Pearl Jam Continues Digging Deep Into Repertoire On Night 1 In Chicago

While Pearl Jam doesn’t play the same show from night to night, three concerts into their 2023 tour the band is already mixing up their setlists more than usual. Seventeen of the 24 songs the Seattle rockers played last night at Chicago’s United Center were tour debuts with three returning to action for the first time in at least five years.

Pearl Jam picked the beloved “Release” to kick off their first of two shows in Chicago. Next came “Low Light” and then frontman Eddie Vedder was accompanied by Boom Gaspar and Josh Klinghoffer on “Just Breathe” off 2009’s Backspacer. The first bust out arrived a few songs later when the band dusted off Binaural gem “God’s Dice” which was last played on June 24, 2018.

Eddie Vedder spoke about the television show The Bear later in the set. The Bear is based in Chicago and Vedder noted it was an accurate portrayal of his experience as a waiter in restaurants. The vocalist told fans it was bassist Jeff Ament who told him about The Bear and said the next song was “one of the coolest uses of our music connected to a visual he’d ever seen.” Pearl Jam then launched into “Animal” in tribute to The Bear.

The rest of last night’s main set contained both staples and a few rarities with “Comatose” performed for the first time since September 4, 2018. Eddie Vedder delivered a solo performance of Hunters & Collectors’ “Throw Your Arms Around Me” to start the encore. After running through “Inside Job,” “Wishlist,” “Not For You,” “Better Man” and “Alive,” Pearl Jam punctuated the night with a cover of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender.” The tribute to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame band from Chicago had been shelved since August 22, 2016.

View highlights from last night’s Pearl Show via fan-shot footage below:

Setlist (via PearlJam.com)

Setlist: Release, Low Light, Just Breathe, Retrograde, Who Ever Said, Corduroy, God’s Dice, Faithful, Quick Escape, Animal, Light Years, Even Flow, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, In My Tree, Comatose, Down, Rearviewmirror

Encore: Throw Your Arms Around Me, Inside Job, Wishlist, Not For You, Better Man, Alive, Surrender