Pearl Jam Las Vegas, NV Concert History

The unique opener streak continues with Of the Girl tonight, Ed is in a great mood and dancing all around. He holds the last note of Low Light beyond the song’s ending, and then afterwards talks about he had some vocal issues after the last show and had to get some drugs for it, adding “I’m gonna sing my ass off…I’m gonna have some fuckin’ fun too…” praising the Thursday night crowd and asking for help tonight. Garden is heavy, the crowd takes the last chorus, Ed is out on his platform conducting. After Mind Your Manners, he says “spotlight on Mr. McCready please…” and the silhouettes are out for the 5th song tonight, Given to Fly. The Dark Matter songs are mixed up tonight, breaking out of the formula we saw at the first few shows. Running has a fast and furious ending, Ed yelling “fuck off!” at the end. Before Dark Matter, he says if you called Matt Cameron “one of the greatest drummers on the planet, he’d still be underrated.” Following, he goes through a list of birthday acknowledgements, including a woman named Christina, who, along with her husband Pedro, are given an upgrade in seats from Ed. Wreckage has a false start but they quickly get back into it. Before Severed Hand, Ed says “here’s one we don’t play often,” and talks about the EDM festival that’s in town for the weekend, joking that there’s “more DJ’s that homeless people in Seattle” and that people out on the streets are “high as fuck,” quoting the late comedian Bill Hicks, “…not all drugs are good…some are great.” Mike rips the Severed Hand solo, one of the best of the night. Ed takes a piece of paper from a fan up front with a request for Gone, saying “we absolutely have to practice that.” Won’t Tell returns for just the 2nd time. Mike starts the Even Flow solo with his teeth, another showstopping performance. Ed then tells the story from 1993 when they had “Terry” Presley on stage to sing “My Way,” and Ed saw something coming toward the stage and grabbed it, it turned out to be an AA battery, he says “…someone was trying to kill Terry Presley!” He continues, asking “Who’s winning? Who’s losing?” and then remembers the woman from night 1 who he had given the $500 to, asking how it turned out. She hands over a thick envelope with a note on it, saying that she had lost the money but her and her friends had decided to go all in for EB, they have sheets of paper with the EB research logo on it, and Ed pulls out a significant amount of money. He says “…that I did not expect…now you’re choking me up” after reading the note. Out Of My Mind is played for only the 6th time. Spin the Black Circle has some vertical bar visuals, showing the band playing. The Porch jam is hypnotic and focused, another Mike highlight. Just a quick projector note from Ed tonight, including a U2 reference:

You up for a few more?

Uno mas?

dos, tres, catorce?

He comes out with a guitar, but then asks for the gold guitar, which is brought out, and he thanks Deep Sea Diver and talks about women playing music, referencing the Harrison Butker story from this week, and starts Throw Your Arms Around Me, but stops after a few seconds, taking the gold guitar off and asking for the red guitar, Tom Petty’s guitar, and plays I Won’t Back Down instead. You Are is played for the first time since 2018, with blue spotlights and psychedelic purple and green visuals. After Once, Ed says his daughter Harper is in attendance and finds her up front, and Josh comes up to the front of the stage again for Something Special. Mike has a shiny gold jacket for the encore, and Ed has his on as well for Alive. Jeff pretends to throw dice during the band intros, and they end the same way they did night 1, with Yellow Ledbetter into Setting Sun.

Ed ramps up the intensity on the build in Sometimes, adding “…wouldn’t that be amazing if you were here, god…” before the outro. The crowd is fantastic, singing along early. Hard to Imagine is a surprise early, Jeff, Stone, and Mike getting into the slow groove. Ed puts on a guitar halfway through, making it a 4-guitar assault with Josh also helping out in the back. Mike falls to his knees during a powerful, emotive Black solo, all Ed can do it just point over at him as it winds down. Ed then asks for the lights to come up, and toasts “everybody who came from somewhere else to join us in the desert,” pointing out that this is the smallest venue of the tour leg. Hail, Hail is the first non-Yield song to be in the 4th spot, two No Code this early is great to see. Daughter breaks up the Dark Matter 1st 4 set that had been played at every previous show on the tour. Ed thanks Andrew Watt afterwards, and says the next one is “for all the dreamers…” and Wishlist follows. He adds some lines at the end:

“I’m only betting on what’s important to me

my one true love and my family

I don’t need Vegas to feel lucky…”

He then adds in a quick line about losing $500 at blackjack, and then talks about how tonight’s setlist wasn’t written before the show or this afternoon, but at 4 am a few nights ago. Breakerfall follows, the only acknowledgement of Binaural‘s anniversary on the show date. Before the Even Flow solo, Ed exclaims “…alright, rip it up!” Upper Hand is another standout Dark Matter track so far on this run. Afterwards, Ed says the next song is about Stevie Wonder, then adds “…no, it’s about Stevie Nicks….no, it’s about Steve Gleason…or Stevie Ray Vaughan…it’s about the power of music,” leading into Waiting for Stevie, which is becoming a staple after being the last Dark Matter song to debut. After Tremor Christ, Ed says he “wants to experiment real quick” and pulls out $500 and gives it to a woman in the front row after making sure she’ll be attending the next show. He asks her to try and double it at the casinos by Saturday, “if you lose it, that’s the experiment, and if you win, we split it…” and then jokes that he took it from Stone anyway. Tonight’s projector message is:

Well Thank You Las Vegas!!!

Louder??

After the break, Ed tells a story about playing a solo show at the Pearl, a benefit for EB, and a woman came up with a wad of cash and asked him to play Black. He explained that he doesn’t do that, it’s a Stone song, but then more and more people came up with money, about $3000, and he said “I gotta fuckin’ do it.” The solo cover tonight is the Pearl Jam debut of “Maybe It’s Time,” the Jason Isbell-penned song from A Star is Born. Ed changes the lyric to “I’ve seen hell in Vegas” (instead of Reno). More tour debuts as Inside Job follows. Stone and Mike trade sides of the stage during Evolution. Ed plays a little of U2’s “Bad” as an intro to Corduroy, which has a long, great call and response, the crowd was in great form all night. Breath gets a huge reaction as always. Andrew Watt comes on stage for Alive, taking over the solo and going around to each band member. Ed says “sometimes it doesn’t even feel real…very, very grateful and we love you,” and once again, Ledbetter feels like it’s closing the show but then the lights go out and Setting Sun continues its run at the end. Best show of the tour so far.