Pearl Jam wrapped up their epic Dark Matter Tour with a number of covers and a ten-song encore, sounding very much like a band that didn't want the fun to end.
The 37-stop tour visited eight countries and had a scary hiccup in June where singer Eddie Vedder got so sick they had to cancel two UK gigs. Later he told the fans in Spain, "it almost felt like a near-death experience. It was very uncomfortable, and it got frightening. It felt like chest bronchitis. It felt like maybe you couldn’t breathe, and maybe you wouldn’t make it through the night, and maybe you’d have to go to the hospital.”
Pearl Jam's show Saturday (11/23) was the opposite. Eddie and the band were at full strength, energized, and poised to rock all night.
Putting the new album in the back seat, in a way, the veteran band played a have dozen Dark Matter tunes in Melbourne (11/18), and five during their first night in Sydney (11/21), they only performed four on the final night.
Of those four was "Something Special" which only saw the light of day in a handful of gigs on the tour, most recently at Fenway Park in September.
That made room for "Hunger Strike," the Temple of the Dog duet Vedder sang with Chris Cornell in 1991 as a tribute to Andrew Wood who had recently died.
The merging of the two strong grunge voices honoring the late Mother Love Bone frontman who died in 1990, not only was powerful song both emotionally and sonically, but it helped launch the career of Pearl Jam who was formed when Stone Gossard (guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass) picked up the pieces by hiring Vedder to lead their new venture.
34 years later they haven't done too shabby, which is why Vedder, who grew up in Chicago, has been wearing a Walter Payton Chicago Bears jersey to celebrate their run.
"Sweetness" was not just a great running back, but a gentle man whose strength and agility made him a hall of famer, and some say the best ever. It would be hard to disagree.
Pearl Jam has performed "Hunger Strike" just two dozen times over their career.
The last time was on 10/26/14 at one of Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit show where PJ were regulars. Vedder was joined by Cornell, who died just a few years later.
Eddie's side band, Earthlings, have covered it four times, but this was the first with Pearl Jam in a decade.
The first tune of the encore was an acoustic version of Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender," which many believe The Boss wrote for/about Little Steven shortly after it became evident that the guitarist really wasn't going to return to the E. Street Band for a long time.
Pearl Jam had only played the Born in the USA hit twice previously, first in 2005 and then in 2006.
This fall also marks the 20th anniversary of Vedder first singing "No Surrender" live. On Oct. 13, 2004, during a political rally called Vote For Change, Bruce Springsteen rocked out with legends like John Fogerty and Jackson Browne.
Bruce also did a trio of tunes with Vedder, the first being "No Surrender," which might be why Eddie has not played it much since then because, how are you gonna top that?
Typically you know a Pearl Jam show is about to be over when you hear then cover Neil's "Rockin in the Free World," a song they either close with or play right before the final tune.
They switched that up at the ENGIE Stadium in Sydney by leaving it off the setlist entirely and closing the show with the Jimi Hendrix classic, "Little Wing."
This, too, is a rarely performed cover. PJ has only done it now eight times, the last was this summer at Wrigley Field, the original home of the Bears.
Over their 37 dates, Pearl Jam played 29 different covers featuring artists like Victoria Williams, Tom Waits, Ted Nugent and Pink Floyd.
The band is taking a much deserved break through the holidays, but if you want to catch that final show, it will be available on the Pearl Jam station on SiriusXM (channel 22) next month, and it will be available on Nugs.net.
