Pearl Jam 'travels' to Mars and beyond in cosmic Apollo Theater show (videos, photos)

NEW YORK CITY — Legendary rock band Pearl Jam took their latest album "Gigaton" to an otherworldly level with a performance at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem on Saturday (Sept. 10).

Pearl Jam's lead singer Eddie Vedder is no stranger to space, having recently collaborated with NASA on a music video inspired by the Artemis program of lunar exploration. But the band went far beyond the moon. In addition to classic Pearl Jam songs like "Even Flow," "Spin the Black Circle," "Porch" and more, they played seven songs from "Gigaton," which includes two space-inspired numbers. 

One of the songs, called "Quick Escape," features an imaginative trip to Mars, according to singer Eddie Vedder's lyrics, "And here we are, the Red Planet/ Craters across the skyline."

Related: Space.com's full review of "Gigaton"

Another "Gigaton" tune they rocked was "Retrograde," which takes me to celestial heights with the lyrics, "Stars align they say when/ Things are better than right now/ Feel the retrograde spin us round, round." The song's climax certainly got my heart pumping.

The show was part of SiriusXM's Small Stage series that has featured artists including Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay and Dave Matthews. 

For those not able to attend the show in person, SiriusXM delivered many stunning images from the star-studded event and a recap video featuring Pearl Jam performing their classic "Better Man," seen above. Many celebrities and sports legends were seen at the show, including Heidi Klum, John McEnroe, Bode Miller, Megyn Kelly, Robin Quivers and more. 

Several fans, as well as the band, took to Twitter and Youtube to share highlights, including a tweet from NASA astrophysicist Amber Straughn, who was also in attendance. 

"Gigaton" isn't the only evidence that Eddie Vedder has jumped head first into space-enthusiast waters. In addition to the recent collaboration with NASA,  he called the international Space Station for an Earth Day chat.

The band's string of U.S. tour dates in support of Gigaton continues through late September. 

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Steve Spaleta
Senior Producer

Steve Spaleta is Space.com's Senior Producer. Since 2007, Steve has produced and edited space, science and entertainment-related videos for Space.com. He is also the producer/writer/editor of Space.com's CosMix series on space-enthused artists. He studied psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is originally from Zadar, Croatia by way of Astoria, NY. To see Steve's latest project, follow him on Twitter and follow Space.com's VideoFromSpace YouTube Channel.