Pearl Jam Honors Bears Legend Walter Payton & Busts Out ‘Little Wing’ At Wrigley Field

Pearl Jam capped a two-night run at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on Saturday night. The band paid tribute to Chicago sports legend Walter Payton and broke out a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” for the first time since 2016 to bring an end to this year’s visit to the Friendly Confines.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. Vedder’s recent choice of stage attire has been a #34 Chicago Bears jersey honoring late NFL legend Walter Payton and coinciding with Pearl Jam’s 34th year as a band.

Vedder relayed a story of being taken by his uncle to see the Chicago Bears practice in 1978. The 12-year-old Vedder had an unforgettable experience meeting Walter Payton, which he shared with the Chicago audience. Vedder then brought out Walter Payton’s son Jarrett Payton while photos of his father were shown on the large video screens.

Vedder then dedicated the subsequent “Given To Fly” to “number 34” and alter the lyrics of the song to reference Wrigley Field. Watch the Walter Payton tribute with Jarrett Payton’s appearance below:

Later in the evening, Vedder commenced the encore in typical solo fashion, offering the Dark Matter Tour debut of “Throw Your Arms Around Me.” Tour supporting act Glen Hansard made another appearance, coming out to join Vedder for their first public performance of Hansard’s “Falling Slowly” from the 2007 film, Once. The pair then worked up a duo rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Smile.”

The rest of Pearl Jam came back out as Hansard exited ahead of the Dark Matter track “Setting Sun.” The encore continued with back-to-back songs from Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut album, Ten, “Jeremy” and “Alive.” Next came a cover of The Who’s classic “Baba O’Riley.”

Vedder and his bandmates then started up “Yellow Ledbetter,” leading to a singalong with the Wrigley Field audience. Guitarist Mike McCready then led play the familiar into that led the segue into Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing.” According to setlist database Live Footsteps, Saturday’s performance was the sixth time Pearl Jam covered Hendrix’s anthem, which they last played in 2016.

Watch Pearl Jam’s Wrigley Field finale below: