How Pearl Jam Won My Heart at its 50th NYC Show

I hadn’t seen Pearl Jam play since 1992, when I was a Gen X teen. So I was stoked when my husband surprised us, more than 30 years later, with tickets to their 50th New York City show on Sept. 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t disappoint. It blew me away from the moment I stepped into a time-warped MSG — oozing with middle-aged moms and dads dressed in their best flannel shirts and Doc Martins — to the moment the band closed out the show with a fiery rendition of their 1994 hit “Yellow Ledbetter.”

While the sold-out, 27-song concert went off flawlessly, there were a few particularly incredible moments between 8:45 p.m. and 11 p.m. that made the show one of the greatest I’ve ever seen.

Opening with the atmospheric “Garden” — from their breakthrough album Ten, Pearl Jam  launched into a series of classics right off the bat, including “Corduroy” and “Even Flow.” The latter is a particular favorite of mine, taking me back to the earliest years of Lollapalooza, when grunge was the anthem of my generation’s collective teen angst. The band (lead vocalist Eddie Vedder; lead guitarist Mike McCready; rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard; bassist Jeff Ament; drummer Matt Cameron, and touring keyboardist Boom Gaspar) might have aged a bit, but they are possibly stronger musicians than when they wrote Ten and Vs.

But it was the band’s rendition of “Daughter” that truly stood out. Vedder and his bandmates are progressive advocates for women’s rights, and Vedder used the stage as a platform to talk about the importance of supporting pro-choice politicians.

While Vedder stopped short of endorsing a specific political candidate, the moment reinvigorated me: There are so many younger bands in genres like punk who are too afraid of alienating their fans to stand up for anything. Not Vedder. He is not afraid of saying how he feels about guns (hates them), women’s rights (stands for them), or the importance of public health.

The night was full of fun surprises, too. Andrew Watt, an epic guitar slayer who produced Pearl Jam’s latest album Dark Matter, hopped onstage to play guitar for a few songs, as did opener Glen Hansard, and Little Steven Van Zandt. They were joined by Hansard’s band for a larger-than-life rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” while Vedder gave out tambourines to the audience.

Pearl Jam saved the best for last, with “Alive” — their first big 1991 single with one of the most memorable riffs in rock history — and “Yellow Ledbetter.” I admittedly was bummed they didn’t play “Black,” which is my favorite Pearl Jam song. But it’s better to leave a concert wanting more — and many who left MSG that night around 11 could have easily stayed another 30 minutes or longer.

Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.