For those who were mind-numbingly irritated by the disastrous traffic on the Interstate 8 East toward College Area last Thursday night, it was because Pearl Jam was performing at San Diego States Viejas Arena. Even after the show began, fans were still panicking to find parking. The renowned grunge veterans have been touring in support of its 10th studio release, “Lightning Bolt.”

With no opening act, the band had an available time slot for nearly three and a half hours to perform 34 songs. The set list consisted of a wide array of material from the whole discography and several covers. “Lightning Bolt” was played inconsecutively in its entirety, including “Sleeping by Myself,” which Eddie Vedder announced was the first time the band had ever performed it in a live setting.

Vedder and company also jammed out to classic hits such as “Better Man” and “Just Breathe” along with other obscure non-singles such as “Sometimes” and “Tremor Christ.” A common characteristic about Pearl Jam’s shows is that the members try to make each show unique for every audience. That entails varying set lists (most bands keep to an identical set lists throughout tours) and interacting with the crowd. However, Thursday was exceptionally special.

Most fans tend to associate the name Pearl Jam with Seattle, without realizing that some members are San Diego natives, so Thursday night felt like a homecoming show. The families of front man Vedder, guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron were all at Viejas Arena and the band humorously interacted with them throughout.

In the middle of the show, Vedder took a moment to dedicate a song to a fan in the audience who was visiting from the Philippines. Apparently, Vedder had overheard a story about how this particular fan missed a rare opportunity to see Pearl Jam in the 90s and made a serious effort to attend the show in San Diego. The fan was invited to join the band on stage to receive a donation check of $25,000 to take back to the Philippines for typhoon relief.

Continuing on to the music, the band performed more material from the new album before taking a short break for the first encore. Upon return, Vedder and company sat down for a collection of slow-paced tunes, before much more energetic tunes such as “Severed Hand” and “Rearviewmirror.” For the second and final encore, Vedder said jokingly, “From my understanding this is a college campus. … This is probably the closest I’ll ever come to being on a college campus so I want to take advantage of this time.”

The band covered “Leaving Here” by Eddie Holland Jr. before playing “Black,” which seemed an appropriate and closer, but the band kept performing more songs; it seemed like the night would never end. It continued with “Do the Evolution,” “Alive” and a cover of The Who’s hit “Baba O’Riley,” which at that point seemed like it would be the last song. But remarkably enough Pearl Jam kept going. Vedder dedicated the time “Yellow Ledbetter” to McCready’s father who served in the Navy and McCready included a special outro of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the conclusion of the concert. The band finally concluded the show with a cover of “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young.

Overall, the performance was excellent, yet too extensive. The set list’s originality was an essential part of its identity; however, there were too many songs crammed into such a long period of time.

Also read: A stellar evening of music with Passion Pit

Photo courtesy of Laurence Kesterson/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT