The First Tattoo
On November 9, 1991, Pearl Jam played four songs acoustic at Tower Records in Rockville, Maryland, for about 50 people, one of two events both chronologies list for the day. Eddie Vedder thumbed through a magazine for his first tattoo before the set, joked about it in changed words during "Alive," and stood on the kick drum during "Porch."
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
- Black
- Alive
- (Suggestion)/(Smells Like Teen Spirit)
- Porch
Five Horizons
No separate printed encore line; this does not prove no encore occurred. Any inline encore description remains in its printed position.
set
- Wash
- Black
- Alive
- Suggestion
- Porch
On Saturday, November 9, 1991, Pearl Jam played an acoustic set at Tower Records in Rockville, Maryland, an in-store both chronologies list, for about 50 people by both counts. Both list the same four songs, "Wash," "Black," "Alive," and "Porch," with fragments between, and the same notes: a band in a festive, friendly state, a singer thumbing through a magazine to pick out his first tattoo, some changed words during "Alive" to joke about it, and, during "Porch," nothing to climb but the drummer's kick drum.
The show
At Tower Records
The night before, the band had played CBGB in New York; that night is told in Ever Since I Was 14. Both chronologies list two events for Saturday the 9th: this in-store in Rockville and, the same day, the Bender Arena show in Washington, D.C., for which the arena's ticket prints an 8 PM start. Neither chronology prints a time for the in-store, and neither says which came first.
Both call it a small in-store promo for the band's first album, Ten, and both name the store Tower Records, Rockville, marking the set acoustic in their headings. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology puts the crowd at approximately 50, Five Horizons at 50. Rockville, by Wikipedia's account, is the county seat of Montgomery County, in the Washington metropolitan area.
The Performance
The set, the same four in both entries, was "Wash," "Black," "Alive," and "Porch." Between "Alive" and "Porch" the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology prints two fragments in parentheses, "Suggestion," Fugazi's song, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; Five Horizons lists "Suggestion" as a fifth title and says in its notes that the band strummed a bit of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes."
Before the set, both entries say, Eddie Vedder was thumbing through a magazine, trying to pick out his first tattoo. During "Alive," both say, he changed some of the words to joke about choosing the tattoo, and the band laughed.
During "Porch," both say, he looked around for something to climb and, finding nothing, stood on Dave's kick drum, Dave Abbruzzese by the run's tour book. Both close on the same verdict, an excellent acoustic set, and the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds that signing and pictures followed.
The Next Step
The same day's other room, the Bender Arena at American University in Washington, D.C., is told in Eleven Songs at Bender Arena.
Recording & sound
What the Record Preserves
The two entries share the date, the store, the four songs, and the notes nearly word for word; the first adds its fragments in parentheses, the signing, and four photographs it reproduces, credited as it credits them; the second its two strummed fragments by name and "Suggestion" as a title in its list.
What the record preserves of Rockville is a Saturday at a record store, its hour fixed by neither chronology, about 50 people, four songs played acoustic, a singer choosing his first tattoo from a magazine and joking about it in a song, and a kick drum stood on for want of anything higher.
Other Media (9)
Other accounts
No further accounts of this show have been added.
Sources & thanks (5)
- Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — 1991 page
- Five Horizons — Concert chronology 1990–91, entries for 11/08/91 and 11/09/91
- 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 — Ticket for November 9, 1991, Bender Arena (image linked from the second November 9, 1991 entry)
- Wikipedia — Rockville, Maryland (general reference, September 2026)