Pearl Jam Makes Apollo Theater Debut

Pearl Jam held a concert at New York City’s Apollo Theater on Saturday night, marking the band’s first performance at the historic Harlem venue. The intimate show, which was part of SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series, saw frontman Eddie Vedder playing an unamplified Warren Zevon cover while the crew dealt with technical issues.

The Apollo Theater setlist contained several rarities and songs from Pearl Jam’s most recent album Gigaton, as well as others from across the band’s deep catalog. The show began with Pearl Jam taking their stripped-down, mostly acoustic format with Vedder, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready seated alongside drummer Matt Cameron. “Footsteps” kicked off the set, followed by touring multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer coming out for the band’s first performance of “Pendulum” since 2018.

“Live from the Apollo, it’s Saturday night!” Vedder said between the first two songs. “I’ve got to admit, I’m a little shaky. I’m feeling just – energy. Could be the energy of the people in this crowd. It could be the energy of New York City. It’s potentially the theory that it might be the energy that we know this is being broadcast across the globe on the SiriusXM radio network … But I think probably more important, the reason we have an intense energy is because of the building and the room we’re in tonight. It’s a deep honor to play this venue. We’re going to try to contain ourselves for a few songs, and contain myself, and thank these walls for containing us this evening.”

The band remained seated and stripped down for “Sleight of Hand” and “Parachutes,” both having last been played in 2016. The seated sequence concluded with “Hard To Imagine,” which by its end saw the musicians fully electrified and standing. The show then paused to handle the technical issues, and the audience passed the time by singing “Daughter.”

Vedder then addressed the crowd without a microphone, explaining there was a problem with the P.A. that was trying to be fixed. He then sat at the lip of the stage and played an unamplified cover of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me In Your Heart.”

Once the production problems were resolved, Pearl Jam resumed the concert, packing seven Gigaton tracks into the final 10 songs of the set. Among the non-Gigaton selections was the Vitalogy cut “Spin The Black Circle,” which had not been played by the band since 2018.

Vedder paused during the concert to again address the historic nature of the venue. He relayed a story about the late blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, who frequently performed at the Apollo. Vedder talked about being influenced by Edward Albee’s play The Death of Bessie Smith and stated how much it meant to be playing on the same stage as Smith.

The encore began with staples “Better Man” and “Do The Evolution.” The finale continued with The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and came to an end with “Indifference.” Pearl Jam performs in New York City tonight at Madison Square Garden. Watch highlights of the Apollo Theater via the audience-captured videos below: