The Four Amazing Pearl Jam setlists

So, Pearl jam just wrapped up the American leg of their tour with four shows in Philly, culminating in a show on Halloween night.  Us in the “fanatical” Pearl Jam club were HIGHLY anticipating these shows.  Firstly, Pearl Jam always blows the roof off the joint in Philly; PA and PJ have a long history of mutual love.  Secondly, the band has just really been something special this whole tour, pulling out incredible rarities, being funny, and doing lots of unexpected stuff.  Thirdly, this was wrapping up their tour in the states.  Fourthly, these shows were to be the final rock concerts in the Spectrum, a very storied arena in Philly that the band is very fond of.  Fifthly, the World Series was taking place at the same time as the shows…not really important, but it just added to the insanity of the whole thing. I implore you to check out the tour stats at the end of the blog for a notion of how amazing these guys are as a live band, aside from just the performance itself.  NO BAND of Pearl Jam’s level works this hard to have this many actively played songs, and setlists this varied.  And, as expected, all four setlists were fucking insane. Here they are, with commentary from me:

NIGHT ONE

Set List: Corduroy, Whipping, Hail Hail, Supersonic, Dissident, Unthought Known, Faithfull, Parachutes, Unemployable, Immortality, Green Disease, Not For You/Modern Girl, Rival, Nothingman, Ghost, Do The Evolution, Why Go

1st encore: Bee Girl, Just Breathe with string quartet, The End with string quartet, All Those Yesterdays, State Of Love And Trust, Mankind, The Fixer, Go

2nd encore: Daughter, Love Reign O’er Me, Black, Leash, Rearviewmirror, Rockin’ In The Free World

Most fans don’t consider this the best set of the four, but honestly, if I could turn back time and go to only one, it would probably be this one.  I’m one of the only “Ghost” fans in the world, and nobody really saw it coming (and no one but me seemed to notice).  “Rival” has been on my wish list for years.  I can’t even contemplate how amazing it is that they played “All Those Yesterdays”.   Stone sings “Mankind” and it’s a serious concert rarity.  Also, night one we discovered that for the Philly shows, the band’s entrance music would be the theme from “Rocky”–you’ve got to see it happen in the YouTube videos to understand how awesome it is!  The first YouTube clip below is of their entrance on night one–it’s not the best video but it really gives you a feel for the entrance.

NIGHT TWO

Set List: Animal, All Night, World Wide Suicide, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, I Am Mine, Johnny Guitar, Nothing As It Seems, Gone, Evacuation, Even Flow, Come Back (intro only), No Way, 1/2 Full, Down w/Mike Ness & Jonny “2 Bags” Wickersham, Wishlist, Grievance, Given To Fly, The Fixer, Save You

1st encore: Just Breathe w/string quartet, Lukin w/string quartet, Speed Of Sound, Push Me, Pull Me, Garden, Blood

2nd encore: Last Kiss, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/Save It For Later, The Real Me, Porch, Yellow Ledbetter/Little Wing

“Animal” opener?  Yowza! “No Way” was pulled out earlier in the tour but I’m still not used to seeing it in setlists.  “Push Me, Pull Me”…are you serious?????

NIGHT THREE

Set List: Gonna See My Friend, The Fixer, In My Tree, Given To Fly, Tremor Christ, Untitled/ MFC, Hold On, Unthought Known, In Hiding, Deep, Habit, Cropduster, Off He Goes, Force Of Nature, Present Tense, Got Some, Do The Evolution1st encore: Just Breathe w/string quartet, Parting Ways w/string quartet, Jeremy w/string quartet, Breath, Light Years, Rearviewmirror

2nd encore: Whipping, Crazy Mary, Footsteps, Once, Alive, Sonic Reducer, Baba O’Riley

Holy shit.  There’s almost too much here to mention.   “Tremor Christ” is always a surprise.  “Hold On” gets played for only the second time ever.  The four songs starting with “Deep” through “Cropduster” are all setlist rarities.  I have no idea when the last time was I saw “Parting Ways” on a setlist.   “Jeremy” WITH STRING QUARTET?  “Breath” is one of the songs they pull out when they want the moment to be “special”.

NIGHT FOUR

Set List: Why Go, Last Exit, Corduroy, Severed Hand, The Fixer, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, You Are, Amongst The Waves, Even Flow, Pilate, Unthought Known, Daughter/Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, Johnny Guitar, Rats, I’m Open, I Got Shit, Glorified G, Out Of My Mind, Black, Insignificance, Life Wasted

1st encore: Just Breathe w/string quartet, The End w/string quartet, Low Light, Speed Of Sound, Jeremy w/string quartet, Inside Job, Bugs w/string quartet, Spin The Black Circle, Porch

2nd encore: Whip It, Got Some, Crown Of Thorns, Satan’s Bed, Sweet Lew, Do the Evolution, Better Man/Save It For Later, Smile, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner

First “Pilate” since 2000.  “Out of My Mind” was a fucking IMPROV they played in like 1994, but they put it on the “Not For You” single.  Nobody in the whole world ever expected it to be played again, ever.  “Bugs” had never been played live, and NOBODY EVER EXPECTED IT TO BE.  “Whip It”–the Devo song–was played by Pearl Jam for the first time, and THEY WERE DRESSED UP LIKE DEVO IN THE FAMOUS “WHIP IT” VIDEO.  “Crown of Thorns” is THE ‘special’ song (it was by the band Mother Love Bone, whose lead singer died of a heroin overdose.  Two members of Pearl Jam were in that band.)  “Sweet Lew” is a really shitty but interesting deep track B-side about basketball, sung by bassist Jeff Ament.  Once agian, NO ONE EVER EXPECTED THIS TO BE PLAYED, EVER.  Eddie bounced a basketball into a microphone for extra percussion.

Tour stats:

Openers:

Why Go (6)
Long Road (4)
Sometimes (3)
Of the Girl (2)
Gonna See My Friend (2)
Small Town (1)
Release (1)
Hard to Imagine (1)
In My Tree (1)
Interstellar Overdrive–>Corduroy (1)
Last Exit (1)
Corduroy (1)
Animal (1)

Main Set Closers:

Rearviewmirror (5)
Go (3)
Do the Evolution (3)
Life Wasted (3)
Alive (2)
Blood (2)
Porch (2)
Got Some (1)
Blood (1)
Spin the Black Circle (1)
MFC (1)
Why Go (1)
Save You (1)

Closers:

Yellow Ledbetter (15)
Rockin’ in the Free World (7)
Indifference (2)
Alive (2)
Fuckin’ Up (1)
Baba O’Riley (1)

SONG COUNT:

The Fixer (25)
Got Some (23)
Alive (21)
Even Flow (21)
Do The Evolution (20)
Elderly Woman… (18)
Given To Fly (17)
Why Go (17)
Daughter (15)
Yellow Ledbetter (15)
Corduroy (14)
Unthought Known (14)
Better Man (13)
Black (13)
Just Breathe (11)
Severed Hand (11)
The End (11)
The Real Me (11)
Amongst The Waves (9)
Johnny Guitar (9)
Porch (9)
Present Tense (9)
Rearviewmirror (9)
Save You (9)
Life Wasted (8)
Red Mosquito (8)
Dissident (7)
Down (7)
Go (7)
Hail, Hail (7)
Insignificance (7)
Lukin (7)
Not For You (7)
Rockin´ In The Free World (7)
State Of Love And Trust (7)
Animal (6)
Crazy Mary (6)
Last Exit (6)
Love Reign O’er Me (6)
Spin The Black Circle (6)
Supersonic (6)
Unemployable (6)
All Night (5)
Brother (5)
Faithfull (5)
Gonna See My Friend (5)
I Got Shit (5)
In My Tree (5)
Inside Job (5)
Low Light (5)
Off He Goes (5)
Rats (5)
Wasted Reprise (5)
World Wide Suicide (5)
Bee Girl (4)
Blood (4)
Comatose (4)
Force Of Nature (4)
Grievance (4)
I Am Mine (4)
In Hiding (4)
Indifference (4)
Light Years (4)
Long Road (4)
MFC (4)
Nothingman (4)
Once (4)
Whipping (4)
Wishlist (4)
1/2 Full (3)
Footsteps (3)
Gone (3)
Immortality (3)
Jeremy (3)
Last Kiss (3)
No Way (3)
Sad (3)
Smile (3)
All Those Yesterdays (2)
Brain Of J. (2)
Breakerfall (2)
Breath (2)
Come Back (2)
Crown Of Thorns (2)
Free Jazz (2)
Glorified G (2)
Gods´ Dice (2)
Green Disease (2)
Hard to Imagine (2)
I Believe In Miracles (2)
Leash (2)
Nothing As It Seems (2)
Of The Girl (2)
Parachutes (2)
Satan´s Bed (2)
Sometimes (2)
Sonic Reducer (2)
Speed of Sound (2)
The Needle and the Damage Done (2)
Tremor Christ (2)
You Are (2)
All Along the Watchtower (1)
Alone (1)
Baba O’Riley (1)
Big Wave (1)
Bugs (1)
Cropduster (1)
Deep (1)
Driven To Tears (1)
Evacuation (1)
Fuckin´ Up (1)
Garden (1)
Ghost (1)
Habit (1)
Happy Birthday (1)
Hold On (1)
Hunger Strike (1)
I’m Open (1)
Interstellar Overdrive (1)
Kick Out the Jams (1)
Leaving Here (1)
Little Wing (1)
Man of the Hour (1)
Mankind (1)
Marker In The Sand (1)
Mountain Song (1)
No More (1)
Out Of My Mind (1)
Parting Ways (1)
Pilate (1)
Push Me, Pull Me (1)
Release (1)
Rival (1)
Save It For Later (1)
Sleight Of Hand (1)
So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n Roll Star (1)
Soldier of Love (1)
Sugar Mountain (1)
Sweet Lew (1)
The Golden State (1)
Throw Your Hatred Down (1)
Untitled (1)
Whip It (1)
You´ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (1)