Pearl Jam saved the best for the last show of their 2024 tour in support of Dark Matter by unearthing the Temple of the Dog classic “Hunger Strike” for the first time in concert in more than 10 years — and the first since the 2017 death of the song’s original co-vocalist, Soundgarden‘s Chris Cornell.
“You have great voices, and we’d like to have you use them with us now,” frontman Eddie Vedder said tonight (Nov. 23) at ENGIE Stadium in Sydney, and the sold-out audience obliged by filling in the parts made famous by Cornell on the song Temple of the Dog’s lone 1990 self-titled album.
Pearl Jam hadn’t played “Hunger Strike” since teaming with Cornell on Oct. 26, 2014, at Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit outside San Francisco. The band have occasionally performed it with guests vocalists such as Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell over the years, but were only joined by Cornell a handful of times, most notably at a 2003 benefit in Santa Barbara, Ca., and in 2011 at Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary bash in East Troy, Wi.
Beyond “Hunger Strike,” the Sydney tour finale also boasted several other rarities, including the tour debut of “Dissident” from 1993’s Vs., just the second airing of “Brain of J” and only the third of “Tremor Christ” and the early ’90s B-side “Alone.” Vedder also played a solo acoustic version of Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender,” which hadn’t appeared in a Pearl Jam show since 2006.
Dark Matter is up for Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards, which will be handed out Feb. 2.