Pearl Jam released their debut album Ten in 1991 and started their first major tour as a band. In November of 1991, the guys played an unassuming acoustic show at a Tower Records (remember those?) in Yonkers, New York. The video is very 1991 but as a Pearl Jam fan I'm so grateful it exists. Eddie Vedder with no amplification, is able to fill the intimate space with his voice. It's fun to see this, as they had yet to break through and hit the stratosphere like they eventually did in 1992.
I was pretty sure Eddie Vedder had never gotten hooked into the whole drug scene, especially the Seattle heroine grunge band style back then, but I looked it up anyway. By all accounts he was relatively clean. Apparently, his rather peculiar body positions, mannerisms and facial expressions at the Tower show are just Eddie being Eddie, probably due to his natural shyness early in his career. He was so shy in fact, that when first performing as a vocalist, Vedder had to wear goggles with black paint on the lenses to prevent himself from seeing the audience. He slowly became acclimated to stages and shows and crowds after that.
It's a 40 minute video, so hopping around to hear different songs is not going to get your Pearl Jam fan club card revoked.
