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Pearl Jam Site Leaks U.S. Stadium Summer Dates
Pearl Jam’s website briefly displayed some summer tour dates at storied U.S. baseball stadiums including Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Safeco in Seattle, Boston’s Fenway Park and … Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Mont.
Andrea Barosi – Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder plays to the largest crowd yet for his solo show during Firenze Rocks at Arena Visarno in Florence, Italy, June 24.
The AlternativeNation site noticed the dates,which were soon taken down, and took screen shots, displaying two shows in each stadium, and apparent space for many more.
While it’s clear Pearl Jam is planning to announce a U.S. stadium tour, the real surprise would be Missoula getting a Major League Baseball team (just jokes).
There are designated “home” Seattle shows. While Pearl Jam became one of the biggest bands in the world during the Seattle grunge boom in the early ‘90s, frontman Eddie Vedder is a prominent Cubs fan having grown up in the midwest.
It’s unclear if “Home” could mean there’s a longer Seattle residency, or if international dates would be considered away games. While Pearl Jam has played Fenway and Wrigley before, there are a whole lot of other MLB stadiums to play. However, with such large capacities and not always optimal concert setups, it’s unclear if a full MLB stadium routing would be practical.
It could be fun, however, to set Miami’s Marlins Park home run celebration to some Pearl Jam hits. If the band was to add more MLB stadiums, some likely candidates would be AT&T Park in San Francisco, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and Busch Stadium in St. Louis, which has Journey and Def Leppard, Kenny Chesney, and Ed Sheeran on its schedule for 2018.
Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is hosting its first concert in 39 years with Billy Joel, too. There’s also the possibility of touring smaller, minor league baseball stadiums like Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp did a few years ago. Or, as in the case of Missoula, playing a stadium that doesn’t feature baseball at all.
Anything is possible, really. They could even do doubleheaders starting at noon. Depending on whether the stadium is a National League or American League park, rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard could even sit out half of the set as a sort of designated shredder.
Pearl Jam did similar shows in 2016, including two nights at Fenway Park (sold out, 72,722 tickets and $5.12 million combined gross Aug 5 and Aug. 7), Wrigley Field (83,478 tickets, $5.71 million gross Aug. 20 and Aug. 22), and arenas including Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Wells Fargo Center, and Madison Square Garden — all of which sold out according to boxoffice reports submitted to Pollstar.
Pollstar reached out to the band’s booking agent and manager for any clarification on when dates might be officially announced. The last time dates like these leaked was probably Justin Timberlake, who announced full touring plans just days later.