Yesterday, Sept. 17, Pearl Jam brought the North American portion of its sprawling Dark Matter World Tour to a close with the second in a pair of performances at Boston’s Fenway Park. Following the thrilling set opener on Sunday, Sept. 15, last night’s show closed the band’s 22-stop stateside sprint with a bang, adding two further sets lined with certified classics and rarities to an unforgettable summer of touring. Among the highlights from the two-night run were special guest appearances from Glen Hansard and John Krasinski.

Pearl Jam took the stage on Sunday with the beloved B-side “Footsteps,” setting off a set that dug deep in the band’s cannon for essentials and rarities alike. After three decades on the forefront of grunge, the band has a great deal to celebrate, but still found the space for five key selections from its 12th studio album Dark Matter, dropping thrilling treatments of “Scared of Fear,” “React, Respond,” “Wreckage.” “Something Special,” and the title track. An exciting surprise of alternative figureheads’ penultimate U.S. show arrived with a bust-out of “Blood,” which was last staged on Sept. 2, 2018, at Fenway; this inclusion seems to have been relatively unplanned for the band as well, who added the 1993’s Vs. standout where “Never Destination” was originally planned.

The band’s energy reached a head in the encore, which saw Peal Jam issue its fourth-ever cover of Glen Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope,” this time calling the Irish musician himself to the stage to support the treatment. After Hansard departed, The Office star John Krasinski unexpectedly turned up for the second-to-last song, adding vocal harmony to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” This shocker brought the band to the timeless show-closer of “Yellow Ledbetter,” which left the fans eager for more on night two.

The iconic hard-rock quintet returned on Tuesday with “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” another moody, heavy-hitting Vs. cut. The band’s follow-up added “Running,” “Won’t Tell” and “Setting Sun” to the tally of Dark Matter tracks staged at Fenway, as well as a tour debut of the 2020 Gigaton single “Superblood Wolfmoon.” The band’s second show placed a greater emphasis on covers, animating Neil Young’s “Fuckin’ Up,” an Eddie Vedder solo treatment of Little Steven’s “I Am a Patriot,” The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and The Swell Season’s “Falling Slowly,” which again featured frontman Hansard. With another explosive “Yellow Ledbetter” closer, the band is off to Oceania to wrap its World Tour.

Pearl Jam will perform again on Nov. 8 in New Zealand, then run through a final trio in Australia on Nov. 13, 16 and 21 to round out its year on the road. For tickets and more information, visit pearljam.com/tour. Read more about Dark Matter here.

Pearl Jam
Fenway Park– Boston
9/15/24
Set: Footsteps, Release, Given to Fly, Hail, Hail, Corduroy, Scared of Fear, React, Respond, Down, In My Tree, Wreckage, Even Flow, Dark Matter, Do the Evolution, Glorified G, Jeremy, Something Special, Rearviewmirror
Encore: Just Breathe, Song of Good Hope*, Blood+, Better Man, Setting Sun, State of Love and Trust, Alive, Rockin’ in the Free World^, Yellow Ledbetter
Notes:
* w/ Glen Hansard
+ LTP Sept. 2, 2018
^ w/ John Krasinski

Pearl Jam
Fenway Park – Boston
9/15/24
Set: Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Even Flow, Daughter, Animal, Save You, Immortality, Corduroy, React, Respond, Running, Not for You, Wreckage, Untitled, Present Tense, Won’t Tell, Superblood Wolfmoon, Once, Black, Fuckin’ Up, Porch
Encore: I Am a Patriot*, Falling Slowly+, Why Go, Waiting for Stevie, Crazy Mary, Unthought Known, Do the Evolution, Alive, Baba O’Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
Notes: 
* Eddie Vedder solo
+ w/ Glen Hansard