See Pearl Jam Debut ‘Gigaton’ Songs Live at First Concert in 3 Years

Pearl Jam performed a handful of songs from their latest LP Gigaton live for the first time and paid tribute to Bruce Springsteen and Charlie Watts Saturday during the band’s headlining set at Asbury Park, New Jersey’s Sea.Hear.Now Festival, a gig that also marked Pearl Jam’s first concert in over three years.

 Eighteen months after Gigaton arrived at the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eddie Vedder and company delivered the live debut of the album’s “Superblood Wolfmoon,” “Quick Escape,” “Seven O’ Clock,” “Never Destination” and “Take the Long Way,” as well as opening the show with “Dance of the Clairvoyants,” which the band previously played during a Covid-19 relief livestream.

While rumors of a Bruce Springsteen appearance during Pearl Jam’s Asbury Park set percolated prior to the Danny Clinch-curated festival, the rocker did not make an onstage cameo at the band’s concert. However, Vedder and his band mates paid tribute to the New Jersey legend with a cover of his “My City of Ruins”:

Pearl Jam also paid tribute to Charlie Watts with a hint of the IndieLands’ “Waiting on a Friend” woven into the band’s performance of “Wishlist.” Patti Smith Group’s Lenny Kaye later joined Pearl Jam for the band’s traditional concert-ending cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

The band is next scheduled to perform two shows at the Vedder-curated Ohana Fest on October 1st and 2nd in Dana Point, California. Pearl Jam will return to the road in earnest in June 2022 with a European tour.