Pearl Jam Announce New Album Gigaton, North American Tour

2020 officially marks 30 years of Pearl Jam playing live shows together, making it an apt year to announce a new album and preliminary North American tour. A European summer tour has also already been announced, and a second leg of U.S. tours is expected later in the year.

The band’s forthcoming album, Gigaton, is set to be released on March 27 via Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records. This marks the band’s first new release since Lightning Bolt in 2013.

The album seems to have a thematic connection to environmental and social maladies, with a shot of melting ice caps in Norway by Canadian photographer Paul Nicklen adorning the cover.

“Making this record was a long journey,” said guitarist Mike McCready in a statement. “It was emotionally dark and confusing at times, but also an exciting and experimental road map to musical redemption. Collaborating with my bandmates on Gigaton ultimately gave me greater love, awareness and knowledge of the need for human connection in these times.”

The first single off the album, “Dance of the Clairvoyants,” is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

Interestingly, Pearl Jam’s upcoming tour will also coincide with a new anti-scalping initiative from Ticketmaster called the Fan-to-Fan Ticket Exchange. Ticket holders who cannot attend a concert will be able to recoup their tickets for face value (including service fees) by selling their unused ticket to another fan, avoiding the typical skyrocketing prices of resale tickets by scalpers.