Pearl Jam got to rock out with one of the legendary guitar heroes in rock Thursday (5/8) in Nashville, TN, when they had Peter Frampton join them on stage.
Frampton co-founded Humble Pie at age 18 with Steve Marriott (previously of Small Faces), played on George Harrison's first post-Beatles solo album, and went on to record what would be the best selling live record of all time Frampton Comes Alive.
Eddie Vedder and company had him join them on "Black" which also contained a smidge of Frampton's hit "Do You Feel Like We Do."
The show was the 7th stop in the 2025 Dark Matter Tour and the band's second sold-out night at the Bridgestone Arena.
The set was 25 songs and included a generous 8-tune encore.
Before breaking into "Black," Vedder shared with the 20,000 fans that they had been in Music City for several days, going to record stores and buying instruments and meeting people from all over the world.
"They were from very far away places," the singer said, "Scotland, Brazil, Colombia. Their last show before they get deported," he joked.
"This gentleman was someone we looked up to. Before The Ramones, some of our first guitar heroes, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend, he was right up there," Vedder continued.
"It was one of the reason we loved live records and why later we decided to release bootlegs, because of his influence. He's an incredible human being on top of it," he said. "We're very honored to welcome Mr. Peter Frampton."
The only time Frampton collaborated with members of Pearl Jam on wax, it resulted in a Grammy.
In 2007, the Brit won the award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, his first and only Grammy - hard to believe since he's had such a long career that saw him sell 20 million records.
On the track “Blowin’ Smoke” from Fingerprints, Peter Frampton was joined by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready on guitar, Matt Cameron on drums, and Boom Gaspar on Hammond B3 organ.
Night #1 in Nashville (5/6) brought a different type of buzz through the crowd. As the band were getting into "Setting Sun," as the second song of the encore set, Vedder noticed there was an issue happening with one of the fans near the stage.
"Yeah, sorry we gotta stop. Safety first," the singer said as the band stopped about a minute into the tune.
"Had to do it. Sorry. Can't talk about the fragility of life and then play a fucking song while someone's on the ground," he explained.
Sunday (5/11) in North Carolina was far less dramatic. So much so the band chose to dust off a tune they hadn't played live in seven years.
"Hold On" was originally released in 1993 as a bonus track on Vs. The song later found a proper home on the 2003 B‑sides and rarities compilation Lost Dogs.
Pearl Jam is wrapping up this portion of its 2025 North American Tour.
Just two more dates are left on their dance card: May 16 & 18 in Pittsburgh, PA at the PPG Paints Arena
Get your tickets on the Pearl Jam website.
