Beloved rock and rollers Pearl Jam hit the field of the historic Wrigley Field baseball stadium in Chicago, IL for the first time since 2013, celebrating their 25th anniversary with an incredible performance. There’s no love lost between Wrigley and Eddie Vedder, as the Pearl Jam frontman has been known to make an appearance at the Chicago baseball stadium to sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” or throw out a ceremonial first pitch. Last night, however, he was there to entertain, and led PJ through a 34-song, three-encore performance for the ages.
Walking out to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” the band immediately jumped into classics “Low Light” and “Release.” The band busted out The Beatles’ “Rain” for the first time in 2016, before breaking into a series of classic tunes like “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” “Do The Evolution” and more. One of the more touching moments of the set came when the band played “Light Years” as a tribute to Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip. Downie was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer earlier this year, and decided to tour with the Hips one last time. Their final show was played last night as well, in Canada.
The remainder of the main set included covers of Bob Dylan’s “Masters Of War” and Little Steven’s “I Am A Patriot,” and concluded with big hits “Jeremy” and “Better Man.” The band then got into more classic music during their first encore, including “Bee Girl” and “Just Breathe” to open. The band would later welcome out Steve Gleason, former NFL player who found inspiration in Pearl Jam’s music while fighting ALS. Gleason was on stage during Pearl Jam’s performance of “Inside Job,” creating quite the emotional moment.
The first encore also featured a mini-tribute to Pink Floyd with both “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Comfortably Numb” making appearances. After “Corduroy” and “Porch,” the band returned once more with a quick four-song encore that included hits like “Go,” “Black,” Cheap Trick’s “Surrender,” and “Alive.” With just a few more tricks up their sleeve, Pearl Jam then returned for a third encore, playing “All The Way” and closing out where they’d started, by performing The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”
Check out a few more video highlights and the full setlist from this incredible performance, all below.
Release
Rain
Sad
Masters Of War
I Believe In Miracles