As Spring Training games teed off for the second day of games on Saturday, February 25, perhaps the biggest hits in the Valley came from outside of a ballpark.
At Tempe Beach Park on the weekend of February 25-26, music and baseball enthusiasts flocked in to catch a glimpse of MLB alumni like Randy Johnson, Joe Kelly and Jake Peavy and jam to artists the likes of The Offspring, Weezer, Green Day, Marcus Mumford and Eddie Vedder.
Like the ball players in town for a month of games, some of these artists were getting back into the swing of things by playing their first gigs of the year in preparation for jaunts across other continents or festival season.
Day 1
Solo-indie rocker Annie Dirusso led the warm, sun-drenched day before being followed by rock acts like former major league ball hurler Jake Peavy and his all-star band, Heartless Bastards, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.
The Offspring
Punk-rock outfit The Offspring stepped up to the plate in front of a jam-packed crowd as the first big hitter of the day on the Home Plate stage at a quarter after 4 p.m.
Fresh off of back-to-back gigs in California, The Offspring came out swinging with the tune “Come Out and Play.”
The band then followed with an apropos song for the bright day with the ditty “Staring at the Sun,” which added more warmth to the balmy afternoon.
At the close of the somewhat tropical tune, The Offspring broke out some equally beachy fanfare by tossing beach balls into the audience to accompany its next tune “Want You Bad” from the band’s best-known record, “Americana.”
With the energy beginning to peak after the conclusion of “Want You Bad,” the band capitalized on its momentum by blaring one of its more contemporary works with the tune “Hammerhead.”
After Hammerhead, the set shifted back to a simpler time by breaking out the deep cut “Bad Habit” — from the band’s 1994 breakthrough album “Smash.”
Then came the hits.
Up first was the thunderous punk track “Gotta Get Away,” which would be followed by a slew of hits like “Why Don’t You Get a Job”, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy),” “The Kids Aren’t Alright” and “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid.”
After jacking hits into the late afternoon sky, The Offspring walked off to its last hit with the playing of the tune “Self Esteem” to close out the band’s hourlong set.
Set list:
Come Out and Play
Staring at the Sun
Want You Bad
Hammerhead
Bad Habit
Gotta Get Away
Why Don’t You Get a Job?
(Can’t Get My) Head Around You
Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
The Kids Aren’t Alright
You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid
Self Esteem
The Pretty Reckless
Fielding more great tunes over at the right field stage at around 5:20 p.m. was actress-turned-rocker Taylor Momsen’s hard-rocking outfit The Pretty Reckless.
Taking the stage for its first show of the year, The Pretty Reckless charged out with a vengeance by blaring the hard rocking, sludgy riffed ditty “Death By Rock and Roll.”
Although the band got heads banging and the ground shaking with heavy riffs and tight beats, the eyes of the audience became glued to Momsen, clad in a leather jacket, black dress and black platform boots as she danced her way around the stage in between verses.
With a grungy tone set by “Death By Rock and Roll,” The Pretty Reckless chugged on by entering another sludgy tune into the mix with the track “Since You’re Gone.”
After the band blared the up-tempo track, the set list changed to a doomier track titled “Only God Can Save Me Now” — which pays homage to Momsen’s idol Chris Cornell and features longtime Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron on the recorded version.
This would not be the only tribute the band would pay to Cornell, who tragically passed away in May 2017, as the band blared its recently released cover of Soundgarden’s “Loud Love.”
After playing a tune from its most recent work, the band turned back the clock to 2010 by kicking up the first track it ever released, “Make Me Wanna Die.”
This proved to be the high point of the show as Momsen expertly used the somber bridge of the track to create suspense by pointing her finger across the crowd creating a wave of screams that followed her as she cast her arm from stage right to stage left.
With the crowd riled up, Momsen brought the tune home with a bang by belting the final bars out at the top of her lungs.
Although Momsen captured the spotlight by dancing about the stage in between verses, her band — which featured the groovy licks of bassist Mark Damon, string-shredding guitarist and backing vocalist Ben Phillips and the thunderous drums of Jamie Perkins — shined as bright as the once beaming sun, which was beginning to set towards the latter frames of the band’s hourlong set.
With the energy at a high following the final notes of “Make Me Wanna Die,” the band amplified the spirited fanfare of the crowd by audibly creating a story of horror with the playing of the track “Sweet Things” — which was introduced as being about the story of Peter and the Wolf, a symphonic folk tale written by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev about a boy named Peter who lives with his grandfather who does not want Peter going out of their garden because there are wolves around.
The song was played with reckless abandon and got several heads banging in the crowd.
Following the conclusion of Sweet Things, the band juxtaposed the concepts of heaven and hell by blaring the rock-heavy tunes “Going to Hell” and “Heaven Knows.”
“Heaven Knows” proved to be another high point in the hit-filled set as Momsen invited the crowd to become a part of the band and take over the vocal duties for her on the rock anthem.
After ripping 10 hard-rocking tunes, the band opted to play a poppier tune with the performance of “Take Me Down” as its penultimate tune.
Prior to walking off the stage, Momsen used a brief pause between tunes to remind people that as messed up as the world can be, music is always a great escape and urged fans to “keep on rockin’ in the free world” before launching into a hard-rocking cover of the related Neil Young hit.
For fans who had passed both days, this would not be the last time they would hear a cover of the rock anthem.
Set list:
Death by Rock and Roll
Since You’re Gone
Only Love Can Save Me Now
Loud Love (Soundgarden cover)
Make Me Wanna Die
Sweet Things
Witches Burn
Going to Hell
Heaven Knows
Take Me Down
Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
Weezer
Adding to the list of heavy hitters in the first day’s lineup were renowned rockers Weezer, who kicked off its 75-minute set by singing a song about a luxurious community located just under 400 miles from the Home Field stage at Tempe Beach Park, Beverly Hills.
Accompanied by an unrelenting stomp-and-clap rhythm, the song instantly got the crowd activated for a performance that would break out all the hits.
The band remained hot with its second track by entering the hit tune “My Name is Jonas” into the fold.
After opening with two big hits, Weezer dug deep and pulled out some tunes for its die-hard fans to jive to like “El Scorcho,” “Pork and Beans” and “Burndt Jamb,” before busting out the beachy hit “Island in the Sun.”
“El Scorcho” would offer a unique moment as it provided the lyric, “I asked you to go to the Green Day concert” — which perfectly teed things up for the headline act that night.
After Weezer wowed its fans early on with hits from its discography, the band got fans of all tastes grooving by performing its cover of Toto’s hit track “Africa.”
This track would be the loudest of the evening as it would take the crowd to ear-piercing decibels as there wasn’t a single voice in the crowd that didn’t belt out the chorus of the pop anthem in unison with vocalist and guitarist Rivers Cuomo.
With the performance at its peak, Weezer jacked three more hits by playing the celebrated songs “Hash Pipe”, “Say It Ain’t So” and “Undone (The Sweater Song).”
With fans’ voices spent by this point, Weezer dug deep and pulled out some of its deep cuts by entering songs like “Pink Triangle,” “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” and “The Good Life,” before bowing out with the playing of the hit tune “Buddy Holly.”
Set list:
Beverly Hills
My Name is Jonas
El Scorcho
Pork and Beans
Burndt Jamb
Island In the Sun
All My Favorite Songs
Africa (Toto cover)
Hash Pipe
Say It Ain’t So
Undone (The Sweater Song)
The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
Pink Triangle
California Kids
I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
The Good Life
Buddy Holly
The Black Crowes
Quickly after Weezer departed the stage, fans swung on over to the Right Field Stage to catch a glimpse of Southern blues rockers The Black Crowes.
The band charged out with a bluesy melody on the first track “No Speak No Slave,” which served as a perfect precursor for the tunes that would flow into the night as it packed a punch with an ear-piercing guitar solo.
The band kept chugging along with bright, bluesy melodies on the second song “Sting Me” before cracking into its first big hit of the night, “Twice as Hard.”
Following the conclusion of “Twice as Hard,” the band kept souls singing by breaking out some lesser-known jams like “Thick n’ Thin”, “Seeing Things” and “Thorn in My Pride,” before telling a quick tale that would shock some fans in the audience.
After the guitars finished ringing from “Thorn in My Pride,” vocalist Chris Robinson told a quick tale about the band’s upbringing in Atlanta and how the band idolized fellow Georgia native and blues legend Otis Redding before introducing a cover of his hit song “Hard to Handle.”
Several fans were shocked to learn this fact about the tune.
After rocking fans with the rendition, The Black Crowes brought the tempo down and broke out the acoustic guitars for a performance of the band’s hit tune “She Talks to Angels.”
After scoring rave applause with its two big hits, The Black Crowes brought things home by rounding out the set list with two more hits “Jealous Again” and “Remedy.”
Set list:
No Speak No Slave
Sting Me
Twice as Hard
Thick n’ Thin
Soul Singing
Seeing Things
Wiser Time
Thorn in My Pride
Hard to Handle (Otis Redding cover)
She Talks to Angels
Jealous Again
Remedy
Green Day
Fans camped for hours at the rail of the Home Field Stage and brought signs with requests ranging from asking to play a song with the band to Billie Joe Armstrong drawing a tattoo on one fan.
Kicking off the fanfare, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen blared, giving the audience a tune to warm up their voices before the East Bay, California-founded punk trio hit the stage.
Adding to the anticipation for the renowned punk rockers was a figure clad in a creepy bunny costume dawning a red tie that danced across the stage riling up the already rowdy crowd.
Then came the moment fans had waited all day for as Green Day kicked off the most explosive set of the weekend.
Leading off the band’s 105-minute-long performance was the title track of the 2005 multi-platinum record “American Idiot.”
It didn’t take many notes for the song to register with fans, who began bouncing, head banging and blurting out the lyrics by the time vocalist and guitarist Armstrong’s voice filled the airwaves.
The song ended with a bang, as the band launched fireworks into the night sky, paving the way for the anti-war anthem that has unironically become a victory tune of sorts, “Holiday.”
This song would also break out the pyro as the band shot off flash bangs instead of yelling out the phrase bang bang during the soliloquy that served as the bridge leading toward the final chorus of the tune.
Although the two tunes could have capped off any great set, Green Day was just getting warmed up.
For its third track, the band performed the 2009 hit tune “Know Your Enemy,” giving one lucky young man a story he will likely tell for the rest of his life by pulling him onto the stage to scream out the final bridge before diving back into the crowd to witness the ongoing barrage of hits.
With the energy beginning to peak at the conclusion of “Know Your Enemy,” Green Day entered a somewhat somber tune into the fold by plucking another hit from “American Idiot” by jamming the ultimate tune about solitude, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
After filling the early frames with hits from the band’s resurgence in the late 2000s, Green Day turned back the clock to 1994 by shredding the boredom anthem “Longview” from the band’s breakthrough and highest-grossing record “Dookie.”
The band would keep rolling through the older hits by picking tunes like “Welcome to Paradise” and “Hitchin’ A Ride” from its expansive discography.
After pumping out hit after hit, Green Day opted to treat fans to a rendition of a tune that everyone could sing by busting out a cover of the Kiss anthem “Rock and Roll All Night.”
Following up to the Kiss classic were more hits from Green Day’s discography like “Brain Stew,” “St. Jimmy” and “When I Come Around.”
Then came a deep cut for the hardcore fans to jam to when the band busted out the tune “Waiting” from the 2000 record “Warning.”
Due up after the deep cut would be the hit single “21 Guns,” which some fans may recognize from the soundtrack to the 2009 film “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” whereas others may remember it from 2009’s “21st Century Breakdown.”
Followed by another deep cut titled “Minority,” also from “Warning,” the band got more voices going, though an unsatisfied Armstrong continued to encourage the crowd to scream at the top of their lungs.
The conclusion of “Minority” gave drummer Tre Cool a chance to show off his chops, as he treated fans to a brief drum solo followed by a saxophone solo from touring member and esteemed musician Jason Freese.
After the dueling solos, Green Day paid homage to one of its idols by performing the Operation Ivy tune “Knowledge.”
This would be the tune that would spark the story of a lifetime for a lucky young girl named Jordan, who was brought onstage by Armstrong to play the tune on guitar.
Not only would Jordan shred on the strings and woo the crowd with her veteran stage presence, but she also dazzled Armstrong enough to be gifted the guitar she played during the song.
Following the unforgettable cover performance, Green Day returned to its discography and projected its first hit, “Basket Case,” into the airwaves.
Lurking behind the hit would be the jazziest tune of the night, “King for a Day,” which featured more saxophone licks and saw Armstrong don a crown.
The set remained jazzy as the band followed with one last cover of The Isley Brothers’ hit song “Shout” — which, like some of Green Days’ hits, has become a stadium anthem.
With the energy at its peak, Green Day brought the tempo down for its most somber song of the set, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” — a song Armstrong had mulled over since the age of 10 following the passing of his father on September 10, 1982.
Although the tune brought down the tempo and created a somber moment in an otherwise spirited set, the song gave fans a collective tune to serenade alongside Armstrong.
Following the performance of “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” the band reclaimed the energy it had built early on by busting out the theatrical punk track “Jesus of Suburbia,” which ended with Cool’s leopard print SJC drum set exploding, causing his night to end the same way it began — with a bang.
Though the drum kit was ravaged by the blast, this gave way to an all-too-perfect ending to an unforgettable performance.
Armstrong swapped his electric guitar for an acoustic and serenaded fans with a tune that has likely served as the soundtrack to billions of graduation, end of the season and remembrance videos, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life.)”
This was all too perfect for several fans, who likely had the time of their life by dancing in the sun to the likes of artists like The Offspring, The Pretty Reckless, Weezer, The Black Crowes and, of course, Green Day.
As the final chord rang out from the song, the set came to a close as a parade of fireworks marched into the Tempe night sky, closing out day one of the fifth Innings Festival.
Set list:
American Idiot
Holiday
Know Your Enemy
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Longview
Welcome to Paradise
Hitchin’ a Ride
Rock and Roll All Nite (Kiss cover)
Brain Stew
St. Jimmy
When I Come Around
Waiting
21 Guns
Minority
Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)
Basket Case
King for a Day
Shout (The Isley Brothers cover)
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Jesus of Suburbia
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Day 2
After the first day was filled with hard-rocking tunes and sunshine, day two offered a change of tunes and temperature.
On the second day, headlined by Mumford, The Revivalists and Pearl Jam frontman Vedder saw temperatures soar to 60 degrees and dip into the low 40s.
Despite the cooler temperatures, fans still flock in droves to Tempe Beach park to sway to tunes, greet baseball greats and enjoy a day by the lake.
Paris Jackson
Kicking things off on day two at the Right Field Stage was the daughter of the king of pop herself, Paris Jackson.
Accompanied by a stellar cast of musicians, Jackson hit the stage well into the swing of things, as Innings Fest marked her third gig of the year before returning to tour alongside the Silversun Pickups.
Despite having more recent experience playing gigs than some bands that filled the airwaves the day before, Jackson’s first three songs fell victim to some technical difficulties.
However, Jackson’s gorgeous voice, complemented by tight rhythms and heavy riffs, shined through the crackling speakers and muted microphones that attempted to plague the early frames of the set.
Although the difficulties were frustrating to Jackson and co., the band got out of the early jam and wowed fans with its blend of sludgy guitar riffs and punchy rhythms provided by guitarist Michael O’Grady, bassist Nick Diiorio and drummer Anthony Nino Salazar that meshed with Jackson’s melodically somber voice.
Once the dust settled from the early issues, Jackson and her band stole the show performing a slew of grungy tunes that managed to get heads nodding and feet tapping.
The band would capitalize on its growing momentum by blaring its take on the Manchester Orchestra track “My Friend Marcus” — which managed to get some fans reciting the lyrics.
This paved the way for the big hit of the set when the band broke out the track “Band Aid” — which hit the airwaves two days prior to the band’s appearance at the festival and featured a fuzzy guitar solo that provided some warmth to the cool afternoon.
Although early forecasts called for rain on the day and there were scattered showers that poured down on loop 202 during the morning, Jackson decided to celebrate the dry climate by playing a take on the Blind Melon hit tune “No Rain.”
Rounding out Jackson’s set would be the unreleased track titled “Something,” which gave fans one last tune to dance and wiggle to.
Set list:
Lighthouse
Sirens
Just You
PK Story
My Friend Marcus (Manchester Orchestra cover)
Band Aid
The Stain
No Rain (Blind Melon cover)
Something
Mt. Joy
Stepping up to the plate on the Home Plate stage just after 5 p.m. was Philadelphia-based indie quartet Mt. Joy, which wasted no time filling the airwaves with a plethora of joyous noises.
The set kicked off with a medley of acoustic guitar and keys that began the tune “Lemon Tree.”
Unlike most bands that waited until the latter frames of its set to pay homage to its idols, Mt. Joy launched into not one but two covers for its next two numbers.
The first was an epic cover of the iconic jam band the Grateful Dead’s track “Fire on the Mountain.”
Fire on the mountain brought the heat to the cool day that was beginning to become chillier as the daylight continued to recede by blaring fuzzy, jazzy guitar solos.
For the band’s second cover of its hourlong set, Mt. Joy broke out a cover of the Fatboy Slim tune “Praise You,” which saw vocalist and guitarist Matt Quinn ditch his acoustic guitar for a hollow-bodied electric guitar.
Although the band reverted to its own catalog of tunes by the fourth track, the band kept the jam going by showing off its musical talents with the track “Strangers.”
The set hit its lyrical climax with the tune “Astrovan,” which was celebrated by fans who joined Quinn in belting out the chorus.
The next song, “Sheep,” melted some faces as it gave guitarist Sam Cooper another chance to shred the strings off of his rustic Fender jaguar and drummer Sotiris Eliopoulos a chance to beat the tar out of each drum and cymbal on his kit.
With fans enthralled by the talent put on display during the bands hourlong set list, the band brought things home with the gleeful tune “Orange Blood.”
Set list:
Lemon Tree
Fire on the Mountain (Grateful Dead cover)
Praise You (Fatboy Slim cover)
Strangers
Astrovan
Sheep
Orange Blood
Marcus Mumford
As the first act to take the stage to the backdrop of the dark night sky and the few twinkling stars that came out to dance, Mumford & Sons’ frontman took to the stage and offered sparkling solo acoustic takes on the band’s hits “Awake My Soul” and “The Cave.”
Although Mumford entered to thunderous applause, the crowd stayed deafeningly silent as he strummed and hummed through the first two numbers’ opening lyrics, only hearing cheers during breaks between verses.
After enjoying some solitude, Mumford brought out some friends to jam some tracks from his solo discography.
Highlights from this portion of the set list included hits like “Prior Warning,” “Better Off High” and “Only Child.”
Mumford captured the spotlight by bringing out a different guitar for each song of the set list, one of which was a black hollow body Gibson called Eddie, which Mumford informed the crowd he bought the same day he played Ohana with headline act Vedder.
Mumford then went back to performing all by himself after jamming five tunes with his touring ensemble.
His next solo entry brought the most Western flare of the weekend as he jammed a cover of the Taylor Swift song “cowboy like me.”
Following the cover, Mumford was rejoined by his bandmates and treated fans to two more tracks from his solo discography, “Go in Light” and “Better Angels,” before breaking out two tunes from the supergroup he formed with rockers Jim James, Elvis Costello, Taylor Goldsmith and Rhiannon Giddens called The New Basement Tapes.
The tracks, “When I Get My Hands on You” and “Kansas City,” gave the chilled fans an opportunity to sway and attempt to stay warm as the temperature dipped into the low 40s.
After treating fans to his expansive resume of work, Mumford closed out his hourlong set by solitarily treating fans to Mumford & Sons biggest hit, “I Will Wait.”
Set list:
Awake My Soul
The Cave
Grace
Prior Warning
Better Off High
Dangerous Game
Only Child
cowboy like me (Taylor Swift cover)
Go in Light
Better Angels
When I Get My Hands on You
Kansas City
I Will Wait
The Revivalists
Taking the Right Field stage for its first gig of the year, New Orleans octet The Revivalists contended with enigmatic performances put on throughout the weekend by acts like The Offspring, Green Day, Magic City Hippies and The Pretty Reckless by blaring an eclectic concoction of instruments into the night and giving fans as intimate of a performance as possible.
Throughout the ground-shaking set, vocalist David Shaw bounced between the stage and a riser located just below it, positioning himself just outside of reach from the crowd.
Because of this, he held the crowd in the palm of his hand and stole the show as the band ripped through a medley of tunes that included instruments like a pedal steel guitar; twin drum sets; saxophone; trumpet; and a plethora of keys, guitar and bass.
After starting things off with the track “You Said It All,” the band stole another hit with the entry of the track “Criminal” into the fold.
The rest of the songs in the set would be played on a loop as the band crammed a dozen grand tracks into its hourlong set list.
The set was filled with several parts that were groovy and then funky but overall hard-rocking.
Highlights included the performance of tracks like “It Was A Sin,” “All My Friends” and, of course, the hit tune “Wish I Knew You.”
After peaking with “Wish I Knew You,” the band drew its set to a close with the performance of the hit track “Kid.”
Set list:
You Said It All
Criminal
It Was a Sin
You and I
Don’t Look Back
When I’m With You
All My Friends
Change
Bulletproof
Got Love
Wish I Knew You
Kid
Eddie Vedder
As the clock struck 9:30 p.m., so began the moment some fans had waited all weekend for.
Seeing as how this gig was his only listed show on the year prior to the evening, fans traveled from far and wide and braved the 48-degree chill to catch a glimpse of the sole surviving frontman from the big four of Grunge — which includes Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.
A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member and renowned frontman of the grunge act Pearl Jam, Vedder hit the stage clad in a purple flannel shirt, a fedora, blue jeans and gray boots — which he would use to stomp the tempo of each tune.
Although Vedder entered the stage by himself and began strumming and humming the Pearl Jam track “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” he was quickly backed by the choir of the audience, which almost drowned out his baritone voice at points.
Following the tune, Vedder vamped with the audience by gushing about how happy he was to spend some “mountain time” in Tempe.
These vampy chats would become moments in the set that would sparkle as brightly as the songs that would follow, providing tall tales about Vedder’s legendary life.
Following his brief ramblings, Vedder introduced his next tune as one of the tunes he recorded for a Sean Penn film.
The track “Far Behind” was one of 11 tracks that Vedder would lay down as the soundtrack to the 2007 film “Into The Wild” — which starred Emile Hirsch and was based on the book written by Jon Krakauer.
Following that was the tune “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love,” which would feature Vedder adding some harmonica to the fold.
After jamming two of his solo works and a Pearl Jam deep cut, Vedder stepped away from his discography and paid homage to another rock legend by offering a take on the Beatles tune “Away.”
After getting fans swaying with a cover of a band that has been called “the greatest rock band of all time,” Vedder returned to his discography by plucking the song “Wishlist” from the 1998 Pearl Jam record “Yield.”
Then came perhaps the most memorable moment of an otherwise unforgettable set.
Vedder returned to vamping by telling the crowd about his affinity for the Musical Instrument Museum in North Phoenix before teasing an upcoming ukulele exhibition.
He used this to bring out a ukulele he called “Youk,” named after longtime Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis.
He began gushing about how it was his favorite ukulele of all time before playing two notes on it and then smashing it on the ground three times.
This caused a massive gasp from the audience before Vedder picked up the damaged instrument and quipped, “It still plays.”
Even though the ukulele was still functional, Vedder swapped the mangled instrument out for a more functional one and began playing the beachy tune “Soon Forget.”
Following “Soon Forget,” Vedder provided another unforgettable anecdote.
He recalled a phone call he received from legendary rocker Tom Petty that informed him that Petty was playing at Vedder’s favorite place in the world, Wrigley Field.
This allowed Vedder to break the fourth wall that stood between baseball and music throughout the weekend by discussing how he hadn’t seen much of his beloved Chicago Cubs over the past few seasons due to the pandemic and his touring schedule.
Vedder remarked that he sure did miss his Cubs and dedicated a cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” to his favorite baseball team — which plays its Spring Training games at Sloan Park, nearly 4 miles up the road from Tempe Beach Park.
After rocking fans’ socks off to a rendition of the folksy motivational anthem, Vedder performed a folksy tune of his own, the Pearl Jam cut “Just Breathe.”
Around this time, Vedder brought former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and recording companion Josh Klinghoffer onto the stage to give fans another track to lose their voice to.
Once Klinghoffer was plugged in and seated next to Vedder, the duo launched onto the playing of the Temple of the Dog hit track “Hunger Strike.”
This offered a unique vocal opportunity for the fans, as the audience was seemingly split in two, some fans singing Vedder’s lines to the track and others with a soprano cadence belting out Chris Cornell’s lines from the recorded version of the tune.
Vedder and Klinghoffer didn’t give fans much time to rest their voice, as the duo quickly followed with the playing of the Pearl Jam hit “Better Man.”
After voices were rendered hoarse by “Better Man,” Vedder gave the audience time to rest by telling the tale of how he worked as a security guard at a gas station in San Diego in 1987 and heard on the radio that rock legends U2 would be playing two shows in Arizona and tickets were $5 apiece.
Although he thought the DJ was yanking his chain, Vedder still drove to Tower Records the next day and purchased eight tickets for $40 to see U2 in Arizona during its “The Joshua Tree” jaunt and claims, “It was the first time in his life where he felt rich.”
This paved the way for Vedder to jam a cover of the hit from “The Joshua Tree” titled “In God’s Country.”
He followed it with a cover of the Jerry Hannan tune “Society.”
Then it was back to the hits from Vedder’s expansive discography.
Vedder brought out one more pal of his by adding former Major League hurler and Diamondbacks alumni-turned-rocker Bronson Arroyo to his ensemble to eject the Pearl Jam hit “Black” into the Tempe night sky.
Though Arroyo shined on the guitar during the song, it was the crowd that sparkled brightest by humming the jazzy melody that closes out the tune.
Vedder followed the remarkable performance by jamming two more Pearl Jam hits, “Lukin” and “Porch” — the latter which unforgettably closed out the band’s 1992 MTV Unplugged gig.
Vedder then closed out his preliminary set list by flicking on a tape reel and ripping a cover of the Indio tune “Hard Son” before retreating from the stage.
After about a minutelong break, Vedder returned to the stage donning a cowboy shirt and hat and blaring a cover of the Young hit “Rockin’ In the Free World.”
Although it was not clear whether or not Vedder knew that The Pretty Reckless had closed its set the evening prior with the same tune, Vedder’s rendition offered a sharp contrast by way of a more Western flare.
Following the tune’s conclusion, Vedder tipped his cap to the audience and bowed off the stage, closing out two days of baseball, music and fanfare.
Set list:
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Far Behind
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love
Away (The Beatles cover)
Wishlist (Pearl Jam song)
Soon Forget
I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty cover)
Just Breathe
Hunger Strike (Temple of the Dog song)
Better Man
In God’s Country (U2 cover)
Society (Jerry Hannan cover)
Black (with Bronson Arroyo)
Lukin
Porch
Hard Sun (Indio cover)
Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover) [encore]
Photos by contributor Amanda Karas
