Pearl Jam’s 2015 headlining set at the Global Citizen Festival on Central Park’s Great Lawn was never just a concert. The Seattle rock legends brought their full catalog and their convictions to a crowd of thousands of activists, tearing through “Alive,” “Better Man,” and “Do the Evolution” before closing with covers of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The night’s defining moment came during the encore, when Eddie Vedder was joined on stage by Beyoncé for a duet on “Redemption Song,” a collision of two artists at the peak of their powers, on a night built around something bigger than music.


