Watch: Pearl Jam Wrap ‘Dark Matter’ World Tour in Australia with Temple of the Dog and Bruce Springsteen Bust-Outs
Photo Credit: Bahram Foroughi
On Saturday, Nov. 23, Pearl Jam ended its 2024 Dark Matter World Tour at Sydney, Australia’s Engie Stadium. During the second night of the double-header finale, Pearl Jam delivered a massive 27-song setlist lined with highlights, including a bust-out from Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike,” not heard by live audiences in nearly a decade. During the encore, Vedder had another surprise in store for fans, covering Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” for the first time since 2006.
Pearl Jam kicked off the final performance in its tour with the deeper cut “Garden” from its celebrated 1991 album Ten, then dashed through towering treatments of more Ten and Yield classics “Why Go,” “Brain of J.,” “In Hiding” and “Even Flow.” Vitalogy rarity “Tremor Christ” followed, before the band tore into its 12th studio album Dark Matter with “React, Respond” and the title track “Dark Matter.” Pearl Jam dished out further fan favorites through the main portion of its show, laying out “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” from 1993’s VS., “Save You” from 2002’s Riot Act, 1993’s “Dissident” and 1998’s Yield standout “Given To Fly.”
While rounding out to the set close, Pearl Jam busted out Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike” from the iconic grunge supergroup’s self-titled 1991 debut. Frontman Eddie Vedder, who delivered a full-force vocal treatment of the staple, played a key role in Temple of the Dog’s sole offering, lending his voice as a counterpart to the late Chris Cornell’s powerful performance; on Saturday, Vedder performed both his and Cornell’s parts for a nostalgic and moving rendition, with Pearl Jam and TOD members drummer Matt Cameron, bassist Jeff Ament, and guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready joining in the tribute to the dearly departed icon.
With “Immortality” and “Rearviewmirror,” Pearl Jam wrapped up the main set on an anthemic note before returning for a stacked 10-song encore, which commenced with an emotional Vedder solo treatment of Springsteen’s “No Surrender.” The frontman noted that the inspiration for this 18-year bustout was a synchronicity between his and Springsteen’s tour conclusions, sharing, “We each just played the last show of our big long tours on the very same day.” To mark the occasion, the band dropped several other covers in the encore, including The English Beat’s “Save It For Later” and The Stooges “T.V. Eye”, then ended the night by sending fans home with Pearl Jam’s 1992 essential “Yellow Ledbetter” to close the 7-month charge.
Read up on Pearl Jam’s Grammy-nominated new album and the tour that brought it around the world–with a tremendous archive of “bootleg” soundboard recordings from the shows–at pearljam.com.
