Pearl Jam has nearly 35-year concert history in Pittsburgh region

Pearl Jam may be best known for their album “Ten,” but it’s been more than 11 and a half years since the last time they came to Pittsburgh.

Seeing as it’s been so long since we’ve heard “Black” or “Yellow Ledbetter” here in the home of the Black and Gold, it’s fitting that the seminal grunge rock band is playing two shows this weekend at PPG Paints Arena.

The Friday and Sunday shows see their return to the same building — albeit with a different name — as their Oct. 11, 2013, concert was back when PPG Paints Arena was still known as Consol Energy Center.

For these current shows, they’re touring their 12th studio album, 2024’s “Dark Matter.”

The 2013 show, which opened the tour for their album “Lightning Bolt,” was notable because it gave frontman Eddie Vedder an opportunity to visit Lawrenceville’s Clemente Museum, celebrating Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente. Vedder is a passionate supporter of the museum to this day.

The concert itself was dynamite, seeing the band ripping through 31 songs, including two encores. That night, the audience of more than 19,000 fans heard five never-before-performed songs from the band’s “Lightning Bolt” album, as well as mainstays including “Better Man,” “Alive” and a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World.”

During the show, Vedder stopped to tell a Pittsburgh-related story.

“I was getting nervous about our first gig, but I happened to be talking to Bruce Springsteen about a few things, he said, ‘It’s Pittsburgh, you’re going to have a smoking crowd,’ and he was right, the Boss was right! Maybe when you only come once every seven years, maybe that’s why.”

Perhaps that’s why the alt-rockers stayed away extra long this time.

Considering how quickly this week’s PPG Paints Arena shows sold out, it’s not hard to see how far the band has come since their first appearance in the city. In 1991, they played the AJ Palumbo Center, about two months after “Ten” was released. They were opening for other ’90s alt-rock staples the Smashing Pumpkins and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Attendance for that show was almost 3,300.

They returned less than a year later, again with the Chili Peppers but now as part of the 1992 Lollapalooza lineup. The festival tour came to what was then the Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater (now the Pavilion at Star Lake) in Burgettstown. That lineup also included fellow Seattleites Soundgarden, rapper Ice Cube and the Jesus and Mary Chain.

They saw two more shows at Star Lake, one in 1998 and one in 2000 (by them, the chameleonic venue had changed its name to the Post-Gazette Pavilion). Punk legend Iggy Pop opened for the 2000 show, which was the closer of their “Binaural” tour.

In the aughts, they stopped at Mellon Arena twice — in 2003 and 2006 — with a 2005 PNC Park show opening for the Rolling Stones sandwiched in between. At that Stones show, Vedder came out onstage during the headliners’ set to sing a duet of “Wild Horses” with Mick Jagger.

Clearly, after three and a half decades and 12 albums, Pearl Jam has longevity; both of their PPG Paints Arena shows are sold out, outside of a few tickets that can be purchased as part of Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange. Here’s hoping that they won’t want until 2036 to return to the ‘Burgh.