After an unfortunately quiet 2015, Pearl Jam is back with a fresh slate of tour dates for this year that include headlining gigs at Jazz Fest, Bonnaroo, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Also of note is the group’s first Madison Square Garden gigs since 2010, where they brought their Backspacer spring tour to a close with a pair of shows at the iconic New York arena. 

The finale of those two shows were positively insane, with the band ripping through a 34-song, career-spanning set that hit on many of their live staples as well as rarities like “Breath,” “I’m Open,” “Push Me, Pull Me,” “Black Red Yellow,” Jeff Ament’s ode to Kareem Abdul-Jabaar “Sweet Lew” and several others.

In the first encore, Eddie Vedder presented a very special rendition of the No Code cut “Lukin” with the help of a string section. The normally rapid-fire rocker was transformed to an emotional acoustic number, as Vedder joked, “you know that thing they say ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat.’ Why does everybody know that saying? Who the fuck is out skinning cats?” With that, he indeed presented another way to skin a cat in what is now known as “Slow Lukin.” Watch below. 
Also on this night, Band of Horses (who opened the show) frontman Ben Bridwell came out to join the band on “Hunger Strike,” the Temple of the Dog tune that Chris Cornell originally wrote with Eddie Vedder and the members of Pearl Jam. The performance marked the first time since 2003 that Cornell wasn’t the guest on the song, with Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker joining the band in Mexico and New Jersey for a trio of performances that summer.