PJ Music Factory

Nine Songs in Los Angeles

· Florentine Gardens · Hollywood

In February 1991 the chronologies follow Mookie Blaylock down the coast for a run of California club dates. At Florentine Gardens in Los Angeles, opening for Alice in Chains, the band played nine songs, one of them "Brother," a song the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology records again only once, five nights later, and then not until 2009.

Blue archival V.I.P. pass reading Thunderdome at Florentine Gardens; full paper edges and marks retained. No date or band is printed.
Florentine Gardens V.I.P. pass (undated; from this show’s archive).

Setlist

Pearl Jam Concert Chronology

No separate printed encore line; this does not prove no encore occurred. Any inline encore description remains in its printed position.

setlist

  1. Release
  2. Once
  3. Even Flow
  4. Alone
  5. Breath
  6. Brother
  7. Garden
  8. Porch
  9. Why Go

Five Horizons

No separate printed encore line; this does not prove no encore occurred. Any inline encore description remains in its printed position.

set

  1. Release
  2. Once
  3. Even Flow
  4. Alone
  5. Breath
  6. Brother
  7. Garden
  8. Porch
  9. Why Go

On Thursday, February 7, 1991, Mookie Blaylock played Florentine Gardens in Los Angeles, opening for Alice in Chains. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology lists Burning Hands and Dead White & Blue as the opening acts. Mookie Blaylock played nine songs, and the two chronologies that record the show agree on every one of them and on the order. It was one of a run of California dates the chronology lists for February.

The show

At Florentine Gardens

The chronology's listings carry the band there by stages. After the Moore Theatre in December, told in Saturday at the Moore, the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology lists Mookie Blaylock opening for Alice in Chains at Harpo's in Victoria and the Town Pump in Vancouver in January, at the Off Ramp in Seattle on February 1, and at Florentine Gardens on the seventh. Its February listings then run through Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, and Sacramento before turning north again through Eugene and Portland.

Mookie Blaylock had opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore in December; in February it was opening for Alice in Chains again, on a West Coast run the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology counts at ten dates, and in Los Angeles two more bands opened the night. The lineup was the one from the autumn: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, and Dave Krusen, whom Five Horizons names on drums for this show.

The Performance

The set was nine songs: "Release," "Once," "Even Flow," "Alone," "Breath," "Brother," "Garden," "Porch," and "Why Go." The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology and Five Horizons give the same nine in the same order.

Two of the nine had not been in the Moore Theatre set. One was "Garden," which both chronologies record here for the first time. The other was "Brother." The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology calls it the song's live debut, lists it at one more show, the Cathouse in Los Angeles on February 12, and says it was not played again until 2009. Five Horizons calls this night the only documented time the song was played. "Alive," played at the Off Ramp and at the Moore, is not in the Los Angeles set. Seven of the nine had been in the Moore set, and "Release" opened again.

Both chronologies carry the same notes on the night: a rushed performance; Mike McCready jamming on riffs after "Once" while Eddie Vedder talked about hanging out in Los Angeles; Vedder asking for a new microphone after "Breath"; and Vedder introducing "Brother" as being about big brother.

The Next Step

Four nights later, at the Club With No Name in Los Angeles, both chronologies note, Vedder told the crowd that the band was expecting a call from the basketball player Mookie Blaylock's lawyer demanding that it change its name. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's listings carry the band back up the coast and into Seattle by the end of the month: the Off Ramp on February 25, the Vogue on February 26, the Off Ramp again on March 1. The night after that, at the O.K. Hotel, was the last show the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology records under the name Mookie Blaylock; it is told in The Last Show as Mookie Blaylock.

Recording & sound

What the Record Preserves

The two chronologies are the record of this show: nine songs in one order, the drummer named, the bill with Alice in Chains and the two opening acts. Where the set is concerned they agree entirely, and what sets the entry apart is the sixth song, "Brother," which the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology records at one other show, five nights later, and then not until 2009. The notes the two entries share, song by song, are the nearest thing to an account of the night.

The house's folder holds a Twenty-Ten information file whose heading is Five Horizons' and whose note opens with Five Horizons' first sentence and restates its claim that "Brother" was played live for the only documented time, one source with Five Horizons. That claim stands against the second performance the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology records; the two disagree, and neither is settled here. It calls its recording complete according to Five Horizons and says the concert was digitized and cleaned up on September 1, 1999.

Other Media (0)

Other accounts

No further accounts of this show have been added.

Sources & thanks (6)
  1. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1991 page
  2. Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1990–91, entries for 2/7/91 and 2/11/91
  3. Pearl Jam (pearljam.com) — Official tour history: Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle, October 22, 1990
  4. Pearl Jam (pearljam.com) — Official tour history: Moore Theatre, Seattle, December 22, 1990
  5. Wikipedia — Pearl Jam (general reference, September 2026)
  6. The house archive — Information file (Twenty-Ten series) in the 1991-02-07 folder