Pearl Jam kicked off their set at Rock Werchter 2022 with their first performance of The Beatles’ “Rain” since 2018. The headlining set at Festivalpark in Werchter, Belgium also saw the band’s first performance of “Whipping” since 2018.
Frontman Eddie Vedder led his bandmates through the opening bust out of “Rain,” marking just the 11th time Pearl Jam has covered The Beatles song. Perhaps chosen for the lack of precipitation at the notoriously soggy event, the song had not been performed by Pearl Jam since August 20, 2018. A second cover followed the opener in the form of “I Believe In Miracles” by the Ramones. Next came two songs off Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut album Ten, “Why Go” and “Even Flow.”
The band then deviated from the printed setlist, moving up “Corduroy” from their 1994 album Vitalogy in front of “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town” from 1993’s Vs. They then played two songs from their most recent album, 2020’s Gigaton, offering “Dance of the Clairvoyants” and “Quick Escape.”
The prepared setlist had “I Got Shit” listed next, but it was ditched in favor of “Whipping.” The Vitalogy track was last played by Pearl Jam on August 10, 2018. “Daughter” followed and contained parts of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2” and “W.M.A.” The band then tweaked their plans and went with the Backspacer cut “Unthought Known” ahead of “Do The Evolution” and “Given To Fly” from Yield.
The headliners filled in the remainder of their main set with Ten classics “Jeremy” and “Porch” alongside “Nothingman” and “The Long Road.” After “Jeremy,” Vedder recognized it being the anniversary of the band’s performance at the 2000 Roskilde Festival in Demark that tragically resulted in the deaths of nine people and many others injured from being crushed in the crowd.
The encore began with two more Ten tracks, “Black” and “Alive.” Forgoing a planned “Yellow Ledbetter,” Pearl Jam ended their performance with a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World.”
Watch audience-shot video of “Jeremy” and “Alive” below:
Setlist (via pearljam.com)
Set: Rain, I Believe In Miracles, Why Go, Even Flow, Corduroy, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Quick Escape, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, Whipping, Daughter (Another Brick In The Wall, W.M.A.), Unthought Known, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Nothingman, Jeremy, The Long Road, Porch
Encore: Black, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World
