most popular songs. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that McCready's "airy Hendrix imitations provide the essential meat of the song." He added, "Eddie Vedder's vocal is alternately intense and achingly wistful, with the latter particularly suiting the song's mood." He proclaimed "Yellow Ledbetter" as "the sound of a band overflowing with prime material." Will Hermes of Spin said, "The Hendrix-indebted power ballad "Yellow Ledbetter" is some of the best Pearl Jam music ever recorded." "Yellow Ledbetter" has since been regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number seven on their list of the 10 greatest Pearl Jam songs, and Kerrang ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Pearl Jam songs. Live performances The first full live performance of "Yellow Ledbetter" occurred at the band's February 15, 1992, concert in Madrid, Spain. "Yellow Ledbetter" is frequently performed at Pearl Jam concerts, often as the last song of the concert. The freeform nature of the song allows the band to improvise and change the song around when performing it live. During performances, McCready often plays the main riff quite differently than on the record and uses overdrive as opposed to the previous clean channel. He also lengthens the outro, sometimes incorporating various songs which have influenced his playing style, such as Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" or "The Star-Spangled Banner", which bears many similarities to the song. Similarly, Vedder almost always changes the lyrics around, though he sticks with the same rhythm as the original recording. Live performances of "Yellow Ledbetter" can be found on the "Daughter" single, the Tibetan Freedom Concert compilation box set, various official bootlegs, the live album Live at Benaroya Hall, and the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set. Performances of the song are also included on the DVDs Live at the Showbox, Live at the Garden, and Immagine in Cornice as one of the special features. The version of the song on Tibetan Freedom Concert is a performance by Vedder and McCready that was recorded live at the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Soundtracks A brief snippet of the song appears in the series finale of the television series Friends after Rachel boards the plane. This marked the first time that Pearl Jam licensed a song for usage in a television show. According to a spokesperson for the group, it was, "simply a matter of the