Pearl Jam kicked off their North America tour in Toronto last weekend. This was live show #48 for me and another memorable standout. Every PJ show has something unique. At the Molson Amphitheatre, it was the buzz of the Canadian National Exhibition, the breeze off the water, and border troubles for Ted Leo.

The Pharmacists lost their singer Ted, but PJ didn’t leave the audience hanging. They could have made the crowd happy with just one Ed song and then left the Pharmacists on their own. Instead the band offered a lesson in being prepared to be spontaneous. You can’t find a better band.

We missed the beginning of the show due to Streetcar delays and then we made the tactical error of going for the merchandise. While packed in the merch mob, we heard Stone Gossard and then saw him on a TV singing (turned out it was Johnny Thunders’s You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory).

TenClub came through for me again with seats in section 102, dead center, row O. The folks seated next to me said Ed came out at the start with some Neil Young covers, then Mike McCready sang a few, then Stone. I was disappointed to miss so much, but we did catch Bee Girl and the punky part of “PJ and the Pharmacists”.

The surprises were not over, for me anyway, since the setlist featured songs I love that aren’t regularly played. The actual show opened with Of the Girl, one of my favorite songs off Binaural. Corduroy always gets me and the crowd jumping, and then we were on a run from Severed Hand through Off He Goes. I love almost everything on Yield, so the string of songs from Faithful through Do the Evolution was another basket full of goodness.

Encore 1 turned into a sing-along with the crowd. Not For You was a huge delight. I loved hearing the Modern Girl tag, since I’m a big fan of the now-defunct Sleater-Kinney. Two new songs from the upcoming Backspacer album - The Fixer and Got Some sounded great live and really made me want to dance and shout. I confess I have no idea what most of the lyrics are for either song yet, but singing the choruses was tons o’ fun.

Betterman is a song I never tire of hearing. At this show, I think it took another step forward in its evolution. They’ve been tagging Save it For Later for awhile. Last year when I head the Bonnaroo bootleg version, and then heard it live for myself in June at the Madison Square Garden 2 show, I realized Ed was making that tag into something for himself and the audience. In Toronto, Ed had turned the call-response connection with the audience singing the “don’t run away” lines into the crescendo of the song as the crowd and Ed united shouting “don’t let me down!” and then the band followed behind with a furious jam. For me, it was a sublime moment.

Live music often creates transcendent moments. It happened again for me during Half Full when Ed reflected light off his guitar into a spotlight on the crowd. He shined the light all around folks in the venue right after he sang “won’t someone save the world?” I love it every time he does that.

Porch continues to be a standout at any show. Ed keeps tweaking how he plays the opening. This time he added more of the thrash he showed at his solo Albany shows last spring. The long jam during Porch was another musical highlight, with Mike McCready bringing forth some amazing notes.

At one point, maybe during Black or Porch, the 4 guys were rocking out very close together in front of Matt Cameron’s drums. It was great to see they still have the ‘synergy’ as a band. Stone Gossard played an outstanding solo on Rockin’ in the Free World, an energetic closer, especially with so much “Uncle Neil” in the air. I’m not sure how Pearl Jam can top this night, but I can’t wait to hear the tricks and treats they offer up in Philadelphia for Halloween!

Preset: “PJ and the Pharmacists”
Eddie Vedder - The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young), Sugar Mountain (Neil Young)
Mike McCready - Unknown Song, Greatest Waterfall
Stone Gossard - Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (Johnny Thunder)
Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament - Bee Girl
The Pharmacists - Hybrid Moments, Lions Den (French Toast), Treble in Trouble, Blitzkrieg Bop (The Ramones)
The Pharmacists w/Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready - Search and Destroy (Iggy Pop)

Main Set: Of The Girl, Corduroy, Severed Hand,
Why Go, Brain Of J, I Am Mine, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Unemployable, Faithful, Down, Got Some, 1/2 Full, Lukin, Not For You (w/Modern Girl by Sleater-Kinney), Do The Evolution

Encore 1: Inside Job, Wishlist, Black, Alive

Encore 2: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Wasted Reprise, Better Man (w/Save it for Later by The English Beat), Porch, Rockin’ In The Free World (Neil Young)