Pearl Jam Montana Concert History

List of Pearl Jam Concerts in Montana

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August 22, 2024 – Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, MT, USA

Main Set: Given To Fly, Nothing As It Seems, Low Light, Why Go, Corduroy, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Scared Of Fear, React, Respond, Wreckage, Even Flow, Hard To Imagine/(Setting Sun), Dark Matter, Won't Tell, Upper Hand, Jeremy, Gimme Some Truth, Porch

encore 1: Her Majesty, Just Breathe, Smile, Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Do The Evolution, Setting Sun, Alive, Rockin' In The Free World

Show Notes:

Given To Fly opens up in this outdoor venue with a new visual, the screens showing moving down a river and up into the mountains, ending up looking over the stadium and Missoula. Ed changes the lyric to “…made it…

Show Notes: 

Given To Fly opens up in this outdoor venue with a new visual, the screens showing moving down a river and up into the mountains, ending up looking over the stadium and Missoula. Ed changes the lyric to “…made it to the big sky, had a smoke in a tree…” An early nod to Jeff, the first of many in his home state, as Nothing As It Seems follows. After Low Light, Ed speaks, calling it a “big night under the big sky,” saying that they’re “energized to be here for Sen. Jon Tester.” He mentions that there are a lot of signs up front, and that some people spent the night to be up front, teasing “…if you spent the night I’ll be reading your sign.” Jeff takes a big drop step and leap at the end of Why Go. After a raucous Corduroy, Ed thanks Jeff for bringing them here and talks about how Trump only had 7,000 people when he came to Montana, but there’s more than 3 times that at the show tonight. He continues, mentioning that there was a shortage of hotel rooms in Missoula and people were asking about renting driveway space to sleep in their cars. He praises one couple who accepted 25-30 campers on their land, and even provided free cold beer! He proceeds to rattle off a list of small towns in Montana, of course leading into Small Town. React, Respond is introduced as “this one could be about voting, it’s called ‘Don’t React, Respond”, and Mike rips the solo into the stratosphere. Matt shows off on Even Flow, putting on a percussive masterclass, and Ed throws in the customary “…nevervoterepublican!” at the end. Afterwards, he tells an emotional story about 2 men, Adam Nelson and Jeff Walsh, with serious medical issues “battling hard and intensely,” noting that one of them left the hospital without permission to be there tonight, and Hard to Imagine is dedicated to them. As the song is ending, Ed steps up and repeats the “let us not fade” line from Setting Sun 3 times. Another block of Dark Matter songs follows, including only the 4th appearance of Jeff’s Won’t Tell. Gimme Some Truth is a huge surprise, it hasn’t been played since 2006 in Zagreb, Croatia, 341 shows! There’s a QR code shown on the screen to pledge to vote before Porch. After the break, Ed talks about a couple from Camp Make-A-Dream that he met around the Avocado record and congratulates them on getting married, and a calligraphy message from Ed is shown on screen. It follows with another one to Jeff’s parents:

And if you are

lucky you’ll

be like

GEORGE & PENNY

AMENT

Married 63 years

WE LOVE YOU, P.J.

He mentions that the last time he was in Montana was to see Paul McCartney, and dedicates “Her Majesty” to Jill. Lukas Nelson joins on stage and helps out on Just Breathe, Ed praising his father Willie’s version. The guests keep coming as opener Glen Hansard comes out for Smile. After Life Wasted, Jeff talks about his family, including his uncle Pat who introduced him to music, and starts to get a little emotional as he talks about his 40-year friendship with Stone. He continues, talking about how he’s known Jon Tester for 50 years, calling him “the real deal” compared to his opponent. After being tagged earlier, Setting Sun appears in full, possibly the first time that a PJ song has been tagged AND played in full at the same show. After Alive, Ed mentions that it’s Layne Staley’s birthday and Mike plays a quick tease of an Alice in Chains song. For the finale, the band (sans Ed) dons white Tester shirts, Jeff plays with a 2-fingered foam hand (Sen. Tester lost 3 fingers in an accident as a child), and Lukas Nelson and Glen Hansard (and his band) return. Jeff gets the biggest cheer at the end as Ed goes around the horn, and then Ed gets a sparkly captain’s hat and wears it as the band lingers on stage for a while before exiting.

August 13, 2018 – Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, MT, USA

Main Set: Pendulum, Low Light, Go, Do The Evolution, Arms Aloft, Mind Your Manners, Corduroy, Pilate, Even Flow, In My Tree, Down, Lightning Bolt, Not For You/(Modern Girl), Daughter/(It’s O.K.), Setting Forth, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Can’t Deny Me, Porch

encore 1: Bee Girl, Fatal, Imagine, Given To Fly, Throw Your Hatred Down, Better Man/(With or Without You/I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend/Save it For Later), Jeremy, Know Your Rights, Alive, Rockin’ In the Free World, Indifference

Show Notes:

The band partnered with Rock2Vote as well as several Montana organizations ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in setting up a festival on the grounds outside the stadium that included several musical acts and information booths, including “Goats for Votes”…

Show Notes: 

The band partnered with Rock2Vote as well as several Montana organizations ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in setting up a festival on the grounds outside the stadium that included several musical acts and information booths, including “Goats for Votes” featuring actual goats. Ed arrives on stage wearing an Evel Knievel (Montana native) jacket. After Mind Your Manners, Ed says that “music brings people together, and we are glad we have gotten together for an important reason,” and thanks Jeff for organizing this event, and for “inviting us, it’s nice to be back,” which inspires a “Jeff” chant, to which Ed toasts, leading Jeff to also partake from the wine bottle. Ed mentions he saw Paul McCartney in the same place and then plays a few bars of Blackbird.  He then mentions the Rolling Stones played there, prompting Mike and Matt to play a few bars of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Then, Ed suggests they all play a different Rolling Stones song at the same time and counts it out, resulting in inevitable chaos. Crowd takes the final Even Flow chorus, followed by Ed offering that since they are on campus, he should give a history lesson, saying that their first real show 20 years ago with Matt Cameron was right here, and thanks Matt for “the best 20 years of this band’s life,” leading into In My Tree, which features “textbooks” instead of “newspapers” in the first line. After Down, Ed brings up the lights and points out a young girl on her dad’s shoulders who is keeping perfect time and giving him so much energy, remarking that it’s good to know that that is where the future of our country lies. He then gets the crowd to pass back a tambourine, which makes its way to her roughly 20-30 rows back despite Ed’s hesitancy noting “it’s better to give than to receive.” Lightning Bolt features the line “towards the great Big Sky.” Prior to Can’t Deny Me, Ed begins by remarking that election day should be a national holiday before noticing a couple in the front wearing matching “I Love Sex & Beer” shirts. He asks if they found each other today as they just happened to be wearing the same shirts, before getting each a beer, which they chug. He teases that he hopes that the other thing isn’t done as quickly. After the encore break Ed and Jeff appear alone on stage and Ed says  “can I talk about my friend Jeff Ament, a hometown hero? Our friend, the activist, philanthropist, not only is he an incredible skater, he builds skateparks and I would ask him how many he builds, but he doesn’t like to brag. He is much loved in the Seattle community and he’s never forgotten his roots here at home. Here’s our man, great bandmate, great bassist, writer, painter, Jeff Ament…Amen Ament. One more round as his mom and dad, George and Penny[…]on that fateful night a number of years ago, drunk on sex and beer, created this man here,” to which Jeff adds, “possibly.” Ed continues: “this is one of many collaborations…does that mean we colluded on this next song? We are guilty of collusion on this next song,” leading into Bee Girl. Betterman clocks in at nearly 9 minutes, with snippets of U2 and the Ramones before Save it for Later. Following Jeremy, Ed notes that this is the biggest benefit show they have ever done, and its importance with the upcoming midterm elections, and that they would never tell you who to vote for (while all band members have “Tester” shirts in honor of incumbent Senator Jon Tester). Ed dons the Evel Knievel jacket again before Indifference. Set heavy on Jeff songs, timely covers, and a unique 11-song encore.

September 30, 2012 – Adams Event Center, Missoula, MT, USA

Main Set: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Got Some, Given To Fly, Amongst The Waves, Severed Hand, Unthought Known, Not For You, State Of Love And Trust, Jeremy, Ghost, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop), Know Your Rights, Comatose, Why Go

encore 1: Last Kiss, Off He Goes, Low Light, Man Of The Hour, Nothingman, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

encore 2: Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Fortunate Son, Alive, Kick Out The Jams, Rockin’ In The Free World, Indifference

Show Notes:

Billed as Pearl Jam’s “one and only non-festival US show for 2012,” this benefit for Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election campaign at the Adams Event Center seats only 5500 patrons, leading Ed to say early in the set “this is about…

Show Notes: 

Billed as Pearl Jam’s “one and only non-festival US show for 2012,” this benefit for Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election campaign at the Adams Event Center seats only 5500 patrons, leading Ed to say early in the set “this is about as cozy a place we’ve played for as long as I can remember.” Got Some is the first of many Jeff songs in the set in his home state, after which Ed greets the raucous crowd with “…it’s nice to be literally surrounded by family, friends, Senators, and Mudhoney!” He adds “we are asked to do many benefits…the difficult part is finding a candidate you believe in,” before dedicating Given to Fly to Tester, with the amended lyric “…made it underneath a Big Sky tree…” Jeremy gives Jeff the spotlight again and has the crowd pumping. Ghost appears for only the second time since 2003, Ed says it’s “not one that’s played that often. This is another one that Jeff wrote.” Daughter follows, with an alternate take on “Blitzkrieg Bop”: “hey ho, let’s vote,” before The Clash’s “Know Your Rights” is played for the 3rd time out of 4 shows this month. Last Kiss” opens the first encore with the band playing to the back. Ed dedicates Off He Goes to Jeff and his friends, which is followed by yet another Ament-penned track, Low Light. Man of the Hour is brought back for the first time since 2009 and starts a three-song, alternate “Man” trilogy to close out the first encore, with Nothingman and Better Man. Prior to the second encore, Jeff addresses the crowd, stating “…it doesn’t really get any better than this for me.” CCR’s “Fortunate Son” returns for the first time since 2006 and the last time to date. The crowd goes crazy when Stone plays the opening chords of Alive, which is complete with “Montana look at us…we’re all still alive!” in the final chorus. Mark Arm and Steve Turner from Mudhoney join for a very loud “Kick out the Jams” before RITFW sends the crowd into raptures. Before closing with a slow-burn Indifference, Ed acknowledges the crowd, saying “this is the best American crowd we have played for in I can’t remember how long…”