October 19, 2013 – Barclays Center, Brookyln, NY, USA

Show Covered by Podcast

Show Notes:

Saturday night in Brooklyn starts with the band flying out of the gate, playing the first NINE songs in a row without a break. Ed howls and screams through Wash, an early indicator that absolutely anything is on the table.…

Show Notes: 

Saturday night in Brooklyn starts with the band flying out of the gate, playing the first NINE songs in a row without a break. Ed howls and screams through Wash, an early indicator that absolutely anything is on the table. Lightning Bolt is introduced with “…live from Brooklyn, it’s Saturday night!” After Down, he tells the crowd

“…if I was a surfer, which I am, and you were the ocean, which in a way you are, this would be good surfing…right here…”

He continues, adding that the prior night they tied a record for amount of fist fights at a show with one, and pleads to not to come close to that record tonight. Even Flow features a showstopping Matt Cameron solo reminiscent of the ones he’d consistently bang out on the Avocado tour. Rats is dedicated to the nice people from the financial district, and with NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman in attendance, Ed changes the line to “Dennis, the two of us need look no more.” Unthought Known and Immortality transition flawlessly into one another with the latter featuring a screeching McCready solo. Ed makes this poignant speech prior to Better Man:

“You know, a lot of us have maybe something in common. I know the thing that bonds my friends and us together usually is the fact that at one point we were probably pretty broken. Sometimes people steer away from broken people, and those are the people that usually have never been broken. There’s nothing wrong with being broken. You can get fixed! You fix yourself. Things break and then they get fixed. Usually with the help of other people. I just want to say that this part of the country, all of the northeast, NJ, NY, Brooklyn…you’ve always been really really good to this group and have been there when we needed you, and I hope, fully, we’ve been able to return the favor. In China, if a vase breaks, they repair it and they draw a gold leaf where the crack was. They celebrate the cracks. We should celebrate what we’ve been through. It’s the people without the scars, those are the ones you have to worry about.”

After a whopping 20-song main set, they jump back into the encore with a powerful, soaring rendition of Footsteps. All Those Yesterdays appears for only the 14th time in the 15 years since Yield. During Porch, Ed channels his early 90’s antics and hops on a green orb hanging from the top of the stage and goes swinging back and forth over the crowd. Ed starts the second encore by saying

“you look fuckin’ great…we have some friends here tonight, people that we’ve known for many many many many years, from all over…you make us look really good in front of our friends…you guys make us look so good that if we had enemies they couldn’t be enemies anymore because they’d want to be our friends because they’d want to be your friends…”

He jokes that Whipping is called “Bad Boys Get Spanked.” Following Blood, he sees a shirt in the crowd for a non-profit called Every Mother Counts and makes a setlist change on the fly to play Leaving Here in honor of all the women in the crowd. The night ends with the classic ‘bread ‘n’ butter’ tracks, including the Hendrix-style Star-Spangled Banner tag off of Yellow Ledbetter. Ed finishes off the night with “New York, Brooklyn, you’ve been very very very good to us” in a thick New York accent.


October 18, 2013 – Barclays Center, Brookyln, NY, USA

Show Notes:

This is the first time the band has played in Brooklyn after many, many visits to New York City. Release appears in the #2 spot for the first time ever, and features in the main set in a spot other…

Show Notes: 

This is the first time the band has played in Brooklyn after many, many visits to New York City. Release appears in the #2 spot for the first time ever, and features in the main set in a spot other than the opener for the first time since the Ten show in Munich in 1992! Ed addresses the crowd and thanks Jay-Z for building the place, and that they have

“99 problems, but a place to play ain’t one.” 

No Even Flow tonight, but Mike makes up for it by taking center stage on incredible solos in both Dissident and Why Go. After I Am Mine, Ed says that it was dedicated to the people of New Jersey, who lost a lot in the last year with floods and fires. Infallible is dedicated to Ed’s daughters Harper and Olivia. A few technical issues before Sirens kicks in, as Mike’s 12-string has a tough time getting going. Ed addresses the false start and makes a terrible dad joke, saying that the last one came close to making the record, but would be on a b-side album called ‘Pearl Jam’s Greatest Misses’ due out in February. More issues ensue during the song, which leads Ed to leave the stage afterwards to find out what happened, giving Mike a platform to go nuts on an Eruption solo. After Spin the Black Circle, Ed mentions that the next song:

“was written by a guy everyone up here knew. I never knew him, but I think about him a lot, a lot…a lot. His name is Andrew Wood”

leading to a rare main set rendition of Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns. Oceans opens up encore one, dedicated to all the east coast surfers. Ed is hesitant to explain the meaning of Sleight of Hand before playing it, but he goes on to describe it as a song written about a guy who had to work 60-70 hours a week and wear a clip-on tie. With the Ramones being from NYC, Ed starts the ‘hey ho! let’s go!’ chant from “Blitzkrieg Bop” during the tag of Daughter. The green orbs are lowered down and swing back and forth on the stage during Porch. Before they start the second encore, Ed toasts a guy in front, holding a sign saying he’s at his 100th show and says he owes him a drink. The set is closed out with Sonic Reducer and the first night in Brooklyn ends with a powerful singalong on Indifference.