Eddie Vedder kicked off a European solo tour in Amsterdam on Saturday night. Reeling from the death of his longtime friend and collaborator Chris Cornell, the performance was said to be an emotional one, with Vedder playing several songs in tribute to the Soundgarden singer.
In his opening performance of Pearl Jam’s “Long Road”, Vedder changed the lyrics to “Without you/ something is missing.” A cover of Cat Stevens’ “Trouble” followed. Vedder than played Pearl Jam’s “Sometimes” during which he cried out, “Where were you, dear God?” Other notable performances included his own composition “Without You”, a cover of Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” (a song about heroin addiction), and Pearl Jam’s “Immortality”. He opened the first encore with a cover of Fugazi’s “I’m So Tired”, which features lyrics like, “Out here/ Barely see my breath/ Surrounded by jealousy and death/ I can’t be reached/ Only had one call/ Dragged underneath Separate from you all/ You all.”
At one point during the concert, a fan yelled out, “I love you!”, to which Vedder responded, “Thank you. I need it – we all need it. I’m thinking of a lot of people tonight. And some in particular and their families. And I just know that healing takes time, if it ever happens. It takes time, and that means you have to start somewhere. So let it be music. Let it be love and togetherness. And let it be Amsterdam.”
A PearlJam.com member named Electro_UK who attended the show, posted the following account to the band’s message board,
“The show was pretty much entirely about Chris without directly mentioning him. It was clear Eddie couldn’t bring himself to talk about it head on. He spoke a little how the healing process can start with music and made numerous references to how sad he was and how much he and his friends were struggling.
Frankly it is the bravest performance I have ever seen. At times it seemed like he was a word or two away from breaking into tears. He mumbled more than usual, he violently stamped into the floor on Immortality and others and after ‘The End’ I thought he was ready to just walk off and not play anymore. There were funny moments and he picked up in the second half. You could hear the crowd emotionally gasp when Light Years started. On the outro to ‘Sometimes’ he cried out ‘Where were you, dear God?’ It was heart breaking.”
Watch fan-shot footage from the concert below. The complete setlist follows.
Setlist:
Long Road (Pearl Jam song)
Trouble (Cat Stevens cover)
Sometimes (Pearl Jam song)
Can’t Keep (Pearl Jam song)
Sleeping by Myself
Without You
Longing to Belong (with Jonas Pap)
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young Cover)
I Am Mine (Pearl Jam song)
Light Years (Pearl Jam song)
Good Woman (Cat Power cover)
Far Behind
No Ceiling
Guaranteed
Rise
I’m Open (Pearl Jam song)
Better Man (Pearl Jam song)
Immortality (Pearl Jam song)
Porch (Pearl Jam song)
Encore:
I’m So Tired (Fugazi cover)
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town (Pearl Jam song)
Imagine (John Lennon cover)
Heroes (David Bowie cover) (Partial)
Just Breathe (Pearl Jam song)
Lukin (Pearl Jam song)
Song Of Good Hope (Glen Hansard cover) (with Glen Hansard)
Falling Slowly (The Swell Season cover) (with Glen Hansard)
The End (Pearl Jam song)
Encore 2:
Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
Hard Sun
