Stadium rockers Pearl Jam will add to their storied legacy on April 19th with the release of their 12th studio album, Dark Matter. The album announcement comes alongside a new slate of 35 world tour dates, marking the first time the band has ever announced an album and tour simultaneously.
Thirty-four years into the band’s career, Pearl Jam continues to experiment with its creative process. For the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton, Eddie Vedder (vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Matt Cameron (drums) decamped to Rick Rubin‘s famed Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, CA to record with lauded producer Andrew Watt (The Rolling Stones, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop) who is also the guitarist in Vedder’s solo backing band, the Earthlings. Watt encouraged a no-frills approach that heard the band simply plug in and play, with all five members assembling the album together in the same room in just three weeks. That closeness is felt on the album’s thundering title track, available now.
“I’m getting chills, because I have good memories,” Vedder said. “We’re still looking for ways to communicate. We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
Ament added of the process,
What Ed said about getting us in a room at this point, we felt like we were about to make a really important record. A lot of that had to do with the atmosphere Andrew set up. He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players. He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, ‘What the f–k is he talking about?’ His excitement was contagious. He’s a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track. I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band. I feel so grateful for the fans, but mostly for my brothers and these people I’ve made music with.
The band previously unveiled Dark Matter at a listening party at the Troubadour in West Hollywood during the week of the Grammy Awards. For the album release, Pearl Jam will celebrate independent record stores with a special edition of Dark Matter, out on April 20th as a Record Store Day exclusive. Pre-order the album here, check out the single below, and scroll down for the album artwork and tracklist. For the cover, Pearl Jam enlisted Alexandr Gnezdilov to create a light painting through a photography process “where images are created by adjusting a camera’s exposure for an extended period and using a light source, such as a flashlight, to ‘paint’ in the dark.” The cover was made using a homemade kaleidoscope.
Pearl Jam – “Dark Matter” [Official Visualizer]
Pearl Jam will spread Dark Matter around the globe with a 35-date world tour beginning in May. The tour will visit 25 cities in nine countries, beginning with two nights at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (5/4, 5/6). In the U.S., Pearl Jam will make high-profile stops at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA (5/21, 5/22), Wrigley Field in Chicago (8/29, 8/31), Madison Square Garden in New York (9/3, 9/4), and Fenway Park in Boston (9/15, 9/17), in addition to the band’s first hometown shows in Seattle in six years with a pair of concerts at Climate Pledge Arena (5/28, 5/30).
The tour will travel the world throughout the summer with dates in the U.K. and Europe, including Pearl Jam’s debut at London’s new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In November, the band will make its long-awaited return to New Zealand and Australia after ten years away. Pearl Jam will bring along a variety of special guests for the worldwide trek including Deep Sea Diver (North America Leg 1), Glen Hansard (North America Leg 2), The Murder Capital (UK/EU), Richard Ashcroft (Dublin and London), and Pixies (Australia and New Zealand), who will all serve as support.
All paid Ten Club members active as of Monday, February 12th will be able to participate in an exclusive pre-sale held through Ticketmaster Request. The only way for all other fans to participate in the Pearl Jam Dark Matter World Tour pre-sale is to register here by Sunday, February 18th at 11:59 p.m. PT (for North American dates). The band will utilize all-in pricing for this tour, meaning the ticket price listed online is the full out-of-pocket cost including fees. For those who purchase tickets and cannot make it to the show, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster will offer a Fan-To-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange program at a later date, available in states where local laws allow. See below for the full list of tour dates.
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