Photo: Getty Images North America
Pearl Jam wrapped up the first North American leg of their Dark Matters tour in Seattle with a special two-night stand and treated hometown fans to a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" (in the style of Johnny Cash). Eddie Vedder has played the acoustic cover five times before during solo shows but this is the first time he performed it with Pearl Jam.
“There’s no other guest list as big as the one as we have when we’re in Seattle,” Vedder said before beginning the song. “San Diego, Chicago.. nope. Seattle (laughs). To be honest, I wish it were longer. There are certain names that I so deeply wish were on the guest list tonight, but we lost them too early and in ways we could never imagine. D***it if I can’t stop thinking about them, but that’s a good thing too, I guess.”
The Seattle grunge scene has notably lost many musicians at an early age, like Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell.
Near the end of the song, Vedder suggested playing regular shows in Seattle (this was Pearl Jam's first hometown concert since 2018). “God****it, we might not play again in Seattle for awhile,” he said. “[Arena staff] did say that we can play anytime we want, and they’ve made it pretty nice for us. This could be something maybe we do more often. Tuesdays at Climate Pledge, something like that. Thursdays…”
“I’ll see you in the car next to me,” he continued as the band began closing song “Setting Sun.” “Thank you for 33-and-a-third years. Imagine that.”
Pearl Jam take the Dark Matters tour to Europe next and then plan to head back to North America in August. See a full list of tour dates on the band's official website and watch Vedder cover "Hurt" below.