Pearl Jam’s inaugural visit to Las Vegas in 1993 capped off a quite memorable year for what was still Las Vegas’ premiere midsize venue, the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. Radiohead, Tears for Fears, Oingo Boingo and a downright raucous show in which Soul Asylum threw away its setlist and played ’60s pop songs were among the special memories that year.
Two years after storming onto the scene with debut album Ten, Pearl Jam went out to promote equally powerful follow-up Vs., which was just starting to have an impact on radio playlists, including at Las Vegas’ first commercial alternative station “The Edge.” The group had skipped Vegas during its marathon tours the previous year, and by the time the five musicians got here in late November, sellout crowds on consecutive nights welcomed them with a surprising intensity and fists in the air.
After brief opening sets by Urge Overkill and fellow grunge pioneers Mudhoney, Eddie Vedder led the band through a storm of a setlist that included all the early radio successes (“Jeremy,” “Alive,” “Even Flow”), along with the tracks from the new album that packed the biggest punch (“Daughter,” “Glorified G,” “Rearviewmirror”). “So we finally made it to Vegas,” he said. “Believe me, you were worth waiting for.”
Mounted floor seating foiled full-out moshing, but there was still much stage storming and crowd surfing throughout. The floor crowd stood through the entire show, some on seats. Pearl Jam’s 90 minutes onstage was the stuff of an exceptional concert movie, reaching some incredibly intense moments, and riveting from the start. We had come to expect near-perfect acoustics for any show at the Aladdin, and the theater didn’t disappoint. Even in his sometimes trance-like delivery, you could hear Vedder’s every word, while each instrument was in near-perfect balance. With only a few shows left on a grueling five-month tour, the band could not have been more on its game.
The music of the grunge era in general served to reassure baby boomers (and the subsequent generation or two) that rock music hadn’t forgotten its roots. It had a purity to it and provided hope that hometown garage bands would continue to have a chance at being part of the landscape. During the show we noticed a group of about two dozen basketball action figures and other toys positioned in a row along the tops of the amps, leaving the impression of children bringing along what was most precious to them on their journey—a seemingly minor detail, but something we could all relate to.
Pearl Jam has only returned to Las Vegas four times since, most notably for 2000’s 10th anniversary, celebrated with an amazing set at the MGM Grand Garden that included some of their earliest, deepest material and covers of “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Baba O’Riley.” That show was officially released on CD, but videos of the two ’93 shows are up on YouTube, surreptitiously shot by attendees from various locations on the floor.
