| Backspacer Tour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour by Pearl Jam | ||||
| Associated album | Backspacer | |||
| Start date | August 13, 2009 | |||
| End date | July 10, 2010 | |||
| Legs | 6 | |||
| Shows | 33 in North America 16 in Europe 7 in Oceania 56 in total |
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| Pearl Jam tour chronology | ||||
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The Backspacer Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Pearl Jam to support its ninth album, Backspacer.
Contents |
Pearl Jam promoted Backspacer with tours in Europe, North America and Oceania in 2009[1] and further legs in North America and Europe in 2010.
In August 2009, Pearl Jam headlined the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival,[2] which was preceded by five shows in Europe and three in North America.[3][4][5] This tour preceded the release of Pearl Jam's 2009 album, Backspacer. On August 11, 2009, the band played an intimate show at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London. The band was joined onstage by The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood to play a cover of "All Along the Watchtower".[6] Later that night the band was joined by Simon Townshend, younger brother of Pete Townshend, to perform The Who's "The Real Me".[6]
On August 21, 2009, the band played in Toronto, Ontario. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were scheduled to be the support band, but Leo was unable to attend, after being stuck at the border.[7] This resulted in vocalist Eddie Vedder taking to the stage to cover Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" and "The Needle and the Damage Done".[7] Guitarist Mike McCready then played two songs, followed by guitarist Stone Gossard covering "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" by Johnny Thunders, before The Pharmacists played their set.[7]
In October 2009, Pearl Jam headlined the Austin City Limits Music Festival.[8] The Austin City Limits appearance took place amidst the fourteen-date North American leg of the tour.[1] On October 6, 2009, the band played in Los Angeles, California at the Gibson Amphitheatre. They were joined onstage by former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell to perform the Temple of the Dog song "Hunger Strike".[9] This was followed with an appearance by Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell on "Alive".[9]
Pearl Jam was the final band that performed at the Wachovia Spectrum with four shows that took place on October 27–28 and October 30–31. At the final show at the Spectrum, the band played the song "Bugs" from their 1994 album Vitalogy for the first time.[10] The band also performed a cover of Devo's "Whip It" in full costume.[11] An additional leg consisting of a tour of Oceania took place afterward.[12] The band played at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 1, 2010.[13] They then played twelve dates in America in the same month[14][15] and completed a second European leg in July 2010.[16]
While most shows on the 2010 US leg were met with positive reviews,[17][18][19] Dan Aquilante of the NY Post commenting on the first night at Madison Square Garden, said the lyrics were "mostly indiscernible" and "were little more than garbled jibber-jabber".[20] At the show at the O2 in Dublin, a fan broke his arm in three places, after he jumped off the balcony and landed on the canopy above the mixing desk.[21]
Official bootlegs are available for this tour through the band's official website in FLAC, MP3, and CD formats.[22]
Information taken from various sources.[23][24][25]
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening act |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 11, 2009 | London, England | O2 Shepherds Bush Empire | |
| August 13, 2009 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Sportspaleis Ahoy | Gomez |
| August 15, 2009 | Berlin, Germany | Wuhlheide | |
| August 17, 2009 | Manchester, England | MEN Arena | |
| August 18, 2009 | London, England | O2 Arena |
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening act |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 21, 2009 | Toronto, Ontario | Molson Amphitheatre | The Pharmacists |
| August 23, 2009 | Chicago, Illinois | United Center | Bad Religion |
| August 24, 2009 | |||
| August 28, 2009 | San Francisco, California | Outside Lands Festival |
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening act |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 21, 2009 | Seattle, Washington | KeyArena | Ben Harper and Relentless7 |
| September 22, 2009 | |||
| September 25, 2009 | Vancouver, British Columbia | General Motors Place | |
| September 26, 2009 | Ridgefield, Washington | The Amphitheater at Clark County | |
| September 28, 2009 | West Valley City, Utah | E Center | |
| September 30, 2009 | Los Angeles, California | Gibson Amphitheatre | |
| October 1, 2009 | |||
| October 4, 2009 | Austin, Texas | Austin City Limits Music Festival | |
| October 6, 2009 | Los Angeles, California | Gibson Amphitheatre | Ben Harper and Relentless7 |
| October 7, 2009 | |||
| October 9, 2009 | San Diego, California | Viejas Arena | |
| October 27, 2009 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Wachovia Spectrum | Social Distortion |
| October 28, 2009 | |||
| October 30, 2009 | Bad Religion | ||
| October 31, 2009 |
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 14, 2009 | Perth, Australia | Members Equity Stadium | Liam Finn, Ben Harper and Relentless7 |
| November 17, 2009 | Adelaide, Australia | Adelaide Oval | |
| November 20, 2009 | Melbourne, Australia | Etihad Stadium | |
| November 22, 2009 | Sydney, Australia | Sydney Football Stadium | |
| November 25, 2009 | Brisbane, Australia | Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre | |
| November 27, 2009 | Auckland, New Zealand | Mt Smart Stadium | |
| November 29, 2009 | Christchurch, New Zealand | AMI Stadium |
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening act |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2010 | New Orleans, Louisiana | New Orleans Jazz Festival | Band of Horses |
| May 3, 2010 | Kansas City, Missouri | Sprint Center | |
| May 4, 2010 | St. Louis, Missouri | Scottrade Center | |
| May 6, 2010 | Columbus, Ohio | Nationwide Arena | |
| May 7, 2010 | Noblesville, Indiana | Verizon Wireless Music Center | |
| May 9, 2010 | Cleveland, Ohio | Quicken Loans Arena | |
| May 10, 2010 | Buffalo, New York | HSBC Arena | |
| May 13, 2010 | Bristow, Virginia | Jiffy Lube Live | |
| May 15, 2010 | Hartford, Connecticut | XL Center | |
| May 17, 2010 | Boston, Massachusetts | TD Garden | |
| May 18, 2010 | Newark, New Jersey | Prudential Center | |
| May 20, 2010 | New York City, New York | Madison Square Garden | The Black Keys |
| May 21, 2010 | New York City, New York | Madison Square Garden | Band of Horses |
| Date | Location | Venue | Opening acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 22, 2010 | Dublin, Republic of Ireland | The O2 | Ben Harper and Relentless7 |
| June 23, 2010 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | The Odyssey | |
| June 25, 2010 | London, England | Hard Rock Calling | Ben Harper and Relentless7, The Gaslight Anthem, The Hives[26] |
| June 27, 2010 | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | Rock In Park Festival | |
| June 30, 2010 | Berlin, Germany | Wuhlheide | Ben Harper and Relentless7 |
| July 1 , 2010 | Gdynia, Poland | Heineken Open'er | |
| July 3 , 2010 | Arras, France | Main Square | |
| July 4 , 2010 | Werchter, Belgium | Rock Werchter | |
| July 6, 2010 | Venice, Italy | Heineken Jammin' Festival | |
| July 9 , 2010 | Bilbao, Spain | BBK Live Festival | |
| July 10, 2010 | Oeiras, Portugal | Optimus Alive! |