Pearl Jam recently returned to New Zealand for the first time in a decade and the concert opened with the Pixies and Liam Finn accompanied by EJ Barnes.
Before Pearl Jam took to the stage, the Maori group Te Whare Karioi led by Piripi Davis performed a Haka. The concert kicked off with the notes of Given To Fly followed by several classics of the band such as Small Town and Corduroy. In the main set several songs from Dark Matter were played while at the end of Daughter the classic Monkey Gone to Heaven by Pixies was proposed. Pearl Jam seemed happy to be in New Zealand, especially given how the recent US elections went.
Pearl Jam mentions Donald Trump
The main set also featured Quick Escape, which is more relevant than ever (“ Crossed the border to Morocco / Kashmir to Marrakesh / The lengths we had to go to then / To find a place Trump hadn’t f***ed up yet ”) given that Donald Trump won the American elections just the day before this concert, becoming the new president of the United States of America.
During Lukin, Eddie also fell to the ground although he got up without major problems immediately afterwards.
The encore opened with Just Breathe, which Ed introduced with the following words, “ We can’t expect things to be perfect. Some people might be afraid of progress. We can be inclusive and make progress .” Curiously, on the same day as the concert, ‘our’ Zucchero released a cover of the track originally included in Backspacer on his new album of covers.
The concert ended after two and a quarter hours with the notes of Alive followed by Rockin’ In The Free World played in the company of Liam Finn.
Setlist: [Intro Music: Dark Entree] Given To Fly, Small Town, Why Go, Corduroy, React, Respond, Eruption (Van Halen), Dark Matter, Wreckage, Daughter/Monkey Gone to Heaven (Pixies)/ Another Brick In The Wall Part II (Pink Floyd), Even Flow, Won’t Tell, Jeremy, Quick Escape, Wishlist, Not For You/Modern Girl (Sleater-Kinney), Spin The Black Circle, Lukin, Porch
Encore: Just Breathe, Habit (w/ Liam Finn), State Of Love And Trust, Hard To Imagine, Do The Evolution, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World (Neil Young, w/ Liam Finn & EJ Barnes)
