Pearl Jam celebrated their 50th New York show in style last night (Sept. 4) at Madison Square Garden, welcoming special guests Little Steven Van Zandt, Andrew Watt and opening act Glen Hansard on stage at various points in the evening. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers also busted out three tour debuts and several other deep cuts during the 27-song set, which followed a sold-out show the night before in the same building.
Van Zandt, who was attending his first Pearl Jam show despite Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s long friendship with Bruce Springsteen, assembled with Watt and Hansard for a stomping, show-closing cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” trading vocals and smiles with Vedder up front. At one point during the song, members of Hansard’s band took over for Pearl Jam’s rhythm section of bassist Jeff Ament and Matt Cameron, as Vedder tossed tambourines into the audience.
Earlier in the evening, Watt lived out a childhood dream of performing with his favorite band in his debut appearance on the world’s most famous stage. The producer and musician, who grew up 20 miles outside of Manhattan in Great Neck, produced Pearl Jam’s most recent album, Dark Matter, and pushed the band to tap into the visceral sound of their early albums. Appropriately, he joined Pearl Jam on guitar for one of Dark Matter‘s best tracks, “Waiting for Stevie,” and stuck around for a propulsive run through the vintage “Rearviewmirror.”
To start the encore, Vedder and Hansard duetted on the latter’s “Song of Good Hope,” a touching acoustic song dedicated to some fans battling illness. These moments were balanced by the tour debuts of “Glorified G” (before which Vedder explained he usually hates playing the song due to it being about guns) and covers of Van Zandt’s “I Am a Patriot” and Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer.”
Other uncommon songs included “Hail Hail” and “Leash,” both of which was played for just the second time on the tour. After thanking the New York faithful for sticking by the band for nearly 34 years, Vedder reminded, “There’s power in this audience tonight. There’s power in community. Take this power to the voting booths in November. This is nothing without you.”
Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter tour rolls into Philadelphia on Saturday. Watch clips of the Madison Square Garden performances below.