Stereoboard Tour of the Week - Pearl Jam - Tickets Onsale 9am Friday
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Written by Rob Sleigh
While the world waits for their 10th album, Pearl Jam have chosen to temporarily set our minds at rest, here in Europe, with the announcement of a series of festival appearances and headlining dates for summer 2012. Following their recent addition to next year’s Isle of Wight Festival in June, the Seattle-based rockers have now added a date ahead of that appearance at Manchester’s Evening News Arena. Their UK shows will then be followed by another seven shows elsewhere in Europe, including Belguim’s Rock Werchter Festival and Main Square Festival in France.
This announcement comes at the end of an important year for the grunge legends, who have recently been celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Ten’. However, as we approach the yearly race for the UK’s Christmas Number One single, it’s difficult to forget that Pearl Jam’s own celebration has been somewhat overshadowed by the 20-year anniversary of an album by another Seattle-based group.
It would be almost impossible to argue that Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ wasn’t the defining grunge album or the most important record of that particular era. This is in spite of the fact that Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ was actually released a whole month earlier than their fellow Seattleites well-known offering. Yet, you don’t hear about the likes of ‘Even Flow’, ‘Jeremy’ or ‘Alive’ appearing in any bids for this year’s Christmas chart-topper.
However, there’s certainly no quarrel that both albums are definitive classics of their era. Some may even argue that each is as important as the other. But while Nirvana will be forever remembered as the legends that they are, let’s not forget that after two decades, Pearl Jam are still as strong as ever. Their last album, 2009’s ‘Backspacer’, was the band’s first in over 10 years to hit Number One in the US Billboard 200 and earned them some of their best reviews of the last decade. And having released nine albums in 18 years, that’s certainly no mean feat. ‘Backspacer’ once again proved that, not only are Pearl Jam still one of the most widely-respected rock bands around, but that they are still one of the most relevant.
Earlier this year, the band confirmed that they had started work on their 10th album, 20 years after the release of their first. Have a look back over the last two decades and see if you can find many other bands that have managed turn out albums as relentlessly as Pearl Jam have, and then look again to see if they have been of the same calibre on each occasion. Good luck.
June 20th – UK, Manchester, MEN Arena
June 23rd – UK, Isle Of Wight Festival
June 26th – Holland, Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome
June 29th – Belgium, Werchter, Rockwerchter Festival
June 30th – France, Arras, Main Square Festival
July 2012
July 4th – Germany, Berlin, O2 Arena
July 7th – Sweden, Stockholm, Ericsson Globe Arena
July 9th – Norway, Oslo, Spektrum
July 10th – Denmark, Copenhagen, Forum
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