Recently, a pair of legends rolled into a city that has seen some pretty hard times, and is trying to redo its image. The most beautiful day so far of 2005, with an 80-degree evening, lent itself to some adventure, so after a short train ride from the Big Apple I entered Newark, NJ and headed for the magnificent NJPAC.
Strangers is familiar, like bumping into an acquaintance you haven
Pearl Jam will embark on a 15-date tour of Canada this fall, on which it will debut material intended for its as-yet-untitled new studio album. The trek, which was hinted at in a recent newsletter to members of the band’s Ten Club fan association, will begin Sept. 2 in Vancouver and wrap Sept. 24 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Ten Club members can purchase tickets beginning today; tickets go on-sale to the general public at the end of May.
Earlier this month, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready revealed to Billboard.com that the band was about halfway finished with the new album, which he hopes will be released before the end of the year via J Records/BMG. He said Pearl Jam has “about 20-25” songs in the mix, comprising “some ballads and some pretty harder stuff, and some Who-ish type-stuff.”
McCready said the band had been approaching the project from a new angle by revisiting songs after they were first put to tape, as opposed to Pearl Jam’s usual approach, where, “we generally just go in, do some demos and record.” “It is like taking them out live, although that’s an exciting way to do it too,” he said of the process.
The upcoming tour will mark several changes in the way Ten Club tickets are distributed to members. For the first time, seats will only be available online via PearlJam.com, and fans will not have to wait in long lines on the day of the show for an opportunity to obtain the closest tickets to the stage.
Pearl Jam last toured in the fall as part of the Vote for Change outing, and has only played one show since, a March benefit for Seattle’s Northwest School at the city’s Paramount Theatre.
Here are Pearl Jam’s Canadian tour dates:
Sept. 2: Vancouver (GM Place)
Sept. 4: Calgary, Alb. (Pengrowth Saddledome)
Sept. 5: Edmonton (Rexall Place)
Sept. 7: Saskatoon, Sask. (Credit Union Centre)
Sept. 8: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)
Sept. 9: Thunder Bay, Ont. (Fort William Gardens)
Sept. 11: Kitchener, Ont. (Memorial Auditorium)
Sept. 12: London, Ont. (Labatt Centre)
Sept. 13: Hamilton, Ont. (Copps Coliseum)
Sept. 15: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Sept. 16: Ottawa, Ont. (Corel Centre)
Sept. 20: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Sept. 20: Quebec City (Colisee Pepsi)
Sept. 22: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Metro Centre)
Sept. 24: St. John’s, Newfoundland (Mile One Stadium)
Source billboard.com.
