Pearl Jam Madison Square Garden Concert History

Night two at the Garden opens with…Garden. Mike gets a chance to get into the groove early and Matt pounds away like thunder, and Ed goes down front to sing the end. During the bridge of Corduroy, Ed wants to tell a story:

“I think it was two years [ago] when we played in this very building, and they had some event down below…like a TV thing, it was gonna happen the next morning. They focused all the lights, got all the lights ready for the TV show in the morning, and when they came in the morning…all the lights were falling off and all fucked up and all out of place because the building had been rocking so hard the night before…let’s do that again!”

Hail, Hail has a very cool smoke/flame visual. Ed says that it’s the band’s 50th show in New York City, and it’s Even Flow that shows up early tonight. Afterwards, he speaks again:

“This is a Public Service Announcement…because there’s some shit that will go down in the next couple of months that will dictate what will go down in the next three or four decades….and women, I’m speaking to you, but dads, you can listen too…the rights of women are not just being threatened, they are already being taken away. I know it’s a little early to be getting into this shit, but let’s get it over with! So the right to choose issue, it used to involve religious fanatics, and then politicians got involved, not because they care one way or another, they just would like the votes. And now, it’s evolved into judges…and women of all ages are up against a Supreme Court…it’s time to vote, and as the great Patti Smith said, ‘People Have the Power’, never have truer words been spoken…women, feel empowered, vote for your own interests, help a sister out while you’re at it.”

Daughter follows, with Ed again changing the lyrics in the tag, this time to “…politicians leave our girls alone/judges leave our girls alone/just to make sure, be your own.” Dark Matter again has the ambient intro and visual that we were used to seeing from Scared of Fear. Prior to Won’t Tell, Ed sees a fan named Rob wearing a Soundgarden shirt (at which point Mike plays a tease of “Superunknown”), and then points out that Steven Van Zandt (of the E Street Band and The Sopranos) is in attendance, mentions his SiriusXM radio show and that he had told the band that the song would be a huge hit, and it should be a single. After a powerful I Am Mine, Ed talks about how Jeff and Stone had been to NYC before PJ made it there, and talks about his first time being in a big building meeting with the record company, calling it “a dream come true.” He tells the crowd “…this one’s all you” before starting Small Town. He asks the crowd if they should play a request:

“…it’s for a good friend of ours, he wanted to hear it, and I realized…he said ‘Why don’t you like playing that song?’ I said, it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I…that I…and actually, you know what, I don’t like playing this song…because it’s about guns, and I hate fucking guns! Even if it’s a song criticizing guns, I don’t even…I hate fucking guns! It’s like the first day of school, and then today, in Georgia, where they don’t have as good gun laws as they do in New York City, there was another big shooting…every other fucking day, so why would I want to spend four minutes singing a fucking song about guns?”

The “friend” is Howard Stern, and Ed adds “this one’s called…well, you know.” He exhorts the crowd during Jeremy, interjecting “…c’mon, c’mon!” Andrew Watt is introduced and helps out on Waiting For Stevie, taking the solo, and then sticks around to play Ed’s guitar part on RVM.

I Am a Patriot, a Steven Van Zandt cover, opens the massive 10-song encore with Ed changing the lyric to “…I was walking/with my wife of 24 years…,” the song’s first appearance since Fenway 2018. After Just Breathe, Glen Hansard comes out on stage, and Ed talks about all the shoutouts they’ve had requests for, mentioning Andrew Greenhall, who’s a transplant patient, and Alison, a mom of a 13-year-old named Sam who has a rare disease, and dedicates Song of Good Hope to them and others. Ed gets worked up during Gimme Some Truth, and the unlikely combo of Setting Sun and Sonic Reducer follows. Leash is a surprise, and it looks like the band is rushing a little with the curfew approaching during Alive, but then Watt, Hansard (with his band), and Van Zandt all join on stage for the Rockin’ in the Free World party, with so many people on stage that Jeff ends up playing tambourine. Order is restored on stage, and Ed says “this is how we say goodbye” before Ledbetter, adding that in Hawaii they say “a hui huo, see you later.”

Ed raises his wine bottle as the band enters the stage and Matt counts off Pendulum. Better Man is a surprise in the two spot, just like Porch was at Wrigley…could this be a new trend? Ed gets the crowd going as the song transitions into the Save it for Later tag, and starts a “don’t run away” call-and-response. More Vitalogy early as Immortality follows, bathed in red stage light. Mike introduces himself with a fantastic solo, Jeff has a nice run during the build, and Matt takes over, putting on an incredible percussive show. The opening Dark Matter run is back, and after Scared of Fear Ed talks about how they’ve played 71 shows in the state of New York, and 48 times in New York City (close, if you include TV performances and all the extra stuff), and mentions playing the Wetlands and CBGB’s in 1991. He continues, adding “you make us feel, New York City, like the luckiest fucking people in the world.” He says React, Respond could also have been called “Don’t complain, vote,” and comments “I like this one” before Wreckage. Afterwards, he points out that it’s Fashion Week in New York, and jokes with the band about their obviously fashionable attire, leading appropriately into a tight, fast Satan’s Bed. There’s a birthday request for a fan, Kim Cruz, from her daughter-in-law, and Ed says “Kim, Mike McCready’s gonna play a red-hot solo on this one.” Out Of My Mind appears for only the seventh time, but the second time this year and third in the last two years. Ed plays a short instrumental intro to Love Boat Captain, and the band joins in for a little while before Ed brings it back down to start the vocals, but has to take a few moments to remember the words. Black is the showstopper, Mike losing his mind during the solo, then going up against his amps. Boom is prominent on the piano at the end as Ed guides it in with a tender We Belong Together. After, Ed speaks:

“Adam, you’re here, it’s your second show…Adam’s 13! I was thinking about you, because between the last time we saw him, a couple of years ago, and this time, some hard kinda life has transpired, and Jesse [Adam’s dad] lost his wife, and Adam lost his mom…her name was Joanne…and I know there’s some healing power in music, but the fact that you can be in this room tonight and hopefully be with your people, that takes some courage and guts, and faith and trust, and this band is so grateful to have that trust from you. Adam, wherever you are, I’m sending love…[Adam is found by the cameras and shown on screen] Adam is one of those beautiful kids that has autism…and here’s the thing I wanna mention…he was bullied in school so badly, that he had to change schools…but you know what I really can’t believe, is a fucking parent who lets their kid get away with bullying another kid, a beautiful kid, what kind of fucking parent is that? You think you’re being Presidential or some shit? Fuck. You. So I wanna say ‘fuck you’ to those parents, and I also want to say ‘fuck you’ to the goddamn school who let that go on and didn’t do anything to protect [Adam]…come on now! So, back home, tell ’em Ed Vedder said so, tell ’em Pearl Jam said to fuck off!”

Given to Fly has the band silhouetted on the screen, and Ed changes the line to “…faceless kids…” and the “fuckers!” line has some extra juice behind it. McCready takes over again during Porch, holding the neck of his guitar out to the crowd at the end.

Ed comes out with an acoustic guitar after the break and talks about how we can’t let ourselves be divided and asks for the phone fireflies before Imagine. Steve Gleason is in attendance, which means a standout performance of Inside Job. Ed tells a story about being in NYC about 15 years ago and being out with some friends late and ending up in a hotel room and writing Unthought Known. Once leads into Alive, but no Footsteps. The Alive solo is incredible, Mike adding lots of extra brightness and color. Indifference finally makes its 2024 debut, closing the show. Ed changes the lyric to “…we will scream our lungs out…” and thanks the crowd one last time.