Pearl Jam Bash Trump, Salute Chris Cornell At Tour Finale

Pearl Jam wrapped their 2024-25 Dark Matter tour in fiery fashion last night (May 18) in Pittsburgh, blasting Donald Trump’s recent insult-filled response to Bruce Springsteen’s onstage remarks about the state of the union while also elegantly saluting late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell on the eighth anniversary of his suicide.

Fans had a sense the night would touch on Cornell’s memory before the show even began, when “All Night Thing” — from the self-titled 1990 album he made with Pearl Jam’s members under the moniker Temple of the Dog — played over the loudspeakers as part of the pre-show music.

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Later, Vedder tacked some lyrics from the 2020 Pearl Jam song “Comes Then Goes” onto the end of “Wishlist,” marking the first time elements of it had ever been performed live. Although it has never been explicitly confirmed, “Comes Then Goes” is widely believed to have been written about Cornell, who took the young and inexperienced Vedder under his wing when he moved to Seattle to join Pearl Jam in 1990.

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron both sported t-shirts in honor of Cornell — the former urging Soundgarden’s entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the band will be inducted this fall after years on the ballot) and the latter showcasing an arty portrait of his former bandmate.

But the biggest surprise of the evening came with an encore performance of the Temple of the Dog classic Cornell/Vedder duet “Hunger Strike,” which Pearl Jam had only busted out four prior times in the past 11 years. See fan-shot video of that track below.

Throughout the show, Vedder paid tribute to Pittsburgh’s devoted fans and underdog spirit, even bringing a young fan with Down syndrome on stage to introduce “Even Flow” and dedicating “Deep” to Pittsburgh Steelers football legend Franco Harris. Before an encore run through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” he began speaking about the 35-year back-and-forth between the band and their fans, and how it relates to the tumultuous times in which we’re living.

“I was thinking about a microphone and a guitar and a relationship with an audience and trust and reciprocal respect that is built over the years and the decades, and that we all get to be better for,” he said. “And then the people that we know because of the music. The family and the friends. I just want to say how important it is and how we’ve never lost sight or forgotten for one second the privilege that it is to stand on a stage in front of an audience.”

He continued, “when I hear Bruce Springsteen brings up issues and makes his thoughts be known, and uses his microphone to speak for those who don’t have a voice sometimes — certainly not an amplified one — I just want to point out that he brought up issues. He brought up that residents are being removed off America’s streets and being deported without due process of law. That’s happening. He brought up that we’re abandoning our longtime allies around the globe and signing on with dictators. That is also happening. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideologies, as Bruce said.

“Now, look. I appreciate you listening and I bring it up because the response [by Donald Trump] to all that, and him using the microphone, the response had nothing to do with the issues,” Vedder went on. “They didn’t talk about one of those issues. Didn’t have a conversation about one of those issues. Didn’t debate any one of those issues. All that we’ve heard were personal attacks and threats that nobody else should even try to use their microphone or use their voice in public, or they will be shut down. Now, that is not allowed in this country that we call America, am I right or am I wrong? Part of free speech is open discussion. Part of democracy is healthy public discourse. The name-calling is so beneath us. Bruce has always been as pro-American with his values of freedom and liberty and his justice has always remained intact. This freedom to speak will still exist in another year or two from now when we come back to this microphone. And what better place to have a positive response than the forkin’ fuckin’ people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”

The nearly two hour-and-45-minute show even included an 80th birthday tribute to the Who’s Pete Townshend, with Vedder folding one lyric each from “I’m One” and “Love, Reign o’er Me” into “Better Man.”

Pearl Jam’s schedule is now completely clear, although Vedder is gearing up for the June 7 premiere of the documentary Matter of Time at the Tribeca Film Festival and will also perform at the event.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

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