Pearl Jam announces 2020 ‘Gigaton’ album and tour, including San Diego show

Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam's "Gigaton" tour will include an April 13 concert at San Diego State University's Viejas Arena.

The band, which features three former San Diegans, is releasing its first album since 2013 and hitting the road for a North American tour

San Diego Union-Tribune

Jan. 13, 2020 10:42 AM PT

Pearl Jam is gearing up for a high-charged 2020, starting with the March 24 release of “Gigaton,” the group’s first new album since 2013.

The veteran Seattle band, which features three former San Diegans, will then hit the road for a 16-date tour in 14 cities. The tour kicks off March 18 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and concludes with a pair of April 18 and 19 shows at Oakland’s Oakland Arena.

For the record:

10:45 AM, Jan. 13, 2020The name of Pearl Jam’s new album and tour was incorrectly stated in the original version of this article. It is “Gigaton,” not “Gigathon.”

The “Gigaton” tour will include an April 13 concert at San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena. That is the same venue where the five-man band last performed in San Diego in 2013, when it delivered a marathon concert that clocked in at three hours and 22 minutes.

All of the tour dates and ticket information appear below.

The album cover for “Gigaton” features “Ice Waterfall,” a photo by Canadian filmmaker and marine biologist Paul Nicklen. It was shot in Svalbard, Norway, and captures the Nordaustlandet ice cap as high volumes of melt-water gush out of it.

In a statement issued Monday morning, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready said: “Making this record was a long journey. 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.”

Tickets for the San Diego show are priced at $107, plus service fees, and go on sale Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. at ticketmaster.com.

According to the statement announcing the “Gigaton” tour, tickets for Pearl Jam’s North American concerts will be “available through a Ticketmaster Verified Fan registration and ticket presale, a Ten Club presale for eligible members and a general public ticket sale.

More details on all of those points of sale follow. To give fans the best chance to buy tickets at face value for this tour, Pearl Jam has decided that tickets will be mobile only and strictly non-transferable, except in New York and Colorado, where transferability is required by state law.

“For fans who are unable to use their tickets, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster will offer North America’s first Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange, which will allow fans to resell their tickets for the price they paid (including all fees). The Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange will launch on February 18, 2020. There will be no additional fees charged to Exchange users for buying or selling tickets on the Exchange.”

Pearl Jam “Gigaton” tour dates

March 18 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena

March 20 Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre

March 22 Quebec City, QC Videotron Centre

March 24 Hamilton, ON FirstOntario Centre

March 28 Baltimore, MD Royal Farms Arena

March 30 New York, NY Madison Square Garden

April 2 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena

April 4 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center

April 6 Oklahoma City, OK Chesapeake Energy Arena

April 9 Denver, CO Pepsi Center

April 11 Phoenix, AZ Gila River Arena

April 13 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena

April 15 & 16 Los Angeles, CA The Forum

April 18 & 19 Oakland, CA Oakland Arena

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George Varga

Veteran San Diego Union-Tribune pop music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Britney Spears to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Bruno Mars. A double first-prize winner at the 2018 Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga lives with his wife in North Park.