Set Openers - 1999-2013 Stats

serpent boy

Like many of you, I find the opening song of a Pearl Jam set to be one of the most memorable parts of the night. The opening song can set the tone for a set, and it is probably most hyped of any song played at that show. Thanks to the element of surprise and the rare set placement of certain songs (i.e. You rarely hear "Release," "Long Road," or "Sometimes" mid-set), the opener has a special place in the hearts of PJ fans.

Here's a list of the opening song statistics from 1999-2013 followed by a list of the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 tours, followed by a list of each song.

NOTE: I'm obviously not the first or only to compile opening song statistics (PJVault.com has most up until 2007), so let me know if someone has a more comprehensive list or statistical probabilities.

1999-2013 STATISTICS:
Release (49)
Long Road (42)
Sometimes (33)
Of the Girl (31)
Go (23)
Interstellar Overdrive (21)
Small Town (21)
Can't Keep (16)
Oceans (14)
Why Go (13)
Love Boat Captain (12)
Severed Hand (11)
Wash (11)
Better Man (9)
Hard to Imagine (7)
Breakerfall (7)
Unthought Known (6)
World Wide Suicide (6)
Given to Fly (6)
Last Exit (6)
Do the Evolution (5)
Corduroy (5)
Wasted Reprise (5)
MFC (4)
Present Tense (4)
Arc (3)
Last Kiss (3)
Animal (3)
Inside Job (3)
Porch (3)
Gonna See My Friend (2)
Life Wasted (2)
Crazy Mary (2)
Alive (2)
Rearviewmirror (2)
I Am Mine (2)
The Kids Are Alright (2)
Nothing As It Seems (2)
Daughter (2)
In My Tree (1)
So You Want to be a Rock n' Roll Star (1)
Public Image (1)
I Believe in Miracles (1)
1/2 Full (1)
All or None (1)
Low Light (1)
Masters Of War (1)
Cropduster (1)
Gimme Some Truth (1)
Even Flow (1)
Whipping (1)
Soldier of Love (1)

That's 392 shows total if you're counting.

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2009-2013 STATISTICS:
Release (15)
Why Go (11)
Small Town (10)
Long Road (9)
Sometimes (7)
Unthought Known (6)
Go (6)
Interstellar Overdrive (5)
Of the Girl (4)
Given to Fly (4)
Wash (4)
Do the Evolution (3)
Oceans (3)
Gonna See My Friend (2)
Corduroy (2)
Hard to Imagine (1)
In My Tree (1)
Last Exit (1)
Animal (1)
Breakerfall (1)
Daughter (1)
So You Want to be a Rock n' Roll Star (1)
Public Image (1)
Last Kiss (1)
Daughter (1)
Present Tense (1)

102 shows in all

OPENERS:
NORTH AMERICA 2013
Release (Chicago)
Present Tense (London, Ontario)

SOUTH AMERICA 2013
Release (Santiago, Lollapalooza)
Release (Buenos Aires, El Festival Mas Grande)
Small Town (Sao Paolo, Lollapalooza)

USA 2012
Small Town (Missoula)
Why Go (Atlanta, Music Midtown Festival)
Oceans (Pensacola, De Luna Festival)
Go (Philadelphia, Made in America Festival)

EUROPE 2012
Small Town (Copenhagen)
Long Road (Oslo)
Small Town (Stockholm)
Oceans (Berlin 2)
Long Road (Berlin 1)
Sometimes (Prague)
Release (Arras, Main Square Festival)
Do the Evolution (Werchter, Werchter Festival)
Wash (Amsterdam 2)
Interstellar Overdrive (Amsterdam 1)
Unthought Known (Newport, UK, Isle of Wight)
Go (Manchester 2)
Release (Manchester 1)

SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA 2011
Release (Mexico City)
Go (San Jose, Costa Rica)
Interstellar Overdrive (Lima)
Unthought Known (Santiago)
Release (Buenos Aires)
Why Go (Porto Alegre)
Go (Curitiba)
Unthought Known (Rio de Janeiro)
Go (Sao Paulo 2)
Release (Sao Paulo 1)

NORTH AMERICA 2011
Small Town (Vancouver)
Wash (Edmonton)
Release (Calgary)
Interstellar Overdrive (Saskatoon)
Why Go (Winnipeg)
Given to Fly (Hamilton)
Small Town (Ottawa)
Go (Toronto 2)
Long Road (Toronto 1)
Small Town (Montreal)
Wash (East Troy, PJ20 Night 2)
Release (East Troy, PJ20 Night 1)

BRIDGE SCHOOL
Daughter (Mountain View, Night 2)
Last Kiss (Mountain View, Night 1)

EUROPE 2010
Release (Oeiras, Optimus Alive! Festival)
Do the Evolution (Bilbao, BBK Live Festival)
Given to Fly (Venice, Heineken Jammin' Festival)
Public Image (Werchter, Werchter Festival)
Unthought Known (Arras, Main Square Festival)
Interstellar Overdrive (Gdynia, Heineken Open'er Festival)
Long Road (Berlin)
Do the Evolution (Nijmegen, Rockin' Park Festival)
Given to Fly (London, Hard Rock Calling Festival)
Sometimes (Belfast)
Long Road (Dublin)

U.S. 2010
Corduroy (NYC 2)
Sometimes (NYC 1)
Of the Girl (Newark)
Release (Boston)
Unthought Known (Hartford)
Small Town (Bristow)
Unthought Known (Buffalo)
Wash (Cleveland)
Release (Noblesville)
Oceans (Columbus)
Sometimes (St. Louis)
Of the Girl (Kansas City)
So You Want to be a Rock n' Roll Star? (New Orleans)

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND 2009
Given to Fly (Christchurch)
Daughter (Auckland)
Why Go (Brisbane)
Why Go (Sydney)
Small Town (Melbourne)
Release (Adelaide)
Breakerfall (Perth)

NORTH AMERICA 2009 (post-Backspacer)
Why Go (Philly 4)
Gonna See My Friend (Philly 3)
Animal (Philly 2)
Corduroy (Philly 1)
Last Exit (San Diego)
Long Road (L.A. 4)
Sometimes (L.A. 3)
Why Go (ACL Festival)
Interstellar Overdrive (L.A. 2)
Why Go (L.A. 1)
Of the Girl (Salt Lake City)
Gonna See My Friend (Portland)
In My Tree (Vancouver)
Sometimes (Seattle 2)
Long Road (Seattle 1)

NORTH AMERICA/EUROPE 2009 (pre-Backspacer)
Why Go (San Francisco/Outside Lands Festival)
Hard to Imagine (Chicago 2)
Long Road (Chicago 1)
Of the Girl (Toronto)
Release (London, 02 Arena)
Long Road (Manchester)
Why Go (Berlin)
Small Town (Rotterdam)
Sometimes (London, Shepherd's Bush)
Why Go (Calgary)

ANALYSIS
- Songs from the most recent record tend to be popular for a year or two and then disappear ("Can't Keep" and "Love Boat Captain" in 2003-2004; "Hard to Imagine" in 2005; "Severed Hand" and "Wasted Reprise" in 2006-2007; "Gonna See My Friend" in 2009?).
- Heavier songs tend to open up festivals.
- I usually think of openers as slow-building songs, but the band has a pretty even split of hard rockers and slow builders in the past few years.
- The end of the tour usually yields more rare openers ("Given to Fly," "Daughter" in New Zealand; "Corduroy," "Animal" in Philly).
- Only two repeats for back-to-back shows ("Why Go" for Sydney/Brisbane, "Release" for Santiago/Buenos Aires).
- "Hard to Imagine" hasn't opened a show since before Backspacer.

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MY OPENERS
I've been lucky to see a nice mix of openers in 14 shows.

Long Road (3 times) (Va Beach 2000, Atlantic City 2005, Va Beach 2008)
Release (2 times) (D.C. 2006, East Troy 2011)
Can't Keep (Bristow 2003)
Love Boat Captain (Reading, PA 2004)
Present Tense (Atlantic City 2, 2005)
Wasted Reprise (Camden 1, 2006)
Hard to Imagine (D.C. 2008)
Animal (Philly 2, 2009)
Gonna See My Friend (Philly 3, 2009)
Small Town (Bristow, 2010)
Wash (East Troy, 2011)

SVRDhand13

Nice List. Openers I've seen:

Severed Hand
Can't Keep
Low Light
Gonna See My Friend
Why Go

Hoping I don't repeat on my 3 shows coming up but I feel like I will. Maybe Can't Keep?

EDIT: I've doubled my shows with no repeats .

I freakin love how this band changes up their opening song so much.

LeatherMosquitoMan

8 different openers in 9 shows

Long Road - Brisbane 2 98
Can't Keep - Brisbane 1 03
Release - LA 1 06
World Wide Suicide - LA 2 06
Why Go - LA 1 09
Interstellar/Corduroy - LA 2 09
Sometimes - LA 3 09
Long Road - LA 4 09
Last Exit - San Diego 09

nothingman4

Calgary '05-Oceans
Edmonton '05-Release
Bonnaroo-Hard To Imagine
Calgary'09-Why Go
San Fran '09-Why Go

NYCPJ

East Rutherford 2 (2006) -Severed Hand
MSG1 (2008) - Hard to Imagine
MSG2 -(2008) - Release
Beacon Theater (2008)- Low Light
Philly 3 (2009)- Gonna See My Friend
Newark (2010) - Of the Girl
MSG1 (2010) - Sometimes
MSG2 (2010) - Corduroy

(edited for the 2010 shows)

BrainofBGA

Very interesting post. My openers are:

Melb 98 #1 - Long Road
Melb 03 #2 - Small Town
Melb 03 #3 - Cant Keep
Melb 06 #1 - Wated Reprise / Life Wasted.
Melb 06 #3 - Long Road
Melb 09 - Small Town

In 2003 at the First Melbourne show they opened with Betterman that wouldve been an interesting opener.

BrainofBGA

Oh and have missed Sometimes (Melb 98#2), Release (Melb 98 #3 was on radio though), and Go (Melb 96 #2).

TroubledSoul

ANALYSIS
- The numbers for "Why Go" are probably a bit skewed; it seems to be a favorite for the guys at festival performances.
- Only one repeat for back-to-back shows ("Why Go" for Sydney/Brisbane).

Bris was planned to be opened with sometimes according to the setlist, but it was scrubbed off and went straight into song 2. Presumably to fit in "if you want blood" which wasn't on the set.

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Satans Red Mosquito

I have got lucky as hell with my openers, basically go to a show I'm at, and your almost a lock for a great opener

1. Bonnaroo 2008 - Hard To Imagine
2. Chicago 1 2009 - Long Road
3. St Louis 2010 - Sometimes
4. Columbus 2010 - Oceans
5. Indy 2010 - Release

nothingman4

Satans Red Mosquito wrote:

I have got lucky as hell with my openers, basically go to a show I'm at, and your almost a lock for a great opener

1. Bonnaroo 2008 - Hard To Imagine
2. Chicago 1 2009 - Long Road
3. St Louis 2010 - Sometimes
4. Columbus 2010 - Oceans
5. Indy 2010 - Release

Damn, replace Long Road and Sometimes with Why Go and thats my list too. You really have been lucky. Please tell me you're going to Boston/NY!

jason_94

I don't have as nearlly as many shows on my list as the previous posts, but I do have an opener not yet mentioned :

Cleveland 1994 : Release ( Alone & Oceans back to back in middle of main set)

Toronto 1996 : Release ( Who You Are & I Got Id in Encore 1 )

Cleveland 1998 (Cuyahoga Falls) : Hail, Hail ( Immortality & Footsteps back to back mid set 1 )

I think, not just because I was there, I have been very fortunate to see 3 very cool sets. Check out the full sets & see what you think.

SVRDhand13

Satans Red Mosquito wrote:

I have got lucky as hell with my openers, basically go to a show I'm at, and your almost a lock for a great opener

1. Bonnaroo 2008 - Hard To Imagine
2. Chicago 1 2009 - Long Road
3. St Louis 2010 - Sometimes
4. Columbus 2010 - Oceans
5. Indy 2010 - Release

That's a great list. I'd say that Long Road, Oceans, And Release are probably their best 3 openers, and then H2I is incredible anywhere in the set, and Sometimes is great too. I honestly can't think of 5 songs better made to be openers than these 5.

DiRtyFranK38

9 different openers in 9 shows . lovin' the trend i have going! i'm DYING to see long road, oceans, and of the girl! hope i get those this tour! anyways, i have seen:

Severed Hand (Hartford 06)
Hard To Imagine (MSG I 08)
Can't Keep (Hartford 08)
Wash (Mansfield II 08)
Release (London 09)
Corduroy (Philly I 09)
Animal (Philly II 09)
Gonna See My Friend (Philly III 09)
Why Go (Philly IV 09)

Satans Red Mosquito

nothingman4 wrote:

Satans Red Mosquito wrote:

I have got lucky as hell with my openers, basically go to a show I'm at, and your almost a lock for a great opener

1. Bonnaroo 2008 - Hard To Imagine
2. Chicago 1 2009 - Long Road
3. St Louis 2010 - Sometimes
4. Columbus 2010 - Oceans
5. Indy 2010 - Release

Damn, replace Long Road and Sometimes with Why Go and thats my list too. You really have been lucky. Please tell me you're going to Boston/NY!

I wish I could say that, but I can't afford it, but if you want to pay for everything I'll be there, but I am doing Bristow, so you might wanna swing that one too.

shep

My personal list isn't doing so bad (7 different openers in 7 shows):

St. John's 05 - Can't Keep
St. John's 05 - Small Town
MSG 08 - Hard to Imagine
MSG 08 - Release
Toronto 09 - Of the Girl
ACL 09 - Why GO
New Orleans 10 - So you wanna be a rock n roll star

I've got 2 more dates for this tour (hartford and boston)... Really hoping to hear Sometimes or LBC... Could be really greedy and hope for Wash, but I'm not that optimistic (although I think it could happen in Boston, being that they are only playing 1 night and normally they play 2 there, they could decide to make it an extra special night....)

I've gotta say that Release is the best opener... that song is just so clutch as an opener... such energy, such a crescendo... it's out of this world as an opener...

nothingman4

Satans Red Mosquito wrote:

nothingman4 wrote:

Satans Red Mosquito wrote:

I have got lucky as hell with my openers, basically go to a show I'm at, and your almost a lock for a great opener

1. Bonnaroo 2008 - Hard To Imagine
2. Chicago 1 2009 - Long Road
3. St Louis 2010 - Sometimes
4. Columbus 2010 - Oceans
5. Indy 2010 - Release

Damn, replace Long Road and Sometimes with Why Go and thats my list too. You really have been lucky. Please tell me you're going to Boston/NY!

I wish I could say that, but I can't afford it, but if you want to pay for everything I'll be there, but I am doing Bristow, so you might wanna swing that one too.

Oh I can't afford these shows wither, but the fact that I know I won't see the boys up Albertas way anytime soon again made me impulsively buy these tickets and book my flights which do not corespond with Bristow. Damn this PJ addiction

Satans Red Mosquito

Even Eddie knows about our addiction, what do you think Got Some is talking about?

AndySlash

Releasex3
Of The Girlx2
Why Gox2
Sometimes
Arc
Betterman
Present Tense
Severed Hand
Last Exit
Interstellar Corduroy
Oceans
Worldwide Suicide
Hard To Imagine
Long Road

Roeghmann

3 - shows - 3 openers
Go -Berlin 2006
Long Road - Copenhagen 2007
Release - London 2009
? - Berlin 2010 (hoping for In my Tree, would be perfect for the venue)

Eraserhead

Openers for me:

Manchester 04.06.00 - Off the Girl
Leeds Fest 25.08.06 - Go
Wembley 18.06.07 - Long Road
Dusseldorf 21.06.07 - Sometimes
Shepherd's Bush 11.08.09 - Sometimes
Manchester 17.08.09 - Long Road
Adelaide 17.11.09 - Release
Melbourne 20.11.09 - Elderly Woman
Sydney 22.11.09 - Why Go
Brisbane 25.11.09 - Why Go

Really happy to hear Release.

CharlieP

I´ve seen the following openers:
Corduroy
Go X2
Sometimes
Long road
Hard to imagine
Release X2
Why go

I´m pretty satisfied with that. Why go is the weakest opener for sure

BLACK35

Cool thread...here are my 2 shows so far, 3rd to added this coming Monday.

Oceans - London (Ont.) 05
Of A Girl - Toronto 09 - Thought this just rocked

Hoping for Release in Buffalo

modernmonkey

my openers:
sometimes * 3
release * 2
long road * 2
inside job * 2
better man * 1

would love to hear wash or hard to imagine this tour

Nittany1bn

my openers so far:
sometimes
release
of the girl x2
can't keep
wash x2
wasted reprise/life wasted (i'll count them together, thank you)
hard to imagine
why go
gonna see my friend
animal
corduroy

can't wait till MSG 1

watk7881

West Palm 08 - Oceans
MSG 2 08 - Release
Chicago 1 09 - Long Road
Chicago 2 09 - Hard To Imagine
Philly 1 09 - Corduroy

I'm going to Boston, Newark and MSG 1 next week- hopefully the streak of no repeats continues!

Good topic.

arriepjf

This took a little while to figure out, and after looking at what i've seen to date it will be hard to decide what I will hope for the upcoming shows. NJ , MSG & Hartford. Always looking for something new. But as I have stood in the dark, anticipating the opening song, I don't every remember being disappointed ( Well maybe once- Severed Hand back to back in NJ )

Why Go
Gonna See My Friend
Can't Keep
Release
Hard To Imagine
Severed Hand
Wasted Reprise/ Life Wasted
Present Tense
Last Exit
Go
Love Boat Captain
Crazy Mary
Wash
Long Road
Of The Girl
Sometimes
Oceans
Hail ,Hail

Lennon_Cobain

My opening songs

Release - Boston 2 (2000)
Oceans - Boston 1 (2003)
Release - Boston 2 (2003)
Long Road (acoustic set) / Can't Keep (main set) - Boston 3 (2003)
Release - Boston 1 (2004)
Release - Boston 1 (2006)
Severed Hand - Boston 2 (2006)
Hard To Imagine - Boston 1 (2008)
Wash - Boston 2 (2008)

Mcam55

Release x3
Wash x2
Severed Hand x2
Why Go x2
Go
Wasted Reprise
Cant Keep
Hard To Imagine
Of the Girl
Gonna See My Friend

15 shows....still no Long Road. Got 4 more chances this year.

whiteside

Why Go (Slane 93)
Release (Dublin 96)
Sometimes (Dublin 00)
Inside Job (Dublin 06)
Long Road (Manchester 09)

Release and Sometimes stand out, the opening riff of Sometimes still always brings me right back to that gig. Why Go was just nuts in Slane, dunno if I'd be able for it now as an oul 30-something... ...

Inside Job was the only one that I would've swopped for something else. I know there's a lot of love for it on here but I think it's one of the weaker tunes on that album. Even so, I hadn't seen them for 6 years before that gig so they could've started with the Crazy Frog song and I'd still have gone nuts...

False_Belief

Go (Leeds 2006)
The Long Road (Wembley 2007)
Can't Keep (Hartford 2008)
Sometimes (Shepherds Bush 2009)
Release (O2 London 2009)

5 shows, 5 different openers - I feel pretty lucky. Here's hoping the trend continues in Dublin and Hyde Park (Of The Girl & Oceans would be nice).

belfast1

Haha crazy frog song

for me:

release (1996 - Dublin)
of the girl (2000 - London)
sometimes (2000 - London)
inside job (2006 - Dublin)
mfc (2006 - Prague)
long road (2007 - London)
long road (2007 - Copenhagen)
elderly woman (2009 - Rotterdam)
release (2009 - London)

oceans would be nice in Belfast this year...