Pearl Jam brought out Johnny Marr during their set at BST Hyde Park on Saturday (July 9).
The Smiths guitarist joined the veteran Seattle rockers midway through the set for their cover of Throw Your Hatred Down – originally from Neil Young’s 1995 album, Mirror Ball – playing the track’s extended guitar solo during its outro.
Marr also appeared for the final song of Pearl Jam’s set – a cover of The Who’s Baba O’Riley – alongside producer Andrew Watt, who accompanied frontman Eddie Vedder on his recent Earthlings solo tour.
Much to our minor disappointment, Marr didn't pull out his monstrous nine-pickup Strat for the performance, instead opting for a Gibson Les Paul.
Pearl Jam’s Saturday set at BST Hyde Park was the second of the band’s two performances at the London festival, following a vastly different set on Friday evening (July 8).
Highlights of the band’s Friday set included Better Man – the first time the band have played the Vitalogy cut as an opener since 2014 – a cover of Public Image Ltd’s Public Image, and staple encore outro, Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World.
The group’s Saturday set featured hits including Animal, Alive and Dance of the Clairvoyants, and Not for You, which the audience requested over Whipping.
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Pearl Jam wrapped up their recent US tour in support of 2020’s Gigaton early after bassist Jeff Ament tested positive for Covid.
Aside from the last-minute cancelations, the tour served a host of notable moments, including a performance of Eruption by guitarist Mike McCready in tribute to Eddie Van Halen, and a tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins featuring Chad Smith and the band’s resident touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
Also of note: McCready – known to be a tube amp man – was seen playing through Fender Tone Master digital guitar amps, while frontman Eddie Vedder and guitarist Stone Gossard busted out some rare Gibson electric guitars for the trek.
Pearl Jam’s current European tour is set to wrap July 25 in Amsterdam, after which the band will take a month off, before heading back to North America for a string of dates from September 1.
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Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
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