Pearl Jam announces North American tour and it all kicks off in Toronto
Pearl Jam announces North American tour – Yes, you heard that right. Seattle grunge-rock royalty, Pearl Jam announced Monday that they will begin their 2020 tour at Scotiabank Arena on March 18, and this will be their first show in Toronto in four years when they played the ACC on May 10, 2016.
The 16-date tour, which includes four Canadian stops will kick off just over a week before “Gigaton” their first studio album in seven years hits shelves and streaming services on March 27. The last time the Seattle rock legends released a full album was their 2013 Grammy award-winning recording, “Lightning Bolt.”
A gigaton is a unit of mass measurement equivalent to a billion tons, in climatology it is used to estimate the amount of ice that is melting at the poles, an amount that has been dramatically increasing over the past twenty years.
The album cover photo was shot by Paul Nicklen, an award-winning Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and marine biologist who has documented the beauty and the plight of our planet for over twenty years. Nicklen’s image, “Ice Waterfall” was shot in 2014 depicting a melting glacier called the Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, Norway.
“The Nordaustlandet ice cap gushes high volumes of meltwater. Even though this was taken just 600 miles from the North Pole the temperature was in the high 60’s. The Arctic could be completely devoid of sea ice during the summer months in the next 10 to 20 years. This striking scene is a reminder of the fragility of this icy ecosystem,” Nicklen laments.
The first single from the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famers is called “Dance of the Clairvoyants,” and it will be released “in the coming weeks,” according to their website. It will be the first new song since Pearl Jam released “Can’t Deny Me” in 2018. The band announced the tour on Twitter with an edgy short video clip.
“Making this record was a long journey,” explains Mike McCready in the band’s web statement. “It was emotionally dark and confusing at times, but also an exciting and experimental road map to musical redemption. Collaborating with my bandmates on Gigaton ultimately gave me greater love, awareness and knowledge of the need for human connection in these times.”
After Toronto, Pearl Jam will perform in Ottawa, Quebec City and Hamilton before heading back to the U.S. The North American tour finishes up in Oakland, California. on April 19. They will do it all again in European kicking off that leg of the tour in Frankfurt, Germany on June 23.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m.
Here are the tour dates for the 2020 Pearl Jam Gigaton North American Tour:
March 18 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
March 20 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
March 22 – Quebec City, QC @ Videotron Centre
March 24 – Hamilton, ON @ FirstOntario Centre
March 28 – Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena
March 30 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
April 2 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
April 4 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
April 6 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena
April 9 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
April 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ Gila River Arena
April 13 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
April 15 & 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
April 18 & 19 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
story by Terry Lankstead
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