Pearl Jam Night 1 at PPG Paints; Millvale Music Fest Kicks Off; Kinetic Theatre Opens ‘Embers’ (Fri., 5/16/25)

Friday, May 16 and Sunday, May 18

1) Pearl Jam, one of the quintessential bands of the 1990’s grunge rock movement rolls into PPG Paints Arena this month for a two night stand. Led by spirited front-man/lead vocalist Eddie Vedder, the band achieved initial rock success with the albums Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy. Songs like “Alive,” Jeremy,” and “Even Flow” are several of the songs that solidified them as one of the best rock bands. Dark Matter is the group’s most recent release, dropping in 2024. The LP reached no. 1 on Billboard‘s US Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart and was nominated in three rock music Grammy Award categories. Pearl Jam’s last Pittsburgh show was in 2013 at the then named Consol Energy Center. The group also opened for the Rolling Stones at PNC Park in September 2005. In 2017 Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pearl Jam, founded in Seattle in 1990, has a charitable foundation in which they are both donors and advocates for important issues like the environment, homelessness, and indigenous causes. 7:30 p.m. both nights. Sold out. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (R.H.)

Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17

2) The free Millvale Music Festival returns for an annual showcase of myriad local musicians, who will play indoor venues, like Mr. Smalls, and outdoor venues around Millvale. Acts include Liz Berlin, NASH.V.ILL, Royal Honey, The Legendary Hucklebucks, Cathleen Ireland, Bloomfield Pest Control, Dumplings, Fuck Yeah, Dinosaurs!, and Chip & the Charge Ups. Many visual artists, comedians, and spoken word artists/poets will also participate in the festival and have their works on display/perform. Check the festival’s website for a full line-up and list of venues. (R.H.)

3) EMBERS by Christopher Hampton, from the novel by Sándor Márai. Kinetic Theatre. May 15 – 25. 

The past is a foreign country, the saying goes. Pittsburgh’s Kinetic Theatre has produced strikingly original plays mined from works of the past—most recently, A Sherlock Carol, which blended a Sherlock Holmes story and A Christmas Carol. Now Kinetic goes full-bore into the concept with British playwright Christopher Hampton’s Embers. This one is a tense, haunting psychodrama, adapted from a 1942 novel by the Hungarian writer Sándor Márai. Moreover, the story itself concerns a man’s attempt to revisit, and perhaps solve, a mystery from his past. A reclusive old gentleman lives in an ancient castle somewhere in Hungary. Long ago he was a general in the army of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the play begins he’s preparing for a visit from an old friend he hasn’t seen in over 40 years, not since the two parted under testy circumstances. The preparations include taking a gun from a drawer. Will it be used? And on whom? Embers won rave reviews when it premiered in London in 2006, with Jeremy Irons playing the retired general. Kinetic Theatre presents Embers with Sam Tsoutsouvas in the role, accompanied by Jack Wetherall and Susie McGregor-Laine. 7:30 p.m. At Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. (M.V.)

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