Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter Tour 2024: The Lightening and Rain Could not Stop the Love

There were threats of the show being cancelled, but after a two hour delay the lightening and rain stopped…because even God wants to see Pearl Jam. The band has not been in Australia since 2014 where they played a festival, but it was even longer than that when it comes to a full tour. So, was it worth the wait?

It is 1:30am and I am still riding high off the Pearl Jam love. Sure I have work tomorrow, but it’s rock and roll baby! A thunderstorm, pretty common here in the summer, threatened to cancel the show as lightening and torrential rain battered the stadium on the Gold Coast. However, the storm stopped, the police extended curfew (which Pearl Jam then took it upon themselves to further extend at the end of the night) and public transport extended an additional hour. All was good and the crowd was rewarded for their 2 hours of patience Pearl Jam giving such raw energy you thought you were back in 1995.

However, first thing’s first…the opening act. This is one of the few concerts where most people were as excited to see the opening act as they were the main. The Pixies opened, but did not get the memo to bring the energy. Even though there was a delay, extending transport and the curfew meant that everyone got to do their full sets. The Pixies are largely the band you remember, but without standout bassist Kim Deal. Her numerous replacements over the years has led to current bassist Emma Richardson, formally of Band of Skulls, who rocked out. Unfortunately, Black Francis and the rest of the band did not follow Emma’s lead. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to hear Where is my Mind?, Here Comes Your Man and Wave of Mutilation (which was fantastic) live. However, the band seemed unhappy to be there and had no interaction with the crowd at all. The only word to the crowd was a “goodbye” mumbled by Francis as he dropped his guitar, turned his back and hurried off the stage. Poor showing from an opening act and it did not live up to the excitement to see the Pixies live.

Luckily, Pearl Jam came on stage with their classic energy and proceeded to give high octane rock mixed with heartfelt acoustic tracks for two hours. Before we talk about the tracks, let’s get into the stage. In an era of pyrotechnics and massive / complex LCD stage constructions, Pearl Jam went lo-fi. Sure they had a crystal clear LCD screen behind them with some minor effects, but it was largely a straight up rock show. My wife saw Pearl Jam back in 1997 and said that the set up was largely the same with a screen upgrade. It was refreshing to see a toned down set design for such a big show. A quick band member update, for those who don’t remember, the Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron became a full member of the band in 1998 when Soundgarden fell apart and the original Pearl Jam drummer (Jack Irons) left the band due to health concerns. However, the rest of the band was the same.

Let’s get into the show. The show started off with a bang as they kicked off with Corduroy and then the band launched into crowd favourites like Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town and Given to Fly. Starting the concert off with a nice block of crowd pleasers was a great idea, as it got everyone warmed up and more open to new music. In fact, the pace of the concert was great and the band mixed new tracks well with the classics.

With the crowd in a frenzy, Eddie thanked them for waiting out the weather and saying that they were going to play some music from the new record. The title track Dark Matter came on next to great fan support. The new tracks went over quite well, mainly because this record is selling well and quite popular. The Dark Matter record is 1990s Pearl Jam adjacent in its sound, which could explain its popularity. Further new tracks in the concert like React, Respond and Wreckage went over very well and had that classic Pearl Jam energy that I love.

Eddie’s charm, generosity and love for the audience was electric. He is extremely charismatic on stage and had great banter with the audience. He would often say before singing a new track, “You might not know this one, but I promise you’ll know the next one.” This was greeted with laughter, but also showed that he was not above giving the audience what they want, while also giving his new stuff a go. At one point he said that he was going to play the longest song title the band has and said it was titled “We watch cricket, but don’t understand the rules and it’s boring as shit” before launching into Even Flow to deafening cheers. This track led into a few verses of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and tracks Black and Daughter.

Vedder’s endless energy and constant urging of the crowd to sing along kept them in the palm of his hand, while Mike McCready’s possessed guitar playing blew the doors off. At the end of the night the band saved the best for last with an encore including Better Man and the best track of the night with the biggest crowd pop… Alive. Since we were already over the extended curfew, the venue turned all the lights on to give the band a hint to move off the stage. Eddie thanked the crowd and decided that we deserved one more track. Past curfew with the lights on full blast, Pearl Jam ended a memorable concert with a cover of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. This blistering cover was a great way to end the night and reminded me of the record Mirror Ball the band did with Young in the past.

By the end I was emotionally spent. Vedder’s vocal is a little lower than his 90s peak, but it is largely the same and the band is as tight as ever. So, this is not just a “tick off the bucket list” concert, but gives you the feeling that you are back in ’94 rocking wth the band. Their love for their fans was on full display, with dedications to fans, full throttle performances of songs they must have played 1,000 times and trying to squeeze out as much music as possible in the 2 hours. The fan love continues, because this show…like all their others…will be available for digital purchase from their website. You better believe I will be buying this bootleg and reliving this transcendent experience as much as possible.