Basketball in Ames
On October 19, 1991, Pearl Jam played the C.Y. Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University in Ames, before 2,309 by one chronology's count, with two set lists that do not match. Both entries have Eddie Vedder talking from the stage about basketball with people from Ames at the dorm courts before the show, and explaining that Jeff Ament's nickname is also Ames.
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
- Wash
- Once
- Even Flow
- Garden
- Alive
- Why Go
- Porch
Five Horizons
set: Alive, Jeremy, Black (partial setlist in no order)
No separate printed encore line; this does not prove no encore occurred. Any inline encore description remains in its printed position.
Retain incomplete/partial/ellipsis qualifiers. Order is printed order only; a no-order qualifier prevents performance-order inference.
set
- Alive
- Jeremy
- Black (partial setlist in no order)
On Saturday, October 19, 1991, Pearl Jam played the C.Y. Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the Smashing Pumpkins on the bill. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology puts the attendance at 2,309; Five Horizons gives no figure. The two entries give different lists, seven songs against three titles marked partial and in no order, and the same note: Eddie Vedder's remarks from the stage about playing basketball with people from Ames at the dorm courts before the show, and about Jeff Ament's nickname, which, as both put it, is also Ames.
The show
At the C.Y. Stephens Auditorium
Two nights earlier the band had played DeKalb; that night is told in No Chairs in DeKalb. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology spells the room's name Stephens, as does a newspaper review it reproduces; Five Horizons spells it Stevens, as does the band's own tour book for the run. The room takes its name from Clifford Y. Stephens, by Wikipedia's account, and was completed in 1969.
The review, by Patrick Beach, bylined "Register Staff Writer" on a clipping that does not carry the paper's name, is the one account of the night's running order: Pearl Jam, it says, "opened the show," the Smashing Pumpkins were "the middle band," and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were, in its words, "the headliners." It counts the crowd at 2,309, the figure the listing also gives, and calls them "fun-starved kids."
The Performance
The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology lists seven songs: "Wash," "Once," "Even Flow," "Garden," "Alive," "Why Go," and "Porch." Five Horizons prints three titles, "Alive," "Jeremy," and "Black," and marks its list partial and in no order. The two lists stand as each chronology's: "Jeremy" and "Black" are on the second and not on the first, and neither entry says more. A hand-written set list the first reproduces, on a torn sheet, reads the same seven titles in the same order, the third of them abbreviated; a written list is what was planned rather than a record of what was played, but it matches the seven and not the three.
Against the Madison list of three nights earlier, the seven keep "Wash," "Once," and "Even Flow" at the top and "Porch" at the close, bring in "Garden" for "Deep," and have "Alive" ahead of "Why Go" again, as at the Cat's Cradle.
From the stage, both entries say, Vedder made some comments about having played basketball with people from Ames at the dorm courts before the show, and explained, as both put it, that Jeff Ament's nickname is also Ames.
The Next Step
The next entry in both is the following night, Sunday, October 20, at the Royal Terrace Ballroom at Peony Park in Omaha, Nebraska; that night is told in Passing Him Along.
Recording & sound
What the Record Preserves
The two entries share the date, the room under two spellings, the bill, and the remarks in nearly the same words; the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds the figure, a list of seven, a written list that matches it, and a review, and Five Horizons three titles it calls partial.
What the record preserves of Ames is a Saturday at a state university, 2,309 by the listing and by the review it reproduces, a band that went on first by a reviewer's account, two lists that do not match and a written one that sides with the longer, and a singer talking about basketball at the dorm courts and about a bassist whose nickname was the name of the town.
Other Media (0)
Other accounts
No further accounts of this show have been added.
Sources & thanks (6)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1991 page
- Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1990–91, entries for 10/17/91, 10/19/91 and 10/20/91
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Pearl Jam tour book for the Red Hot Chili Peppers run, fall 1991 (scanned pages linked from the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour heading)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Review of the October 19, 1991 show by Patrick Beach, bylined Register Staff Writer, publication not named on the clipping (scanned page linked from the October 19, 1991 entry)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Hand-written set list for October 19, 1991 (image linked from the October 19, 1991 entry)
- Wikipedia — Iowa State Center (general reference, September 2026)