Pearl Jam Rio de Janeiro, BR Concert History

Band is in a great mood for the 3rd show of 2018. Release, Low Light and Small Town set the early tone, but after Ed’s brief greeting they kick into high gear with Go, All Night, and Animal. This show is filled with extended jams and many songs are played longer than normal. 1-2-3 punch of Jeremy, Corduroy, and Even Flow punctuates the middle section, giving Mike the spotlight. Jeff leads the outro jam on Immortality. Chad Smith (RHCP) joins the band for the third live performance of new song Can’t Deny Me. The South American crowd puts their stamp once again on Do the Evolution. Ed goes on a delicate improv after We Belong Together during an almost 9-minute Black, with the lyrics:

You’re still in my heart
You’re still here in my heart
I keep you, keep you
Not in a box, not in a box
In my heart

Jeff takes the first 3 solo breaks on Leaving Here, leaving the 4th to Matt. Blood is dedicated to the opening band Royal Blood. It’s all fan favorites to finish off the night, starting with a crowd-heavy Better Man, with some call and response and a snippet of the Ramones “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” before Save it for Later kicks into high gear. Josh Klinghoffer, also from the Chili Peppers, takes Mike’s guitar for Alive and shreds. Chad Smith returns for Rockin’ in the Free World, and Josh gets a little lost on his solo but finds his groove. A Ten-heavy setlist, with 7 songs featured.

Written by: David Ritter

You can feel the energy in the crowd as Eddie walks out with wine and notebook in hand and grabs a guitar to kick off the night with Unthought Known. The crowd immediately shouts along and claps. While Eddie is offstage during Last Exit, the crowd helps out and sings the chorus until Ed comes back. The band and Ed clap and “hey” along during the breakdown of Blood. Only after Corduroy does the band stop for break, and Ed addresses the crowd in their native tongue. The crowd responds with uproarious cheering. During GTF, Eddie lifts the back of his shirt over his head as he and the entire audience scream, “Well fuckers we still stand.” There is a great singalong during Nothingman. At this point the vibe between the band and crowd seems obvious through the interplay of the clapping, dancing, and singing along with one another. Lots of singing along and dancing during Even Flow. During Daughter, the connection between the crowd and band is clear as Eddie plays off the crowd and follows the crowd a bit into an It’s OK tag. Immortality is dedicated to “someone over there,” and Ed seems to lose himself in Mike’s killer solo. The crowd is really into the newer music, and Eddie really gets into the groan on Got Some. During the beginning of Why Go, the crowd and Eddie sing the heys at a thunderous volume.

To begin encore 1, Eddie says “we have to argue about the songs we want to play, because we want to play many more of them.” He goes on to talk about Matt Cameron playing drums in another legendary band. He says that while Pearl Jam is 20, X is 35 and this is their first time in Brazil. Eddie says, “you were perfect!” Ed introduces Just Breathe by talking about an asteroid coming to Earth. At the end of the story, he says that you need to tell the person next you that you love them. The crowd sings along for the entire song almost louder than Ed. The band is super tight during I Believe In Miracles, but the crowd seems unfamiliar; this is one of the few songs they don’t sing along to. During State Of Love And Trust, Mike comes over to Ed towards the end of his solo for Ed to scream “He na na na na, there’s somethin’!” into Mike’s guitar as as he shreds. Ed introduces Of The Earth by prefacing, “you may not know this song,” but the band has a big time jam during the breakdown. Do The Evolution is full of dancing in the crowd and on stage. Mike jumps, Eddie moves back and forth strutting like Mick Jagger and Jeff is grooving and doing some jumps of his own. Even Stone starts dancing during his brief solo. Jeremy continues the sing along section, and the crowd continues singing the “Oh’s” after the song is over. And Eddie says, “From here to there to there from here to there…One of the best groups of people we could ever play for. The most active. Thank you. We’re very grateful for you.”

Ed introduces Pink Floyd’s Mother as a song they’ve never played before a large crowd before, the only time it was covered was for The Tonight Show back in September. During Better Man the crowd provides the perfect vocal accompaniment to Ed’s strumming on the entirety of the first verse until Ed points at himself to say it’s his turn and he holds the note. It’s a beautiful moment. During Black, Eddie and the crowd go back and forth on the vocals towards the end including the We Belong Together tag, and Eddie sways back and forth with his wine bottle in hand. Black Balloons somehow enter the audience before Stone kicks off Alive. During RITFW, Ed throws what seems like dozens of tambourines, guitar pics, and more memorabilia to enthusiastic audience members while the band jams. Ed asks if they can handle one more and they go into Indifference. Ed forgets the first lines and looks to the audience for help and the audience provides confusing direction; Ed picks it up for “One more day in hell.” It was awesome how neither the audience nor Ed knew the first verse at that moment. Yellow Ledbetter ends with Mike seated on the edge of the stage strumming and waving goodbye to folks.