News – January/June 2010

Bootlegs 2010 + Philadelphia Box Set ~ Pearl Jam 2010 bootlegs will be available on the band’s website (‘goods’ section) beginning mid-May. As usual, the shows will be sold in three different formats: 256 Kbs Mp3 ($9.99), FLAC ($14.99) and burn-to-order Compact Discs ($16.98). Also, the four memorable show held by Pearl Jam at the historic Spectrum in Philadelphia prior to its demolition in late October of 2009 are now available through Pearl Jam’s official website in three formats: MP3, FLAC and CD. A limited edition box set of all four shows (9 CDs) is also available for pre-order at $60 (international shipping cost excluded). Also available for pre-order on pearljam.com is the 2009 complete box set, priced $395 (international shipping cost excluded).

Pearl Jam Radio ~ On May 5, 2010, the official Pearl Jam online radio started streaming here. You can listen nonstop to live concert recordings, songs taken from studio albums and band members’ solo projects and much, much more!

New music by McCready ~ Two new tunes by Mike McCready will be featured during an episode of the TV series “Fringe” that will air today in the U.S., entitled “Northwest Passage”. The Pearl Jam lead guitarist has also written 11 songs for the score of a documentary about surf called “The Westsiders” (source: RS). McCready is also set to appear again on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (as he did last March) along with Roots to pay homage to the reissue of The Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main St.”. Mike will play a cover from what is one of the undisputed masterpieces of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ discography (more info here).

Mother Love Bone & Soundgarden reunion ~ During the past week, the city of Seattle (more precisely the Showbox) was back in the limelight for hosting the historic Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden reunions (setlist, notes and more can be found our On The Road section). The reformed band led by Chris Cornell has also recently confirmed that they will be performing at the annual Lollapalooza Festival, which will be held on August 8, 2010 in Chicago. For other possible future dates, please check the official website of the band, www.soundgardenworld.com

Pearl Jam for the environment ~ Pearl Jam recently announced that it will voluntarily mitigate carbon emissions from the band’s 2009 world tour by partnering with the Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC), to plant approximately 33 acres of native trees and plants in communities around the Puget Sound. The project will be completed by December 2013. For more info, click here.

Ed Vedder is innocent! ~ Remember the lawsuit that singer-songwriter Indio filed against Ed Vedder last July? A New York judge ruled that Pearl Jam lead siger didn’t commit copyright infringement when he tinkered with the lyrics of the song “Hard Sun” while recording a version of it for the Sean Penn film ‘Into the Wild’. “The law does allow some lyric changes by people performing songs,” said the judge, exonerating Vedder by the prosecution .

U.S.A. 2010 Tour ~ Pearl Jam’s official website has announced that the band will hold a 12-date North American tour following the band’s previously announced headlining appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Festival on May 1st. Band of Horses will open all shows except the May 20th Madison Square Garden engagement, where The Black Keys will open.

The Ten Club ticket pre-sales begin Monday, March 15th at 9 AM Pacific Time. Ticket pre-sales info for Ten Club members available here.

Here are the dates of Pearl Jam’s 2010 U.S. tour:

May 3 Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
May 4 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
May 6 Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
May 7 Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
May 9 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
May 10 HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY
May 13 Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
May 15 XL Center, Hartford, CT
May 17 TD Garden, Boston, MA
May 18 Data da confermare
May 20/21 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Stone Gossard & Jeff Ament’s playlist ~ iTunes recently launched a podcast in which Pearl Jam’s guitarist and bassist talk about their musical tastes. Click here to download it for free (make sure that you switch over to the US iTunes store to access it).

Best Of Bonnaroo ~ Pearl Jam’s “Animal” (taken from their performance at the Bonnaroo festival in June 2008) is featured on the compilation “Best Of Bonnaroo” available as a free download to encourage action on climate change. To download the compilation, just fill out this form.

Green River featured in “SP20: Casual Nostalgia Fest” compilation ~ The reformed Green River (with Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard) are featured on the compilation “SP20: Casual Nostalgia Fest” with “Leech” from their performance at the 20th Sub Pop anniversary that took place in Seattle on July 13, 2008. The CD will be released on April 17, 2010 for Record Store Day (more here).

Almost three months after the announcement of the European tour by www.pearljam.com, after two months of incessant and contradicting rumors swirling all over the Internet, on Italian radio stations and newspapers, today it has finally been announced that Pearl Jam will play in Italy on July 6, 2010, within the Heineken Jammin’ Festival, which will be held in Mestre (Venice).

Official word came via a press conference that was held this morning at Punta San Giuliano, in the area close to the Venice Lagoon, where the festival will take place. For more information about the show, we invite you to check out the Pearl Jam in Italy section on our site.

Pearl Jam @ Saturday Night Live ~ Pearl Jam is scheduled to appear as the musical guest for the March 13th episode of ‘Saturday Night Live‘. The band will perform songs from “Backspacer”.

2010 Euro tour openers ~ The opening acts for Pearl Jam’s summer European tour have been revealed: Ben Harper with his new band, the Relentless 7, will open Dublin, Belfast and Berlin shows. The Hard Rock Calling gig in London will include, in addition to Ben Harper & Relentless 7, the (great) Gaslight Anthem, Wolfmother and the Hives. All the other Pearl Jam Euro dates will be within festivals, so we suggest you to check out the dedicated websites for more details one the various line-ups.

Brad new record ~ A new album by Brad, Stone Gossard’s longtime side project, is about to be released via Monkeywrench (Pearl Jam’s own label). The record, which has been ready for a few years now, consists of 12 tracks. The band will present the new songs at a show that will take place on April 14 at the Showbox in Seattle. Here’s the tracklist of “Best Friends?”:

1. Price of Love
2. Without Regret
3. Rush Hour
4. Believe in Yourself
5. Every Whisper
6. One Love Remaining
7. Low
8. Oh My Goodness
9. Luxury Car
10. Bless Me Father
11. Holiday
12. Runnin’ For Cover (Mp3: Free Download Now!)

Letters from Ed Vedder ~ Howard Zinn, one of the most important American historians and a friend of Vedder for years, passed away on January 27. Ed wrote a heartfelt letter in his memory, which was published on the band’s official website and is available here. Vedder has also recently sent a letter (you can read it by clicking on the right) to spinner.com – an American music portal – inviting people to listen to the Pierced Arrows, an American garage punk band consisting of the former members of Dead Moon (one of Vedder’s favorite bands).

Mike McCready & Friends next shows ~ On February 28, 2010 at the Showbox in Seattle there will be a show, “A Hootenanny For Haiti”, commissioned by Pearl Jam’s guitarist Mike McCready to raise money to help Partners in Health, which was among the first emergency medical responders to provide relief following the devastating January 12th earthquake. Duff McKagan (Guns N ‘Roses, Velvet Revolver), Kristen Ward, Kim Virant, Kim Warnick and Matt Cameron wil perform together in an intimate setting to support the Haiti relief efforts of Partners in Health. A possible appearance of Stone Gossard and Eddie Vedder at the event is also rumored. On April 23, always at the Showbox in Seattle, Flight To Mars (Mike McCready’s tribute to the 80’s rock band UFO) will perform at the annual CCFA benefit.

Ed Vedder for Haiti ~ Eddie Vedder’s full audio performance of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City Of Ruins” from the recent Kennedy Center Honors is now available for purchase through Ten Club and iTunes for $ 0,99. Proceeds from the sale of the track benefit Artists for Peace and Justice [Haiti Relief]. According to this note published on PJ’s official website, between band and management personal donations plus contributions from Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy Foundation, $200,000 to date has been pledged to the various Haiti relief organizations. UPDATE: Ben Harper has joined in Eddie Vedder’s previously announced Haiti relief single efforts. Harper’s full version of “My Father’s House” from from the recent Kennedy Center Honors is now available alongside Eddie’s full audio performance of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City Of Ruins” from the same event. The digital album of both songs is available for purchase through  iTunes and  Amazon mp3  for $1.98 (or $.99/track).

Matt Cameron featured on new Peter Frampton album ~ Peter Frampton’s new record (“Thank You Mr. Churchill”) will be released on April 27, 2010. It will feature various special guests including Pearl Jam drummer, Matt Cameron.

Dave Abbruzzese back to Italy ~ An old acquaintance of Pearl Jam fans, Dave Abbruzzese, will be back in Italy next February. Pearl Jam’s former drummer will tour with the I.M.F.’s, whose line-up include Bernard Fowler, Stevie Salas (both known for playing with the Rolling Stones) and TM Stevens. These are the dates scheduled in Italy:

02/10/2010 Zion Club, Conegliano Veneto (TV)
02/11/2010 Lapsus, Torino (TO)
02/12/2010 Sugar Reef, Arezzo (AR)
02/13/2010 Kememeo, Argelato (BO)
02/14/2010 Rock’N’Roll, Milano (MI)

For all the news about the tour and the band please visit the Italian fansite dedicated to Dave Abbruzzese, at this link.

Pearl Jam in Udine on July 6, 2010? ~ Although almost every Italian mass media and news outlet (from Rockol to radio stations and local newspapers) has recently started reporting as a fact that Pearl Jam will perform on July 6, 2010 at Stadio Friuli in Udine (Italy), we want to inform you that nothing is official because nothing has been confirmed by Pearl Jam’s official site or management. We opened a topic on our forum (link) and we created a page (available here – italian only) to collect the most interesting rumors about this hypothetical date In Italy. We await official confirmation or denial as soon as possible.

Pearl Jam working on new material ~ Stone Gossard, recently interviewed by Henrik Tuxen (link) has revealed that the band is currently in studio in Seattle working on new material. The tracks may be part of the EP mentioned by Mike McCready a few months ago and that could be published in a relatively short time. McCready, during an interview with Planet Rock (an English radio), has revealed that these new songs could debut at the Hard Rock Calling in London, during Pearl Jam’s appearance on June 25, 2010. Yesterday it has been confirmed that this show will be opened by Wolfmother (a promising Australian rock band) and other artists that are still to be defined.

Pearl Jam to play in China on April 17, 2010? ~ According to a rumor, Pearl Jam may have been contacted by the organizers of a free concert scheduled for April 17 (to mark this year’s 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which is celebrated each year to promote awareness of environmental issues), that will be held in Beijing, China. Artists like Aerosmith and Jimmy Page have already confirmed their presence while it is still unclear whether the Seattle band will perform at the event. Details to follow soon.

Pearl Jam offers a free live version of “Just Breathe” ~ By registering your Twitter account on the site http://justbreathe.pearljam.com, you can download a free live version of “Just Breathe” taken from their performance at the Austin City Limits. Participants are also eligible to win a limited-edition, white vinyl version of Backspacer (only 15 available).

Greetings from Ed Vedder ~ Remember the book “Pearl Jam Evolution” (written by the webmasters of this site), that we were talking about a few months ago? Well, a couple of days ago, we got a special dedication straight from Seattle by a very special person… click here to discover it!