Eddie Vedder Breaks Out Pearl Jam Deep Cut At Japan Solo Tour Kick Off In Nagoya

Eddie Vedder began a solo acoustic tour of Japan on Tuesday. The Pearl Jam frontman broke out a PJ deep cut for the first time since 2019 at Nagoya’s NTK Hall.

The Japan run marks Vedder’s first solo tour of Japan and also his first solo tour since 2019. Ed kicked off his solo Japan debut with a cover of Pink Floyd's “Brain Damage.” In the 13th song slot, Vedder delivered his first solo rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Parting Ways” in 7 years.

The track closes out PJ’s 2000 album, Binaural, which refers to a recording technique to give a 3D or spatial effect. Vedder struggled with writer’s block during the sessions for the record and “Parting Ways” includes a hidden outro appropriately dubbed, “Writer’s Block,” which sounds like a typewriter recorded binaurally.

As the applause died down following Ed’s mandolin performance of Pearl Jam’s “Can’t Keep,” he said: “I was expecting a very quiet crowd,” which incited more cheers.

“And I’ve been thinking about it a lot for months. And then as the days got closer, I was thinking about it even more. And I was thinking, ‘it’s gonna feel so strange to have a quiet crowd. But however they want to be, I respect.’ But I’m so happy the way you are. Thank you.”

Vedder then delivered “Parting Ways” on electric guitar. Following the deep cut, the Pearl Jam frontman strung together a number of more oft played PJ favorites such as “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” “Corduroy,” “Better Man” and set-closer “Porch.” The two-song encore saw the staple cover of Neil Young's “Rockin’ in the Free World” and a cover of Indio’s 1989 song “Hard Sun.”

Listen to Eddie Vedder’s first solo show in Japan below via the YouTube account Sons of Johnnie LeMaster (“Parting Ways” at 43:00):