On Wednesday night, the iconic ’90s rock act Pearl Jam began their brief U.S. run of “Home” and “Away” shows, which will see the band mount a brief run of stadium shows in different cities in the wake of their first pair of performances in their native Seattle, WA in five years. The “Home” portion of Pearl Jam’s U.S. summer swing kicked off last night with their first of two “Home” performances at Seattle’s Safeco Field. Given the weight of the performances—the fact that it took place in the band’s hometown, that the show marks the first stop of a highly anticipated tour—Pearl Jam pulled out all the stops, with a number of special surprises planned for the capacity crowd.

For night one in Seattle, Pearl Jam offered up an expansive 33-song setlist, split across one main set and a customary double encore. With the proclamation that “We are Pearl Jam. We are from Seattle, Washington. I guess that must mean that we’re home” early in the evening, the band continued to focus on the salient theme of “home,” giving particular attention to Seattle’s issue with homelessness, notes Rolling Stone. As the band explained when the announced these hometown performances, they have pledged to donate at least $1M worth of proceeds from the shows to aid the area’s homeless population. Frontman Eddie Vedder offered an anecdote about meeting a homeless vet in Seattle before launching into the band’s classic hit “Even Flow”, which was followed up with a cover of The Beatles’ “Help!” and the group’s similarly named original, “Help, Help”. He also imparted some ispirational sentiments to the crowd, noting “We can solve this issue together. This city can prove to the rest of the nation that if it can happen here, it can anywhere.”

Pearl Jam – “Help” [The Beatles cover], “Help, Help”

 

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After the band’s main set, which featured take after take on fan-favorite Pearl Jam classics in addition to covers of Neil Young‘s “Throw Your Hatred Down” and Little Steven‘s “I Am A Patriot”, the group performed a heavy-hitting encore. First, Pearl Jam opened with their debut cover of The White Stripes‘ beloved hit “We’re Going To Be Friends”, a tune which was dedicated to teachers and the band members’ children, with Vedder’s daughters joining the band on stage along with two of their teachers who wore Seattle Mariners jerseys with the name “VEDDER” emblazoned on the back.

Pearl Jam – “We’re Going To Be Friends” [The White Stripes cover]

 

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Later in the first encore, Pearl Jam welcomed out a “great friend of the band… and also one of Barack Obama‘s favorites in the world”, famed singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, for a rendition of her own “Again Today”, a tune off Carlile’s 2003 We’re Growing Up. For their second encore, the band pulled heavily from other rock greats in addition to their own material. After opening with “Wasted Reprise” and “Better Man”, the group offered a cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Comfortably Numb” ahead of their own “Alive”. Drawing from The Beatles and Neil Young’s catalogs for the second time in the night, Pearl Jam ran through The Beatles’ “I’ve Got A Feeling” and Young’s “Rockin’ The Free World” before ending the night in full with “Yellow Ledbetter”.

Pearl Jam w/ Brandi Carlile – “Again Today”

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Pearl Jam wraps up their two-night stint at Safeco Field with another sold-out show on Friday, August 10th. For more information on Pearl Jam’s upcoming shows, head to the band’s website.

Setlist: Pearl Jam | Safeco Field | Seattle, WA | 8/8/2018

Set: Long Road, Release, Low Light, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Corduroy, Go, Do the Evolution, Mind Your Manners, Throw Your Hatred Down [Neil Young cover], Lightning Bolt, Given to Fly, All Those Yesterdays, Even Flow, Help! [The Beatles], Help Help, Black, Setting Forth, I Am a Patriot [Little Steven], Porch

Encore One: We’re Going to Be Friends [White Stripes cover, debut], Nothing as It Seems, Let Me Sleep, Breath, Again Today [Brandi Carlile cover with Brandie Carlile], State of Love and Trust, Rearviewmirror

Encore Two: Wasted Reprise, Better Man, Comfortably Numb [Pink Floyd cover], Alive, I’ve Got A Feeling [Beatles cover], Rockin’ The Free World [Neil Young cover], Yellow Ledbetter

[H/T Consequence of Sound]