Last year, I made a point of taking my son to see Pearl Jam. They have been one of my favorite bands since the early nineties. Having seen them a number of times over the years, I had wanted to take him to see them at least once. We had gone to see Temple of the Dog, which was every member of Pearl Jam except Eddie Vedder, since Chris Cornell was the frontman. But that was mostly to see Cornell, a musician who's music both my son and I very much appreciated. Something told me to take my son, specifically, to that show, and I am glad to have done so. Who could have known then that Cornell would be dead just a little over six months later?
Anyway, I got tickets for the show in Ottawa in 2020, which was supposed to happen in late March. But the pandemic shutdown hit just days earlier, and the concert was cancelled, maybe about a week and change beforehand. It kept getting postponed, until eventually, it fell on a date when I could not go, which was really frustrating.
So I made a point of getting tickets to see them this time around. For years, I had thought about taking my son on one of our summer trips out to the Midwest. When I saw that Pearl Jam would be playing in Minnesota, one of the main destinations that I had thought about for just such a trip, I went ahead and got the tickets. Once I did, it confirmed that this would be the trip that we would be going on. And we would end it with the Pearl Jam show.
It was a solid show. I have yet to see a bad Pearl Jam show.
That said, it felt different than other PJ shows that I had seen. They were noticeably older, and the energy did not match some of the ones from previous shows of the band that I had been to. It had been ten years since the last time I had seen them, but I remember that felt more high energy and intense. And at the peak of my going to the most shows, back in 2003 and 2004, the band still had energies explosive with energy. It was part of the attraction.
Well as it turns out, maybe that was an indication of something. Pearl Jam will be releasing a new album, as yet untitled. It will be the 12 studio album for them. Just days ago, they had a listening party for the new album in Los Angeles, during which lead singer Eddie Vedder hinted that this might just be the final album for the band:
“It’s one of the greatest drum records we’ve ever made,” Eddie Vedder said about Pearl Jam's new album Dark Matter to cheers from a crowd at a listening party in LA. “Matt Cameron is just playing out of his skull, especially seeing as how it’s our last record.” AP reports that Vedder struggled to hide that he was (probably) joking as he said that last part, to laughs and boos.
That would seem to suggest that they are at least thinking about retirement, which came as a surprise for many of those in attendance, obviously.
Is this indeed the end for Pearl Jam?
Time will tell.
Whether or not it is, Vedder also suggested that this album is the best work that the band has ever done.
Look forward to hearing it. Stay tuned.
Below are the links to the two articles I used in writing this particular album, and from which I obtained the quote used above:
Pearl Jam throws a listening party for their new album that Eddie Vedder calls 'our best work' by Associated Press AP, Feb. 01, 2024:
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/ap-top-news/2024/02/01/pearl-jam-throws-a-listening-party-for-their-new-album-that-eddie-vedder-calls-our-best-work
Matt Cameron Says Pearl Jam’s Next Album Is ‘In the Can’ Corey Irwin Corey Irwin Published: November 29, 2023 Read More: Matt Cameron Says Pearl Jam's Next Album Is 'In the Can' | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pearl-jam-next-album/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pearl-jam-next-album/
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