Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden [night 1, photos/review]

Photos + Article by Will Oliver

Pearl Jam returned to New York for the first time in two years for on September 3rd, for the first show of their sold out two-night run at Madison Square Garden. The performance came as a part of their Dark Matter World Tour and marked my first time catching them there somehow since 2016.

Glen Hansard

Kicking off the show was Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard who is touring in support of his 2023 album, All That Was East Is West of Me Now. It was a fiercer more plugged in performance from Hansard who delivered a rocking set that got the crowd warmed up. He brought out fellow Irish singer josh Ofeefe for an acapella cover of Charles O’Neill’s “Foggy Dew” and the legend Lenny Kaye for a cover of Them’s “Gloria.”

Seeing a band like Pearl Jam brings a level of uncertainty and excitement in regards to what songs they will give you, given that no two shows will be the same. You know you’ll get a handful of new songs and a few of the live staples – but everything else is up for grabs. As they delivered their rousing performance, it became instantly clear during the opening run of “Pendulum”, “Better Man” and “Immortality” that they had the crowd in their hands as usual, and we were in for another special night.

They ran through six songs off Dark Matter, a strong return to form from the band, with its tracks sprinkled throughout the epic setlist that took from across their catalog. Eddie Vedder was in particularly good spirits, delivering his vocals with particular passion and freely moving and leaping across the stage with precision and ease. The rest of the band were locked in step, delivering a performance that only grew and picked up steam as it went along.

The encore kicked off with Vedder performing a solo cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” which was masterfully followed by “Inside Job”, one of the band’s more underrated recent cuts. The finale of the regular set featured epic performances of staples “Once” and “Alive” before the house lights came on in traditional fashion for the final moments, which was epic covers of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley and “Indifference” that marked an evening well spent.

Find a photo gallery of both Pearl Jam and Glen Hansard’s sets, along with the setlist.