Eddie Vedder-led Pearl Jam‘s latest stop for the Dark Matter World Tour was at the iconic Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Eddie Vedder gifted basketball to a fan

After performing several songs in their set, frontman Eddie Vedder narrated a story about how his dad took him to a Lakers game as a kid, and even though they didn’t have great seats, it was a memory that he held fondly growing up.

Ahead of the show, someone in the band’s crew found a father and son sitting in a similar section that Eddie and his father were in and upgraded them to floor seats. The band frontman then found them in the crowd and tossed them a Pearl Jam basketball adorned in Lakers colors.

Pearl Jam’s performance

The band was absolutely on their game and the energy in the room was high much like a closely contested basketball game. Vedder and his bandmates opened with a trio of tour debuts, “Oceans,” “Come Back” and “Off He Goes.” The opening sequence of songs, while a little more subdued was apparently to ease in both the audience and band before kicking into the powerhouse that is “Why Go.”

Jeff Ament’s bass reverberated through the song, shaking the walls, while Matt Cameron’s precise drumming kept the powerful sound going all night. The band’s energy matched the  pace of the music during this song, and their silhouettes danced on the oversized projector screen behind them. Rob Sheridan, known for his work with Nine Inch Nails, created the visuals for this tour, and they complemented the songs perfectly.

The next three songs in the setlist, “Scared of Fear,” “React, Respond,” and “Wreckage,” are from their recently released album, Dark Matter, and were the first three tracks on the album. The new songs saw a great ovation from the fans at the live performance. Guitarist Stone Gossard stood out on the new songs and delivered a solid performance throughout the night.

The additional songs came in next that were tour debuts, “Got Some” and “In My Tree,” with “Dark Matter” and “Daughter” sandwiched in between. During “Daughter” the band has been known to break into a little portion of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” and they did so on this night. Guitarist Mike McCready does such a fantastic job nailing the David Gilmour parts.

The setlist included other songs such as “Even Flow,” “Rearviewmirror” (with Andrew Watt), “State of Love And Trust,” and “Alive,” all of which are heavy hitters for the band and still carry the same enthusiastic and energetic feel as when they were first heard.

The night concluded with The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and “Setting Sun,” a track that has been closing out most shows on this tour. The show featured nine tour debuts, the most since their concert in Vancouver.