PJ Music Factory

The Shows Are Sold Out

· Statetheatre 2 · Detroit

Two advertisements hang under the chronology's entry for Pearl Jam's second Detroit night, neither dated: one sells a single Saturday at the State Theatre, the other says a second show has been added and carries a sold-out stamp across its date line. Which night was the added one is printed nowhere, and the rest of the record is seven songs and a figure.

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. Black
  2. Once
  3. Even Flow
  4. Alive
  5. Deep
  6. Why Go
  7. Porch

On Saturday, November 23, 1991, Pearl Jam played the State Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the Smashing Pumpkins on the bill, the second of two nights there. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology puts the attendance at 2,900 and marks the show sold out; Five Horizons gives no figure, adds Clubland, in parentheses, to the room's name, and prints no set at all. Neither chronology has a note of any kind, and what stands beside the seven songs is a pair of advertisements.

The show

At the State Theatre

The night before, in the same room, was the first of the two Detroit nights; it is told in For the Pistons. The names are the ones that page settles: State Theatre in the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology, State Theatre (Clubland) in Five Horizons and on both advertisements. The chronology hangs both of those advertisements under the Saturday's entry, each captioned Ad.

One of them, which also carries the Kalamazoo date from three days earlier, prints a single Detroit date: Saturday, November 23, at 6:30, at the State Theatre (Clubland), with special guests in the plural and tickets on sale now. The other prints both nights and says, in its own words, that by overwhelming demand a 2nd show has been added: November 22 and 23, all ages, doors open at 6:30, with special guest in the singular. A sold-out stamp lies across its date line, and a panel at its edge puts tickets for the 2nd show on sale Saturday, October 12. Neither advertisement is dated, neither ad says which night was the added one, and nothing in the record places one before the other.

A newspaper listing from the Friday, which the same chronology reproduces under the previous day, has the three bands performing "at 7:30 tonight and Saturday at Club-Land," the name split across a line end. It adds: "The shows are sold out." By Wikipedia's account the building opened in October 1925, and its article's infobox gives the name State Theatre for three separate spells, with Clubland between them, for 1989 to 1991.

The Performance

The set, as the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology alone prints it, was seven songs: "Black," "Once," "Even Flow," "Alive," "Deep," "Why Go," and "Porch." Its lists for CBGB on November 8 and for the third Roseland night on November 15 also open on "Black." Five Horizons prints no set for the night at all; where a set would stand its entry carries only a link labelled newspaper ad. Beyond the order of the songs, neither chronology keeps a word.

The Next Step

The next entry in both is Sunday, November 24, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis; it is told in No Cameras or Recorders.

Recording & sound

What the Record Preserves

The two entries agree on the date, the room and the bill. The Pearl Jam Concert Chronology adds the figure, the sold-out mark, the seven songs and the two advertisements; Five Horizons adds Clubland to the room's name, a link label, and nothing else.

Neither chronology kept a word of the second Detroit night, and the paper trail will not do the one thing a reader wants, which is put itself in order. Both shows were sold out, by the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's mark and by the listing printed on the Friday.

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 11/22/91, 11/23/91 and 11/24/91
  3. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Newspaper advertisement for the Kalamazoo and Detroit dates (image linked from the November 20 and November 23, 1991 entries, captioned Ad)
  4. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Newspaper advertisement for the two State Theatre nights (image linked from the November 22 and November 23, 1991 entries, captioned Ad)
  5. Pearl Jam Concert Chronology — Newspaper listing of the November 22, 1991 show (image linked from the November 22, 1991 entry, captioned Ad; the paper not on the clipping)
  6. Wikipedia — The Fillmore Detroit (general reference, September 2026)