ending. Immortality is an early surprise, with an extended jam at the end…

Show Notes: 

Night 2 in Vancouver kicks off with another 4-song set of 90’s material, Ed commenting during Nothingman “…good singin’,” and the house lights are up for the ending. Immortality is an early surprise, with an extended jam at the end and Jeff, Mike, Stone, and Ed all gathered around Matt. The silhouettes are up on the screen for the 4th song again, another Yield one tonight, In Hiding. After a uptempo Scared of Fear, Ed says “…like that one? That’s Mr. Stone Gossard.” Before Wreckage, he talks about all the one-word song titles on Ten, mentioning a few, and says the next one follows that tradition. Following Dark Matter, Ed says Mike “makes it look easy, even when it’s not” and hears someone make a comment about Mike, causing him to utter “fuck you” teasingly, pointing out a crowd member with a “sexy hat and glasses…don’t fuck with my man Mike McCready…” He talks about a 14-year-old girl named Hannah, who has “a bit of a medical thing,” but the doctors were able to move her surgery to next week so she could attend the show. After Wishlist, Ed says they’re “switching the list for a second” and Down is cut and Even Flow is moved up. Mike puts on a clinic again during Even Flow, and continues with a soaring solo on Quick Escape, which still has plenty of post-Gigaton energy. Got to Give makes it debut, with a fiery visual behind it. Ed explains afterwards that the Red Mosquito flub from night 1 was his fault, even though he tried to blame it on Jeff, and adds “accountability feels so good…feel free to boo me as well,” and there’s a smattering of boos, and he encourages more, and by the third time there’s a decent boo from the crowd. An extreme closeup of Jeff’s hands is shown during the end of Jeremy, and Ed points out a young boy named Ryan who’s been rocking out on his dad’s shoulders all night, teasing that the pot smell is coming from his direction. Ed gets on the overhead projector again during the break:

So…last week in Seattle

We hung out with Stanley

THE STANLEY CUP

May it arrive here NEXT

GO COACH TOCCHET

AND the CANUCKS!

1st PJ show ever OCT 91 in Seattle

1st PJ show in Vancouver Jan 11 91!

As he’s writing the Vancouver date, he realizes his mistake and erases the 1 in OCT 91 and changes it to a zero for 1990, then continues:

3 mos old!

1st show Town Pump

1st show w/Neil Young

here in ’92?

our favorite B.C. show

Commodore Ballroom 2000

Here, he goes back and puts an up arrow in between “our” and “favorite” and adds “new” and finishes it off with:

Rogers Arena 2024

Coming out on stage again solo, Ed talks about loss, and mentions that on April 21st, Jerome Rothenburg had passed away, calling him a poet, and that he had been married for 74 years, and that he had known Jerome’s son Matthew when he was young. Keep Me in Your Heart is dedicated to their family. Do the Evolution has more of the original video tonight, none of the extra footage that was in the previous performance. Ed does add in the “admire Stone” line, though. Afterwards, he says that they “played this one at the Town Pump…and then we didn’t play it for a long time,” leading into Alone! Alive follows, the first time those two songs have been played consecutively since 2/28/92 (the first time was, of course, at the Off Ramp in 1990)! Setting Sun closes out the show again, with a very cool eye-based visualizer. 10 of 11 Dark Matter songs played over the two nights, but we’re still waiting for Waiting For Stevie.

 

May 4, 2024 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, CAN

Main Set: Wash, Low Light, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Given To Fly, Scared Of Fear, React, Respond, Wreckage, Dark Matter, Daughter/(Bobcaygeon), Leatherman, Corduroy, Red Mosquito, Upper Hand, Won't Tell, Running, Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns, Porch

encore 1: I Won't Back Down, Black/(We Belong Together), Do The Evolution, Something Special, Alive, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter, Setting Sun

September 8, 2022 – Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ONT, CAN

Main Set: Daughter/(Improv), Come Back, Sometimes, Her Majesty, All Those Yesterdays, River Cross, (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Hail, Hail, Deep, Quick Escape, Even Flow, Who Ever Said/((I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction), I Got Shit/(Cinnamon Girl), Never Destination, Dissident, Lukin, Rearviewmirror

encore 1: Light Years, Do The Evolution, Last Kiss, Jeremy, (Leash), Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World

Show Notes:

The improv on Daughter is based around the line “it’s in my hands.” After Sometimes, Ed says he’s going to play one he “borrowed” from Paul McCartney, and he plays the Beatles’ “Her Majesty” for the first time, no doubt…

Show Notes: 

The improv on Daughter is based around the line “it’s in my hands.” After Sometimes, Ed says he’s going to play one he “borrowed” from Paul McCartney, and he plays the Beatles’ “Her Majesty” for the first time, no doubt a tribute to the Queen who had died earlier in the day. Prior to Even Flow, he sees a sign that says “I (heart) U Eddy” and he points out the misspelling, referring back to a show in 1993 where there was a sign propositioning him that used the same incorrect spelling. He then mentions the Elton John show taking place in the city that night and sings a tease of Tiny Dancer, saying he always heard the line as “…count the head lice on the highway,” and then jokes about Mike’s mishearing of the line in Kiss’ “Rock And Roll All Night” as “…and part of every day.” Cinnamon Girl returns as a tag on I Got Shit for the first time since 2011! After the break, Ed talks about being in Canada and says that one of his favorite tours was the 2005 run. Someone has a sign for EB and Ed again talks about how the band is committed to helping find a cure and how it’s “a matter of time.” There’s another banner, this one says “Play Light Years for Gord,” Gord Downie being the singer of the Tragically Hip who passed away in 2017, and the request is fulfilled. Last Kiss is played to the back, its first appearance since 2018. Stone starts Leash after Jeremy but breaks a string and the song is aborted in favor of Alive. 

September 6, 2022 – First Ontario Centre, Hamilton, ONT, CAN

Main Set: Oceans, Nothingman, Yellow Moon, Man Of The Hour, Retrograde, Given To Fly, Who Ever Said, Red Mosquito, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, Corduroy, Quick Escape, I Am Mine, Daughter, I'm Open, Sad, Superblood Wolfmoon, Do The Evolution, Black/(Androgynous Mind)(We Belong Together), Porch

encore 1: Inside Job, Once, Wishlist, State Of Love And Trust, Alive, Indifference

Show Notes:

A completely different seated set for the 3rd show in a row. Ed exclaims “you sound good!” during Nothingman, and his voice sounds great again as well. After Yellow Moon, he says they’re going to play one they don’t play…

Show Notes: 

A completely different seated set for the 3rd show in a row. Ed exclaims “you sound good!” during Nothingman, and his voice sounds great again as well. After Yellow Moon, he says they’re going to play one they don’t play very often “for a special member of your community…and of the Pearl Jam community” and Man of the Hour is played for a man named Richard. Retrograde is started seated, but Mike stands up for the solo and the rest of the band follows shortly. The ending is loose and chaotic, very impressive. Ed interjects “Devo, Devo!” into the Satisfaction tag in Who Ever Said to drive the point home of exactly who they’re covering. Following Who Ever Said, he jokes that he told his daughter they were playing Hamilton and her response was “…you’re doing the whole thing?” Corduroy is dedicated to Gordie Howe, Detroit, Justin Trudeau, and Mark Bell, among others, after name-dropping that Paul McCartney told him not to name-drop. Mike goes behind the head for the Quick Escape solo. Ed tells a long, meandering story before I Am Mine. Sad returns for the first time since Wrigley 2016 after being cut from the previous two sets. Ed does a little “hey hey it’s okay” Androgynous Mind tag before going into a short “we didn’t belong together” riff. Mike is a standout on the Porch jam, he’s on the floor by the end of it. After the break, Ed talks about EB and points out a brave young person in the crowd. Wishlist is played for the back of the arena. No covers on the night, just a celebratory Alive and a singalong Indifference with the lights up.

“as long as we’ve been together, there’s been a few disagreements over the years…we have strong opinions, we don’t always agree…but there’s one thing we all agree on, hands down, no doubt, that one of the greatest humans on the planet Earth is Mr. Neil Young…”

Afterwards, Ed tells a quick story about being a kid and his parents not letting him go see the Jackson 5, who were his favorite, joking “I never really forgave them,” and Wishlist is dedicated to Sienna and Cole, 8 and 10-year olds whose dad brought them to the show. Mike takes a long solo on Even Flow, going back to his amp for part of it, stretching the song out to 8 minutes. It’s storytime again, Ed talks about waiting tables in Chicago at 18 years old and having to sing happy birthday to all the various tables and how he hated doing it, but they’ve had a lot of birthday requests on this tour and he’ll make an exception, and then goes on to mention a few birthdays. The call and response on Corduroy has a little extra emphasis behind it from Ed, who leads the crowd up and down. Mike takes over Immortality and Black. Following Jeremy, Ed talks about a woman named Ashley who was in the front in Quebec City and motions for her to come up to the front, playing a short improv about her as she makes her way up to the stage. He says he got a note from her

“and she said in this note that our music has saved her time and time again…but I just want to tell you all this: that it’s YOU who keeps US healthy to keep playing, that keeps us together so we can keep playing…that makes us friends still, so we can still be here to keep playing…all you folks have really kept us alive, so WE thank YOU…it’s the truth…”

He mentions Ashley again and a couple more people, and says this next one is dedicated to them, before kicking right into Porch. After the break, Ed talks about the livestream of the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins tribute show and the “indelible energy that Taylor had, the infectious energy, the undeniable energy that this guy had,” and also mentions Gord Downie from the Tragically Hip, which gets a nice crowd response. Ed says that Taylor had sent him a video of his son Shane playing drums on a David Bowie song with his side project, and “he was so proud of him, as he should have been” (Shane played drums on the Foo’s song “My Hero” at the tribute show). He continues, sending well wishes to Taylor’s family and the Foo Fighters family before Better Man. Small Town is played to the back. Josh and Boom get a shout out before Crazy Mary, with Mike and Boom dueling and then combining for the finish. Fuckin’ Up makes its first appearance since 2018, and Ed makes sure to thank everyone in the back before Yellow Ledbetter ends the night.

September 3, 2022 – Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ONT, CAN

Main Set: Of The Girl, Garden, Alright, Nothing As It Seems, Low Light, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Wishlist/(Waiting On A Friend), Dance Of The Clairvoyants, Even Flow, Seven O'Clock, Corduroy, Immortality, Black/(We Belong Together), Jeremy, Porch

encore 1: Better Man, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Crazy Mary, Alive, Fuckin' Up, Yellow Ledbetter

Show Notes:

Stools are out again for the first 5 songs, looks like this will continue going forward, at least for the rest of this leg. Garden is a surprise for the acoustic set, although Mike is on an electric. Alright has…

Show Notes: 

Stools are out again for the first 5 songs, looks like this will continue going forward, at least for the rest of this leg. Garden is a surprise for the acoustic set, although Mike is on an electric. Alright has a very chilled out, relaxed feel. Ed says they’re going to do a couple like this (seated), “but once we get going…no turning back.” After NAIS, he gives credit to Jeff, saying “those were some compositions by Mr. Jeff Ament. Can we get a little…low light here,” teasing the next song and pointing out a woman in the front doing a “Beyonce dance” that he noticed while singing, and dedicates Low Light to her. The line in Given to Fly is changed to “…made it north of the border…” Stone takes the spotlight with dynamite solos on Evolution and Throw Your Hatred Down. Ed talks about Neil Young before the latter, saying

“as long as we’ve been together, there’s been a few disagreements over the years…we have strong opinions, we don’t always agree…but there’s one thing we all agree on, hands down, no doubt, that one of the greatest humans on the planet Earth is Mr. Neil Young…”

Afterwards, Ed tells a quick story about being a kid and his parents not letting him go see the Jackson 5, who were his favorite, joking “I never really forgave them,” and Wishlist is dedicated to Sienna and Cole, 8 and 10-year olds whose dad brought them to the show. Mike takes a long solo on Even Flow, going back to his amp for part of it, stretching the song out to 8 minutes. It’s storytime again, Ed talks about waiting tables in Chicago at 18 years old and having to sing happy birthday to all the various tables and how he hated doing it, but they’ve had a lot of birthday requests on this tour and he’ll make an exception, and then goes on to mention a few birthdays. The call and response on Corduroy has a little extra emphasis behind it from Ed, who leads the crowd up and down. Mike takes over Immortality and Black. Following Jeremy, Ed talks about a woman named Ashley who was in the front in Quebec City and motions for her to come up to the front, playing a short improv about her as she makes her way up to the stage. He says he got a note from her

  “and she said in this note that our music has saved her time and time again…but I just want to tell you all this: that it’s YOU who keeps US healthy to keep playing, that keeps us together so we can keep playing…that makes us friends still, so we can still be here to keep playing…all you folks have really kept us alive, so WE thank YOU…it’s the truth…”

He mentions Ashley again and a couple more people, and says this next one is dedicated to them, before kicking right into Porch. After the break, Ed talks about the livestream of the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins tribute show and the “indelible energy that Taylor had, the infectious energy, the undeniable energy that this guy had,” and also mentions Gord Downie from the Tragically Hip, which gets a nice crowd response. Ed says that Taylor had sent him a video of his son Shane playing drums on a David Bowie song with his side project, and “he was so proud of him, as he should have been” (Shane played drums on the Foo’s song “My Hero” at the tribute show). He continues, sending well wishes to Taylor’s family and the Foo Fighters family before Better Man. Small Town is played to the back. Josh and Boom get a shout out before Crazy Mary, with Mike and Boom dueling and then combining for the finish. Fuckin’ Up makes its first appearance since 2018, and Ed makes sure to thank everyone in the back before Yellow Ledbetter ends the night.

September 1, 2022 – Videotron Centre, Quebec City, QC, CAN

Main Set: Daughter, Footsteps, Buckle Up, Other Side, Off He Goes, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, Why Go, Even Flow, Quick Escape, Corduroy, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Who Ever Said/((I Can't Get No) Satisfaction), Take The Long Way, I Got Id, Mind Your Manners, Black, Porch

encore 1: Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Alive, Purple Rain, Indifference

Show Notes:

The band comes out seated, just like in Amsterdam. Daughter is the opener for the first time since 2010, four times in total. It’s played full acoustic without a tag at the end. After Footsteps, Ed toasts the crowd and…

Show Notes: 

The band comes out seated, just like in Amsterdam. Daughter is the opener for the first time since 2010, four times in total. It’s played full acoustic without a tag at the end. After Footsteps, Ed toasts the crowd and says:

 “…we’re gonna play slow songs, fast songs, loud songs, quiet songs, new songs, tight songs, so buckle up…” 

This leads into…Buckle Up. He dedicates a song for a friend in the community who lost his brother, saying he lost his brother as well, and it’s Other Side! It was sound checked earlier in the day, this is only the 4th performance ever! Afterwards, Ed speaks about his friend Dr. Pete from Quebec who had recently walked the Pacific Crest trail from Mexico to Vancouver, and shows him on the video screen. He gets passionate during the requested Off He Goes, and Mike does a flamenco-style solo. Corduroy has an extended solo, Ed telling Mike to keep playing. Black has some improv lyrics at the end: “…where will your heart be when you know….one more life, one more chance…” Crowd starts big ‘ole’ chants during the encore break. Present Tense is played for former ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne, and a kid in the crowd whom Ed mentions as ‘Cole’s brother.’ Stone starts Alive and then stops for Ed to make a dedication to Venus and Serena Williams. Klinghoffer is thanked profusely before stepping to the front for Purple Rain. Before Indifference, Ed says

“Alright, I guess we’re on tour now…thanks for a great beginning.”

Special thank you to Danielle Tatlow for relaying the setlist live, and livestreaming in the Pearl Jam Podcast Community Facebook group.

July 17, 2016 – Pemberton Music Festival, Pemberton, BC, CAN

Main Set: Release, Footsteps, Daughter/(Dream Baby Dream/Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)), Thumbing My Way, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Present Tense, Once, Mind Your Manners, Spin The Black Circle, Given To Fly, Dissident, Do The Evolution, Lightning Bolt, Dream Baby Dream, Wishlist, Corduroy, Even Flow, Of The Earth, Porch

encore 1: Oceans, Go, State Of Love And Trust, Comfortably Numb, Black, Jeremy, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter

Show Notes:

A throwback to the early 90’s as a staggering 8 songs are played from Ten and another 2 from the era! The band begins the show seated for Release and Footsteps, echoing the relaxed feeling of the setting.  Daughter is…

Show Notes: 

A throwback to the early 90’s as a staggering 8 songs are played from Ten and another 2 from the era! The band begins the show seated for Release and Footsteps, echoing the relaxed feeling of the setting.  Daughter is initially tagged with the song “Dream Baby Dream” by Suicide, before “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2” takes over, with a lyric change: “leave your fucking guns at home.” Present Tense begins with Ed pointing out a tree as “that one” in the first line. Ed makes an impassioned speech about evolving prior to Do the Evolution. Following Lightning Bolt, Ed toasts Alan Vega, a founding member of the 70’s New York band Suicide, who had passed the night prior, saying that he “influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Ramone I know talked about them a lot, and I bet Jack White with his two piece band…so I’m just thinking about him and thanking him for leaving such good things behind for us to keep forever,” leading to the one time, one time only full cover of Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream,” perhaps inspired by the previous Daughter tag. Ed fumbles the last lines of Wishlist, offering “I let you down,” and then doesn’t do the familiar E-bow ending. The unreleased Of the Earth is played for only the 12th time.  Out of the encore break, Ed dedicates Oceans to “my good friend Margaret and her good man Daniel.” Funny moment during State of Love and Trust as Ed tosses the mic to the crowd but misses, and has to retrieve it himself and finish the song. The crowd helps out on Comfortably Numb and Ed plays the piano at the end. Black features Ed singing “Goodnight moon” during the outro. After Jeremy, He wishes Stone a happy 50th birthday, which leads to a rendition of “Happy birthday” for Stone from the crowd. The cake is then inevitably smashed into Stone’s face, then Ed’s, and then the crowd! Ed adds, “Thank you Pemberton, you’ve made it all great. Take care of each other underneath the stars,” which leads to Alive.  During the solo, he takes a trip around the stage to view the crowd, adding “Look a baby, hey baby. Dream baby dream.”

May 12, 2016 – Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, CAN

Main Set: Why Go, Corduroy, Mind Your Manners, Brain of J., Animal, Garden, I am Mine, Nothingman, Cropduster, Even Flow, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop/W.M.A.), Green Disease, Unthought Known, Present Tense, Alone, Lightning Bolt, Do the Evolution, Blood

encore 1: Just Breathe, Oceans, Inside Job, Breath, Lukin, Porch

encore 2: Last Kiss, Last Exit, Better Man, Crazy Mary, Black, Alive, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter

Show Notes:

Jeff is wearing a t-shirt that reads “WE THE NORTH WEST,” a running theme started at the first Toronto show two nights before. The greeting comes before the callback in Corduroy with “welcome to the last show,” describing it as…

Show Notes: 

Jeff is wearing a t-shirt that reads “WE THE NORTH WEST,” a running theme started at the first Toronto show two nights before. The greeting comes before the callback in Corduroy with “welcome to the last show,” describing it as feeling like the “last day of school, let’s make a night of it.” During Brain of J., Jeff ducks and then laughs as Ed rushes to catch something dropped from above. After Animal, Ed says “good things been happening in this building in the last couple days,” in reference to the first Toronto date and the NBA playoff game the previous night, and toasts to being able to play the last show in Toronto. Following Garden, Ed mentions the victims of the forest fires in Alberta and Manitoba evacuated days earlier and that the band will continue to “send some dough their way” from concert proceeds, and dedicates I Am Mine to “being safe and secure, however temporarily.” Good crowd participation during Nothingman. After Cropduster, Ed explains the origin of the line “let the fluency set it down” as coming from drinking wine with an Italian who didn’t speak perfect English, he figured he was trying to say “‘go with the flow’ or something…but then I thought ‘that’s really kind of amazing,’ so I’ve been letting the fluency set it down for quite some time now.” He goes on to tease about most big cities having their own “monument or erection…of course, you here have the band Rush, that’s a monument…we’ve been playing for 25 years and if we wanted to learn a Rush song we’d probably have to play for 25 more,” to which Mike plays a few chords of “Fly by Night” followed by Jeff and Matt with “Cygnus X-1”. Ed returns to monuments/erections by citing the Space Needle and introducing Even Flow as being written right below it. A drum solo by Matt tops off another impressive solo performance by Mike. Ed switches the lyrics to “white male Canadian” during the W.M.A. tag. Prior to Alone, Ed thanks the crowd for their singing and teases “Right now we’d like to play the whole Binaural record for you.” Ed promotes EB research funding during the break and thanks Dr. Elena Pope at the U of T-Hospital for Sick Children for signing onto the effort. On being shown a French flag, he recalls the terrorist attack at the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris the year before and dedicates Just Breathe to a fan and victim, Pierre-Antoine Henry, and his kids. Breath is dedicated to their friend Michele (Anthony), who “specialized in working with difficult artists, and we wouldn’t be here without her.” During the Porch breakdown, he lifts up his guitar under a stage light and uses it to reflect light onto people all throughout the audience. The second encore starts with another compliment, “you make it very difficult to leave,” before trolling the audience with “whatever happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs?” During Better Man, Ed holds the song in a loop and banters for three minutes about looking forward to going home, having just taken a quick shot of tequila backstage, a driver on the first stop of the tour speaking offensively, the contrast between that start to the tour and the end in an exemplary city. Boom is introduced before Crazy Mary, Mike jams alongside him on a fiery solo while Ed enters the crowd to mingle. Toronto native Donna Grantis is again introduced to join the band for Baba O’Riley (after also playing at the previous show), and Ed acknowledges Geddy Lee at the side of the stage, to which the band plays a bit of Cygnus X-1 again. Ed signs off with a personal “see ya, JP” to a fan he sang Thin Air with at the first show, before addressing the entire crowd: “We the northwest, a pleasure being in the north,” and signs off as Geddy Vedder one last time.

Written by: Eric Stevenson Gonzalez

May 10, 2016 – Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, CAN

Main Set: Go, Do the Evolution, Mind Your Manners, Breakerfall, God’s Dice, Evacuation, Light Years, Nothing as it Seems, Thin Air, Insignificance, Of the Girl, Grievance, Rival, Sleight of Hand, Soon Forget, Parting Ways, Corduroy, Once, Rearviewmirror

encore 1: Imagine, Let Me Sleep, Comfortably Numb, Even Flow, Down, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Porch

encore 2: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Given To Fly, State Of Love And Trust, Black/(Time Heals), The Real Me, Alive, Rockin’ in the Free World

Show Notes:

Crowd erupts as the intro of Go is played just like on the album. A thunderous Mind Your Manners precedes the Binaural set, with Ed mentioning that they have the next night off (the second Toronto date was pushed back…

Show Notes: 

Crowd erupts as the intro of Go is played just like on the album. A thunderous Mind Your Manners precedes the Binaural set, with Ed mentioning that they have the next night off (the second Toronto date was pushed back a day by their NBA playoff game). He then talks about how the first time in Toronto they played seven songs, and then auctions how many they’ll play that night, “nine, 10… can I get a 13… 18 in the back.” A longer solo from Mike on Breakerfall helps tear open the album set. Evacuation is introduced with a reflection about fire alarms and expecting to be told it’s a false alarm, remembering the over 88,000 people evacuated days earlier due to wildfires in northern Alberta. Ed introduces Thin Air by explaining that it’s one of his personal favorites of Stone’s: “if we ever had a popular song, this would be the one” and describes how he’d imagined a love song-style video. Near the end, he visits the crowd, takes a fan’s hand, and puts his arm around him while they both sing the last chorus together, essentially recreating his idea for the video. Back onstage, Ed quips “What’s your name? JP? Meet you after the show, handsome.” Ed enters Sleight of Hand too early, Stone stops playing immediately and Ed gestures to the band to start over while pointing to himself to accept the blame, then turns back and tells the crowd “the thing about vinyl records is sometimes they skip…let me clean the needle.” The song is restarted and finishes strong. Soon Forget is prefaced with “it wasn’t written about anybody in particular…now I realize it’s exactly about Donald Trump” before going on to muse about the band moving to Canada and Ed changing his name to Geddy Vedder in honor of Rush. The crowd whistles back at the “we’re all whistling” line and Ed eggs them on, hanging on to that chord. Ed holds out the last note in Parting Ways for several seconds amidst guitar feedback, pick scraping, and resolute drumming. Corduroy has an extra burst at the end, and a breakdown jam on Rearviewmirror featuring a Jeff and Matt standoff. The second set opens with Ed checking on the crowd and counting off all their good memories of Toronto, including all the other bands they’ve seen play, and joking about how good Soundgarden’s drummer was as a prelude to introducing Matt. Here he announces the band will donate money from their Canada shows to help wildfire victims in Alberta and lists the benefitting groups, before asking the audience to light up the room with their phones for the cover of Imagine. Let Me Sleep is played as a nod to the cold. Even Flow picks things back up and sounds like it has an extra groove to it: Mike puts the guitar behind his head and ventures out to the crowd for the first part of an extended, feedback-laden solo that earns Ed’s applause, and Ed tosses the mic into the crowd for fans to sing the last chorus. Down is dedicated to Howard Zinn, “the ultimate ‘positimist,’ that’s not a word, but….” Ed teases the crowd with a long pause and a swig of wine before a sustained “ohhh-oh-oh” to open the second verse of Better Man. Matt, Jeff, and Ed fling, headbutt, and practice boxing with the lamps that have lowered to stage level during Porch, and give the first encore an amped-up finish with Ed mingling in the crowd and sipping a fan’s beer. Ed starts the second encore with the observation “if they got a crowd tomorrow with this much energy tonight they might win it all” and identifies the band and Toronto as both being from the north: “there’s power in north, north points up.” After Given To Fly, Ed calls everyone’s attention to a fan who’s spent the entire show in a bright orange ski mask and references having worn one at a show by Jeff’s band RNDM but “I didn’t last three songs in that fucking thing…I commend you” and jokingly introduces the fan as Matt Damon (who was evidently in attendance in a different part of the arena).. Black winds down with the Todd Rundgren “Time Heals” tag. The Real Me is introduced by Ed saying “We borrowed a couple of great songs tonight, we’re gonna borrow one more.” Toronto native and Prince guitarist Donna Grantis is welcomed onstage to close the show with Rockin’ in the Free World and steals the show, earning a “we’re not worthy” bow from Mike.

Written By: Eric Stevenson Gonzalez

May 8, 2016 – Canadian Tires Centre, Ottawa, ON, CAN

Main Set: Lightning Bolt, Mind Your Manners, Do the Evolution, Save You, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Love Boat Captain, Deep, Faithfull, I Am Mine, Even Flow, Setting Forth, Corduroy, Immortality, Given to Fly, Big Wave, Why Go, Jeremy, Porch

encore 1: Bee Girl, Speed of Sound, Parachutes, Sirens, Love, Reign O’er Me, Better Man, Blood

encore 2: All I Want is You, Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Black, Alive, Fuckin’ Up

Show Notes:

Lightning Bolt opens for only the second time, and includes the line “…towards the Great White North…” Ed greets the crowd before Small Town, talking about Trump, the fires in Alberta, and “the fact that Canada doesn’t have a team…

Show Notes: 

Lightning Bolt opens for only the second time, and includes the line “…towards the Great White North…” Ed greets the crowd before Small Town, talking about Trump, the fires in Alberta, and “the fact that Canada doesn’t have a team in the NHL playoffs” as signs of the end of the world “so let’s do some singing and try to make the world right tonight!” Love Boat Captain includes the “let the show begin” line. A fan in the front gets to sing on Faithfull. After Even Flow, Ed mentions that Into the Wild author Jon Krakauer is in the crowd tonight and how his books had a profound effect on him, leading into Setting Forth. Big Wave is played for the first time since 2014 for all the surfers in the crowd, Ed saying he knows that there are at least two. 3 songs from Ten close out the set, and during the encore, Ed makes a toast to his brothers Jason and Chris, who are in attendance. A few rare songs are broken out after the break, beginning with Bee Girl, and the tour debuts of Speed of Sound and Parachutes. Not to be outdone, Love, Reign O’er Me is played for the first time since 2013. Encore 2 starts with Ed playing part of the U2 song “All I Want Is You” on the acoustic guitar. Mike and Stone really bring it during Black, blistering solos by both that bring the crowd to a crescendo. Matt goes nuts at the end of Alive, bashing everything in sight. Fuckin’ Up is for their “favorite Canadian” (if you have to ask at this point…) Great energy from the crowd and band all evening on what most would consider Pearl Jam’s 1000th show.

Written by: Ryan Franke

May 5, 2016 – Centre Videotron, Quebec City, QC, CAN

Main Set: Of The Girl, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Once, Last Exit, God’s Dice, Even Flow, Pilate, Light Years, Severed Hand, Corduroy, You Are, Mind Your Manners, Whipping, Nothing As It Seems, Given To Fly, State Of Love And Trust, I’m Open, MFC, Why Go, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 1: The Needle And The Damage Done, Thumbing My Way, Sleeping By Myself, Wash, Comatose, Lightning Bolt, Sad, Surrender, Porch

encore 2: Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop/It’s O.K.), Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Black, Alive, Baba O’Riley

Show Notes:

Of the Girl opens, the first of 4 Binaural songs in the main set. Matt jumps the gun and starts Last Exit after Small Town but stops and Once is played first. Ed introduces Pilate by saying “alright, this is…

Show Notes: 

Of the Girl opens, the first of 4 Binaural songs in the main set. Matt jumps the gun and starts Last Exit after Small Town but stops and Once is played first. Ed introduces Pilate by saying “alright, this is going to be fun…” Light Years is dedicated to a man and his family. Stone grooves on a powerful You Are. After the first NAIS since 2014, Ed makes a long speech about life and love and dedicates Given to Fly to Valerie and “her great man Jan, who’s still here in the next song.” I’m Open is a nice little gem to break up the pace and breathe after SOLAT, and takes the place of Untitled, flowing naturally into MFC. An almost 8-minute Better Man ends the main set, with Ed riffing on Save it for Later. After the break, Ed says, “I’m going to play a song by Uncle Neil. And to sing like Neil, you gotta sing high, but you don’t have to sing perfect. So I’m going to keep that in mind, and you keep that in mind too in case you want to join in… Neil, one of the things he taught us, if it ain’t perfect, it’s perfect. I’m sure this is going to be a perfect version,” and plays a solo version of The Needle and the Damage Done. The band then joins Ed on stage for an amazing Thumbing My Way. Wash comes out of nowhere to transition out of the mellow section. After Lightning Bolt, Ed sees a kid with a sign in the front row and brings him up on stage, saying “I saw him play this song with his pop” (his mom had sent a video of him playing it) and introduces 10-year-old Noah Keeley. Noah plays along to Sad, and does a great job! Stone plays right next to him and Mike comes over to play the solo beside him. Noah gets a huge ovation as he leaves the stage, and Ed remarks, “Noah, you are a badass. That took a lot of guts,” then continues, “We’re going to play one for Noah’s mom and dad” before launching into Surrender. After the second break, Ed speaks about the Capitales, a local baseball team, and sports a jersey made for them to celebrate 25 years together. He then introduces Daughter, saying “He is gonna start this next song. He wrote it. He wrote all the good ones…Mr. Stone Gossard.” McCready is unreal on the Black solo, pure and powerful. Ed concludes the evening by saying “We will never forget this one.”

December 4, 2013 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, CAN

Main Set: Oceans, Can’t Keep, Low Light, Corduroy, Breakerfall, Mind Your Manners, Why Go, Gods’ Dice, Lightning Bolt, In Hiding, Even Flow, Setting Forth, Not For You/(Modern Girl), Daughter/(It’s O.K.), Infallible, After Hours, Sirens, Jeremy, Gonna See My Friend, Porch

encore 1: Soon Forget, Yellow Moon, Thumbing My Way, Footsteps, Mother, Insignificance, Given To Fly, Got Some, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 2: Go, Do The Evolution, Black, Alive, Kick Out The Jams, Yellow Ledbetter

Show Notes:

Surrounded by water, the Oceans opener is no surprise. Ed has a ukulele for Can’t Keep. A stage light and mood switch occurs with Corduroy. The band teams up with each other to come together for a wild Corduroy outro.…

Show Notes: 

Surrounded by water, the Oceans opener is no surprise. Ed has a ukulele for Can’t Keep. A stage light and mood switch occurs with Corduroy. The band teams up with each other to come together for a wild Corduroy outro. Perfect call and response by the audience on MYM. Ed takes a moment to crack open some wine and offers a quick hello, “we’ll be home soon enough but we’re in Vancouver, we’re not going anywhere. We’ll talk later. Let’s keep going,” keeping the energy up with Gods’ Dice and Lightning Bolt. Stone leads the way into In Hiding and Ed reaches for the wine and gestures to his throat and chest and mouths something about his voice. It looks like Boom is reading the sheet music. Ed tells a joke about meeting someone from Mexico and a couple from Sweden who have come to Vancouver for the “tropical weather.” He reminisces about an early 1991 show at the Town Pump in Vancouver where the audience was the size of the first row and they remember playing this song…cue Even Flow. During the solo, Ed speaks to a tech who fixes something while Ed shares an enormous bottle of wine with the front row. Mike tiptoes out of the solo as do the backing guitars, leaving Matt’s mastery on display. Stone gets pretty bluesy for the Not For You solo and Ed does a yodel call and response with the audience. Lights go out to spotlight Ed on his guitar for After Hours. He asks for the crowd to help with lyrics for Gonna See My Friend, has a mini jam session with Stone at the end and they sneak in a few chords of Porch. Mike is on his knees for the Porch solo, Matt maintains the beat with otherworldly precision during a super extended bridge. Jeff swats at the hanging globes and Ed plays front row bartender and proceeds to climb the lighting, mic in hand.

After the break, he toasts the bartender/guitar tech who brings him the wine and grabs his ukulele to play Soon Forget, last played in 2006! A tech issue follows and he eggs on the audience with some hockey-talk and a shout-out to friend Chris Chelios which the crowd jokingly disapproves of. Each member of the band is highlighted on a beautifully mellow Thumbing My Way. After Mother, Ed says “as a taxpayer, you might contribute to things you don’t necessarily agree with…bombs dropping on children…now we have drones…I’m not getting into it,” and jokes that he will leave the crowd with a tale of a 4.5 hour concert with 3 hours of music and 1.5 hours of politics, leading into an energetic Insignificance. Ed struggles a bit with the lyrics and the chords during Better Man, gets the audience to assist, states “I fucked up, I know,” and continues to take long pauses, playing with the audience. Stone joins Mike and Jeff’s side of the stage and then Ed joins in, creating a little guitar posse. The song continues and Ed asks “Should we stop now?” The “don’t run away” line has a list of tags:

“like my father did…like my brother did…like my sister did…like my uncle did…like all my friends…like my first girlfriend did…”

Ed windmills, rests on Mike before the final guitar push of the outro and we get not one, not two, not three, but four signature jumps.

Ed introduces “Mr. Stone Gossard and Andy Wolf who looks after Stone’s shit and is a total champ tonight,” in reference to the tech issues. Ed thanks Mudhoney for opening for them and again braving a storm to get there. Mike’s Black solo is bluesy, yet wailing towards the speakers and has Ed crying out at the very end. Alive becomes interactive with Mike going right down into the front section and Ed catching gifts being thrown at them and climbing speakers and pointing to people. The lights go on and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Steve Turner join in for Kick Out The Jams. Ed teases the audience “they sometimes say leave them wanting more…well fuck that shit,” and acknowledges how they’re “fortunate to have these gatherings based on music” and jokes about a young fan with headphones on who is “probably listening to Katy Perry.” Ed wishes the crowd a “Happy Christmas and Happy New Year….until next time.”

December 2, 2013 – Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB, CAN

Main Set: Of The Girl, Hard To Imagine, Nothingman, Lightning Bolt, Corduroy, Mind Your Manners, Animal, Red Mosquito, I Am Mine, Wishlist, Even Flow, Sirens, Given To Fly, Infallible, Do The Evolution, I Got Shit/(Cinnamon Girl), Rats, State Of Love And Trust, Lukin, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 1: After Hours, Sleight of Hand, Future Days, Daughter/(Improv), Last Exit, Go, Porch

encore 2: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Crazy Mary, Alive, Fuckin’ Up, Indifference

Show Notes:

With blizzard conditions outside, Ed prefaces Lightning Bolt with “let’s melt some fucking snow.” Corduroy has the lyric change “…you froze inside my head…” Ed toasts the Calgary crowd for braving the blizzard, acknowledging how hard it was even for…

Show Notes: 

With blizzard conditions outside, Ed prefaces Lightning Bolt with “let’s melt some fucking snow.” Corduroy has the lyric change “…you froze inside my head…” Ed toasts the Calgary crowd for braving the blizzard, acknowledging how hard it was even for the band and crew to get there – “we were thinking only about 2500 people would make it…” He also thanks opening band Mudhoney, saying they drove 13 hours to play 30 minutes, and introduces Red Mosquito as “a song about bugs.” Crowd chants for Stone, leading Ed to remark “that’s only gonna make Mike play harder.” The crowd then chants for Mike, and Ed asks a fan in the front row what his name is and chants “Scott” for him, going on to salute those who had to clean up after the floods in June and repair the Saddledome. I Am Mine is “about getting to higher ground.” Before I Got Id, Ed says “if you ever wanted to chant anyone’s name it should be this guy,” and mentions how important Neil Young was in “keeping us on track for the good shit,” and that they wrote the song with him, adding a couple of lines of Cinnamon Girl. Before Rats, Ed toasts “here’s to rat-free Alberta.” He throws the microphone down into the crowd during State and a fan sings the ending. Lukin gets the slow fake-out. During Better Man, Ed back-to-back solos with Mike and they fall down on each other.

To begin the encores, the meteorologist confirms that it’s still “pretty cold” outside, and Ed talks about going to the doctor and being asked about his drinking habits, “and then I realized, well, when I’m working…” After Hours makes another appearance in tribute to Lou Reed. Sleight of Hand is “for the long drive to work.” Ed says that Future Days is for Pete and Jen Lightbody, “you wouldn’t necessarily know…but this song is about a couple whose children have grown up and moved out and it’s all romantic again,” and Boom plays the intro. Ed sings “hush…hush now baby,” during Daughter, possibly playing off Pink Floyd’s Mother. A young boy named Jaxon in the crowd gets a shout-out for drumming in a video of Mind Your Manners, Ed introduces him to Matt and says that the band will be back to open for his band in twenty years. To begin the second encore, Ed toasts snowplow drivers and sings “Mr. Plow” from The Simpsons. Small Town is played for the back. Ed leaves with “…Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day…”

July 16, 2013 – Budweiser Gardens, London, ONT, CAN

Main Set: Present Tense, Nothingman, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, (London Calling)/Corduroy, Mind Your Manners, Got Some, Given To Fly, Sad, Alone, Even Flow, I Got Id, In Hiding, Lukin, Not For You/(Modern Girl), Black, Porch

encore 1: Last Exit, Last Kiss, Parachutes, Man Of The Hour, Just Breathe, Daughter, Unthought Known, Do The Evolution

encore 2: Smile, Brain Of J., Better Man, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World, Indifference

Show Notes:

This pre-Wrigley warm-up gig, at the relatively intimate Budweiser Gardens Arena (formerly the John Labatt Centre) where they first visited during the ’05 Canadian jaunt, ratchets up the energy with the first Present Tense opener since 2005. Things stay relatively…

Show Notes: 

This pre-Wrigley warm-up gig, at the relatively intimate Budweiser Gardens Arena (formerly the John Labatt Centre) where they first visited during the ’05 Canadian jaunt, ratchets up the energy with the first Present Tense opener since 2005. Things stay relatively mellow early, as the band follows up with a heartfelt Nothingman and crowd favorite Elderly Woman. Gears shift with a brief intro tag romp of The Clash’s stomp London Calling into a Corduroy that features an extended jam in the bridge and the first of several excellent Mike solos of the night. The first and only debut of the night is the bottom-driven Mind Your Manners; despite a couple of mic problems for Ed, it gets a solid reception. The remainder of the main set includes back-to-back rarities of Sad and Alone. Mike rides the band’s collective energy with some emotionally rich solos on Even Flow, a passionate Black, and some dueling guitar with Stone on Porch. During Porch, oversized light bulbs in a red and green glow are dropped from the rafters. The first encore kicks hard and fast with Last Exit, and quickly moves into a mellower zone with Parachutes and Man of the Hour.  The second encore features a terrific Smile, backed by a surprise late show Brain of J. The night comes to a close, lights up, with Indifference. A fun and energetic warm up, setting the table for the rest of the year.