Vs. Tour
# Vs. Tour

The Vs. Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Pearl Jam to support its second album, Vs.

## History

Pearl Jam promoted Vs. with tours in the United States in the fall of 1993 and the spring of 1994. The fall 1993 tour focused on the Western United States, while the spring 1994 tour focused on the Eastern United States. Industry insiders compared Pearl Jam's tour to the touring habits of Led Zeppelin, in that the band "ignored the press and took its music directly to the fans." During this tour the band set a cap on ticket prices in the attempt to thwart scalpers.

During the tour Pearl Jam concurrently worked on its third album. Several songs from the band's third album, Vitalogy, were premiered during this tour. These include "Last Exit", "Spin the Black Circle", "Not for You", "Tremor Christ", "Nothingman", "Whipping", "Corduroy", "Satan's Bed", "Better Man", and "Immortality".

On the evening of November 5, 1993, Pearl Jam performed before almost 25,000 fans that stood and sat through the night on the lawns of Indio, California previously rock-festival free Empire Polo Club. (This show is well known among fans because halfway through the set, fans in the pit began pelting the band with shoes, provoking Vedder and the band to walk off stage, only to come out and play the rest of the set from behind a wall of speakers.) Although band management had chosen this untested and under-developed site as part of a boycott of Ticketmaster and the Southern California auditoriums it controlled, the event established the new venue's suitability for large-scale rock events. Pearl Jam's November 30, 1993 concert in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts featured a reunion by the grunge band Green River. Participating in the reunion were Pearl Jam members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, Mudhoney members Mark Arm and Steve Turner, and Chuck Treece, who filled in on drums for Green River drummer Alex Vincent.

Pearl Jam was outraged when it discovered after a pair of shows in Chicago in March 1994 that ticket vendor Ticketmaster had added a service charge to the tickets. The band's April 3, 1994 concert in Atlanta at the Fox Theatre was broadcast live on the radio in the United States and was also eventually released as a part of the "Dissident"/Live in Atlanta box set released in Europe. On April 8, 1994, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home in Seattle due to an apparent suicide, which deeply affected Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder. At the band's April 8, 1994 concert in Fairfax, Virginia at the Patriot Center, Vedder proclaimed, "I don't think any of us would be in this room tonight if it weren't for Kurt Cobain." Vedder later said that "the day that we found out about Kurt...I was just spinning. I was lost and didn't know if we should play, or if we should just go home, or if we should attend the services. I still have some regrets about that, even though in the end it was probably better that we played the last two weeks of the tour. I decided I would play those next two weeks and then I'd never have to play again." This was Pearl Jam's last tour with drummer Dave Abbruzzese.

Following the tour, the band brought a lawsuit against Ticketmaster that accused them of being a monopoly whose anticompetitive practices allowed markup prices of more than 30%. The band's intention was to get ticket prices lowered for its fans. Pearl Jam's plans for a 1994 summer tour were cancelled as a result of a Ticketmaster boycott.

## Tour dates

Information taken from various sources.

| Date | City | Country | Venue | Opening act |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Warm-Up Shows |||||
| October 25, 1993 | Seattle | United States | Off Ramp Café | |
| October 27, 1993 | Santa Cruz | United States | The Catalyst | American Music Club |
| United States Leg 1 |||||
| October 28, 1993 | San Francisco | United States | Warfield Theatre | Rollins Band |
| October 30, 1993 | San Jose | United States | SJSU Event Center | Rollins Band |
| October 31, 1993 | Berkeley | United States | Hearst Greek Theatre | Rollins Band, American Music Club |
| November 2, 1993 | San Diego | United States | Civic Theatre | American Music Club |
| November 3, 1993 | San Diego | United States | Civic Theatre | American Music Club |
| November 4, 1993 | West Hollywood | United States | Whisky a Go Go | American Music Club |
| November 5, 1993 | Indio | United States | Empire Polo Club | American Music Club, Weapon of Choice, Eleven |
| November 6, 1993 | Mesa | United States | Mesa Amphitheatre | Bill Miller, Butthole Surfers |
| November 7, 1993 | Mesa | United States | Mesa Amphitheatre | Bill Miller, Butthole Surfers |
| November 9, 1993 | Albuquerque | United States | Convention Exhibition Hall | Butthole Surfers |
| November 11, 1993 | Denton | United States | UNT Coliseum | Butthole Surfers |
| November 12, 1993 | Dallas | United States | Moody Coliseum | Butthole Surfers |
| November 16, 1993 | New Orleans | United States | Lakefront Arena | Mudhoney |
| November 17, 1993 | New Orleans | United States | Lakefront Arena | Mudhoney |
| November 19, 1993 | New Orleans | United States | Lakefront Arena | Mudhoney |
| November 20, 1993 | Nacogdoches | United States | William R. Johnson Coliseum | Mudhoney |
| November 22, 1993 | Little Rock | United States | Barton Coliseum | Mudhoney |
| November 23, 1993 | Oklahoma City | United States | T&T Center | Mudhoney |
| November 24, 1993 | Wichita | United States | Century II | Mudhoney |
| November 26, 1993 | Boulder | United States | Balch Fieldhouse | Urge Overkill, Mudhoney |
| November 27, 1993 | Boulder | United States | Balch Fieldhouse | Mudhoney |
| November 30, 1993 | Las Vegas | United States | Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts | Mudhoney |
| December 1, 1993 | Las Vegas | United States | Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts | Mudhoney |
| December 2, 1993 | Reno | United States | Lawlor Events Center | Urge Overkill, Mudhoney |
| December 7, 1993 | Seattle | United States | Seattle Center Arena | Urge Overkill, Six in the Clip |
| December 8, 1993 | Seattle | United States | Seattle Center Arena | |
| December 9, 1993 | Seattle | United States | Seattle Center Arena | Urge Overkill, Hater |
| United States |||||
| March 6, 1994 | Denver | United States | Paramount Theatre | The Frogs |
| March 7, 1994 | Denver | United States | Paramount Theatre | The Frogs |
| March 9, 1994 | Pensacola | United States | Pensacola Civic Center | L7, Follow for Now |
| March 10, 1994 | Chicago | United States | Chicago Stadium | The Frogs, Urge Overkill |
| March 13, 1994 | Chicago | United States | New Regal Theater | The Frogs, Magic Slim and the MGs |
| March 14, 1994 | St. Louis | United States | Fox Theatre | The Frogs, Grant Lee Buffalo |
| March 15, 1994 | St. Louis | United States | Fox Theatre | The Frogs |
| March 17, 1994 | West Lafayette | United States | Elliot Hall | Grant Lee Buffalo |
| March 19, 1994 | Detroit | United States | Detroit Masonic Temple | Grant Lee Buffalo |
| March 20, 1994 | Ann Arbor | United States | Crisler Arena | Grant Lee Buffalo |
| March 22, 1994 | Cleveland | United States | CSU Convocation Center | Grant Lee Buffalo |
| March 24, 1994 | Louisville | United States | Louisville Gardens | King's X |
| March 25, 1994 | Memphis | United States | Mid-South Coliseum | King's X |
| March 26, 1994 | Murfreesboro | United States | Murphy Center | King's X |
| March 28, 1994 | Miami | United States | Bayfront Amphitheater | King's X |
| March 29, 1994 | St. Petersburg | United States | Bayfront Arena | King's X |
| April 2, 1994 | Atlanta | United States | Fox Theatre | King's X |
| April 3, 1994 | Atlanta | United States | Fox Theatre | King's X |
| April 6, 1994 | Springfield | United States | Springfield Civic Center | Mudhoney |
| April 7, 1994 | Rochester | United States | Rochester Community War Memorial | Mudhoney |
| April 8, 1994 | Fairfax | United States | Patriot Center | Mudhoney |
| April 10, 1994 | Boston | United States | Boston Garden | Mudhoney |
| April 11, 1994 | Boston | United States | Boston Garden | Mudhoney |
| April 12, 1994 | Boston | United States | Orpheum Theatre | Mudhoney |
| April 17, 1994 | New York City | United States | Paramount Theatre | Mudhoney |

### Cancellations and rescheduled shows

| November 28, 1993 | Boulder | Balch Fieldhouse | Cancelled |
| - | - | - | - |
| November 30, 1993 | Las Vegas | Sands Hotel | Moved to Aladdin Theatre |
| December 1, 1993 | Las Vegas | Sands Hotel | Moved to Aladdin Theatre |

## Band members

* Jeff Ament – bass guitar
* Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar
* Mike McCready – lead guitar
* Eddie Vedder – lead vocals, guitar
* Dave Abbruzzese – drums
