Pearl Jam - August 7, 2016 - Fenway Park, Boston, MA

After seeing Pearl Jam back to back nights in Philadelphia 3 months earlier, my whole family took the 5 hour drive north to Boston, MA to watch my favorite band play at the historic Fenway Park. It was the second show of two nights, with the first being two nights earlier on August 5. Being the baseball fan that I am, it was remarkable to see a concert at the home of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest ballpark in the MLB, opening in 1912. Our seats made it that much sweeter as we sat in center field 9 rows away from the stage with the Green Monster to our left and the Pesky Pole to our right.

Before the show started, we saw lead singer/guitarist J. Mascis of Boston's own Dinosaur Jr on stage. I have seen Dinosuar Jr twice and we knew we were in for something special. As the sun began to set beyond the CITGO sign past the center field fence, Pearl Jam hit the stage. They started off with some slower songs but as night fell they picked up the tempo with Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" as a intro to "Corduroy" and never looked back.

The highlights of the show included a cover of Aerosmith's "Draw the Line" with bassist Tom
Hamilton, a tag of Sleater-Kinney's "Modern Girl" after "Not for You," The Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles," Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" with J. Mascis, and the Jimi Hendrix like guitar solo of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from none other than Mike McCready.

Pearl Jam brought former Red Sox Kevin Youkilis on stage to play Youk's favorite song, "Lukin." Youkilis gave Eddie Vedder his Red Sox jersey and Vedder put it on, later leaving it on a speaker in front of the stage. During night one, another member of the 2004 World Series Champion Red Sox team, Bronson Arroyo, joined the band on stage to play guitar on "Black." It wasn't my first time seeing Pearl Jam bring out a baseball player on stage in front of the home crowd fans. In Pittsburgh on October 11, 2013, Pirates closer Jason Grilli joined the band to help sing "Whipping," his bullpen intro song that is played when he comes into the game to pitch.

With the amazing backdrop of Fenway Park, it was another epic show was delivered from Eddie Vedder and company. However, the show was placed at #2 on the concert rankings. I don't think anything will compare to Pearl Jam playing Ten in its entirety during the second night in my hometown of Philadelphia.

Setlist:

1.  Pendulum

2.  Off He Goes

3.  Nothing a It Seems

4.  Nothingman

5.  Wishlist

6.  Corduroy (Interstellar Overdrive intro)

7.  Animal

8.  Hail Hail

9.  Lightning Bolt

10. In Hiding

11. Even Flow

12. Sirens

13. Draw the Line (Aerosmith cover with Tom Hamilton)

14. Lukin

15. Not for You (Modern Girl tag)

16. Immorality

17. Deep

18. Jeremy

19. Unthought Known

20. Rearviewmirror

Encore:

21. Yellow Moon

22. Angel

23. Footsteps

24. I Believe in Miracles (The Ramones cover)

25. Mind Your Manners

26. Betterman

Encore 2:

27. Smile

28. Go

29. Love, Reign O'er Me (The Who cover)

30. Do the Evolution

31. Breath

32. Alive

33. Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover with J. Mascis)

34. Yellow Ledbetter
35. The Star-Spangled Banner (Mike McCready guitar solo)