PJ Music Factory

The First Flower

· Eagles Ballroom · Milwaukee

On October 22, 1991, Pearl Jam played the Central Park Ballroom in Milwaukee, seven songs in the order of the Hollywood Palladium set of October 6. Both chronologies have "Alive" dedicated to everyone who had come out from Chicago, and a flower given to Eddie Vedder, who said it was the first he had ever been given and that he thought he would eat it.

Setlist

Pearl Jam Concert Chronology

setlist

  1. Wash
  2. Once
  3. Even Flow
  4. Alive
  5. (Suggestion)
  6. Jeremy
  7. Why Go
  8. Porch

Five Horizons

  1. Wash
  2. Once
  3. Even Flow
  4. Alive
  5. Suggestion/Jeremy
  6. Why Go
  7. Porch

Source notation differs (parentheses/slashes/case); preserve both attributed lists independently, without adding song counts or merging snippet labels. Null encore means no encore line printed.

eBay

Pearl Jam finds on eBay

On Tuesday, October 22, 1991, Pearl Jam played the Central Park Ballroom in Milwaukee, supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the Smashing Pumpkins on the bill; Five Horizons names the room Central Park, Eagle's Ballroom. Both chronologies list the same seven songs, with a Fugazi fragment between the fourth and the fifth. Both carry the same two notes: "Alive" dedicated to everyone who had come out from Chicago, with love, and a flower given to Eddie Vedder, who said it was the first he had ever been given and that he thought he would eat it. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology alone records what was playing over the PA as the band took the stage, and two remarks: a greeting, and a line after "Once."

The show

At the Central Park Ballroom

Two nights earlier the band had played Peony Park in Omaha; that night is told in Passing Him Along. Neither chronology lists a show on October 21, a day the band's own tour book for the run, as the first reproduces it, marks as a day off in Milwaukee ahead of the Central Park Ballroom on the 22nd. The two names are one room by Wikipedia's account, the ballroom of the old Eagles Club on West Wisconsin Avenue, a building that went by the Central Park name from 1989 to 1994.

As the band took the stage, the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's entry says, "Master/Slave," a hidden instrumental that opens and closes Ten by Wikipedia's account, was playing over the PA system. The entry then prints a greeting from Vedder: "Hello, so you guys are all in here? You've been searched, you're safe now."

The Performance

The set, the same in both entries, was seven songs: "Wash," "Once," "Even Flow," "Alive," "Jeremy," "Why Go," and "Porch." Between "Alive" and "Jeremy" both carry "Suggestion," Fugazi's song, as a fragment rather than a song in the set, the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology in parentheses and Five Horizons joined to "Jeremy," as at Madison six nights earlier, where the second had joined it to "Porch."

The first five titles are the Omaha five of two nights before, in the same order; "Why Go" and "Porch" close the set in place of "Deep" and "Release," and the seven are, title for title, the Hollywood Palladium list of October 6.

After "Once," the same entry says, Vedder told the crowd: "Just let me tell ya that is going to be a long night, everybody will get along in the front as one."

"Alive" was dedicated, both entries say, to "... everyone who came out from Chicago, with love." Vedder was given a flower, both say, and commented: "This is the first flower I ever got. I think I'm gonna eat it!"

The Next Step

The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's next entry is the following night, Wednesday, October 23, at the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing, Michigan, with the same seven songs in the same order and no notes. Five Horizons lists two entries for that day: an acoustic session with an interview on FM radio in Lansing, and the East Lansing show.

Recording & sound

What the Record Preserves

The two entries share the date, the seven songs and the fragment, the bill, the dedication, and the flower, in the same words; the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds what was on the PA, the greeting, and the remark after "Once," and Five Horizons a second name for the room.

What the record preserves of Milwaukee is a Tuesday in a ballroom with two names, a crowd the singer greeted as searched and safe, a set in the Palladium's order, a dedication to the people who had come out from Chicago, and a flower a singer said was the first he had ever been given.

Other Media (4)

Other accounts

No further accounts of this show have been added.

Sources & thanks (5)
  1. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1991 page
  2. Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1990–91, entries for 10/16/91, 10/20/91, 10/22/91 and the two 10/23/91 lines
  3. 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)
  4. Wikipedia — The Rave/Eagles Club (general reference, September 2026)
  5. Wikipedia — Ten (Pearl Jam album) (general reference, September 2026)