Photo: Sandra Sorensen
Notably, Pearl Jam’s post-COVID return to touring has – for now at least – not yet summoned the Herculean sets which have long defined them. Lest we forget, last time they played The O2 in London we were treated to a spectacular 33-song smorgasbord. Because they are a band who can (and will) play practically any song in their catalogue, and have fostered an insatiable live fanbase animated by that very fact, even a 100-song PJ set would likely fail to appease the whims of every fan. There will, inevitably, always be that one annoying person banging on about how they need to play Bee Girl (your correspondent is one of them). Yet somehow, so well are these two Hyde Park sets curated, they overcome even the stinging absences of Gigaton’s best song Seven O’Clock, both Rearviewmirror and Release, and the omission of any material from their 2006’s self-titled outing.
The deep cuts aired have a lot to do with how they manage to get around these AWOL gems. Serving up tracks that would sate even the most persnickety of archivists, there’s In Hiding, Rats, Low Light, Breath and, best of all, Throw Your Hatred Down (only ever played live 15 times, compared to, say, Even Flow’s 854). On the latter, The Smiths talisman Johnny Marr joins them for a riveting run through the track PJ recorded with Neil Young for 1995’s Mirrorball album. Make no mistake, these more compressed setlists – in part due to the enforced curfew at Hyde Park – may mean less songs are played, but this is offset by the sustained intensity of the performance. It’s equilibrium, baaaaaaby! Special mention must go to Mike McCready. One can only assume that he shaved a good few centimetres off his fingertips during his imperious bouts of shredding.