Pearl Jam Confirm Baseball Stadium Shows One Week After Website Leak
Pearl Jam have confirmed a string of U.S. baseball stadium tour dates after a leak about the shows had fans buzzing. The seven-date mini-tour will run from early August to early September, starting with two dates at the band’s home field in Seattle. Pearl Jam’s confirmation of the baseball stadium dates comes one week after the shows were leaked on the band’s website, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. The Seattle-based rock band has not played a U.S. concert date since 2016.
The Pearl Jam baseball stadium tour kicks off August 8 and 10 at Seattle’s Safeco Field. The Grammy-winning alternative band will then play the Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, two dates at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and two shows at Fenway Park in Boston. The final Pearl Jam stadium show will be Sept. 4 at the Boston baseball stadium.
It’s no secret that Eddie Vedder and the Pearl Jam boys love baseball—especially the Chicago Cubs. Vedder was born in Chicago and has been a lifelong fan of the team. In 2017, the band’s two nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field the previous year were released as the concert documentary, Let’s Play Two. To promote the movie and the accompanying live album, Pearl Jam released an 8-bit baseball browser game with the chance for fans to win swag like an autographed Cubs baseball and a customized bat.
Test your baseball skills with the #LetsPlayTwo game for a chance to win a signed @Cubs baseball & #PearlJam bat. https://t.co/dvf5kGydAq pic.twitter.com/dTiDdvaDIr
— Pearl Jam ?? (@PearlJam) November 27, 2017
In 2013, Pearl Jam inked a deal with Fox Sports to use 48 Pearl Jam songs during the network’s World Series coverage of the matchup between the Boston Red Sox vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. The deal included the use of all 12 tracks from Pearl Jam’s Lightning Bolt album as well as 36 earlier songs from Pearl jam’s vast catalog.
“There was a period of time when we didn’t license much music,” Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis told Billboard at the time. “But the band loves baseball, so this one was a no-brainer.”
While Eddie Vedder is a notorious Chicago Cubs fan, the first time he went to a World Series game had nothing to do with his favorite team. Instead, Eddie’s first live World Series experience came in 2009 thanks to a concert Pearl Jam had played at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which was located across the street from the Philadelphia Phillies’ home stadium, Citizens Bank Ballpark.
“I never went to a World Series, I was waiting for the Cubs to get in,” Vedder told Billboard. “Then a few years ago, when we played the Spectrum the last night, it was quite a confluence of events. It was the last night of anything in the Spectrum and they were going to blow it up after the show, and it was Halloween, and the World Series was going on across the street, Yankees and the Phillies. The next night I actually went to the Phillies/Yankees World Series. That was it.”
Fast forward a few years later, when Pearl Jam’s Let’s Play Two became the soundtrack for the Chicago Cubs as they ended their decades-long World Series drought.
Check out the trailer for the Pearl Jam documentary Let’s Play Two below.
