The Backspacer Tour was a concert tour by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

to support its ninth studio album, ''

Backspacer ''Backspacer'' is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009. The band members started writing instrumental and demo tracks in 2007, and got together the following year to work on an album. ...

'' (2009). Fifty-six shows were played, across North America, Europe and Oceania.

History

Pearl Jam promoted ''Backspacer'' with tours in Europe, North America and Oceania in 2009 and further legs in North America and Europe in 2010. In August 2009, Pearl Jam headlined the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, which was preceded by five shows in Europe and three in North America. This tour preceded the release of Pearl Jam's 2009 album, ''

''. On August 11, 2009, the band played an intimate show at the

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was original ...

in London. The band was joined onstage by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

guitarist

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

to play a cover of " All Along the Watchtower". Later that night the band was joined by

Simon Townshend Simon Townshend (; born 10 October 1960) is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members ...

, younger brother of

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

, to perform

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

's " The Real Me". On August 21, 2009, the band played in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were scheduled to be the support band, but Leo was unable to attend, after being stuck at the border. This resulted in vocalist

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a gues ...

taking to the stage to cover

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's " Sugar Mountain" and " The Needle and the Damage Done". Guitarist

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician known for being a founding member and lead guitarist of Pearl Jam. McCready was also a member of the side project bands Flight to Mars, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season (band), Ma ...

then played two songs, followed by guitarist

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

covering " You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" by

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of New York Dolls. He later formed the He ...

, before The Pharmacists played their set. In October 2009, Pearl Jam headlined the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The Austin City Limits appearance took place amidst the fourteen-date North American leg of the tour. On October 6, 2009, the band played in Los Angeles at the

Gibson Amphitheatre Universal Amphitheatre (later known as Gibson Amphitheatre) was an indoor amphitheatre located in Los Angeles, California, within Universal City, California, Universal City. It was built as an outdoor venue, opening in the summer of 1972 with a p ...

. They were joined onstage by former

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

frontman

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...

to perform the

Temple of the Dog Temple of the Dog was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. It was conceived by vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late Andrew Wood, lead singer of the bands Malfunkshun and M ...

song "

Hunger Strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

". This was followed with an appearance by

Alice In Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

guitarist

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internatio ...

on " Alive". Pearl Jam was the final band that performed at the

Wachovia Spectrum The Spectrum (later known as CoreStates Spectrum, First Union Spectrum and Wachovia Spectrum) was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The arena opened in September 1967 as part of what is now known as the South Philadelphia Sports ...

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. The band also performed a cover of Devo's "Whip It" in full costume. An additional leg consisting of a tour of Oceania took place afterward. The band played at the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

on May 1, 2010. They then played twelve dates in America in the same month and completed a second European leg in July 2010. While most shows on the 2010 US leg were met with positive reviews, Dan Aquilante of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' commenting on the first night at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, said the lyrics were "mostly indiscernible" and "were little more than garbled jibber-jabber". 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. Official bootlegs are available for this tour through the band's official website in

FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

, and CD formats.

Opening acts

*Gomez — 2009 European leg (excluding August 11) *The Pharmacists — August 21, 2009 *Bad Religion — August 23 & 24, 2009 and October 30 & 31, 2009 *Ben Harper and Relentless7 — September 21, 2009 – October 9, 2009 (excluding October 4), Oceania, 2010 European tour (excluding festival dates) *Social Distortion — October 27 & 28, 2009 *Liam Finn — Oceania *Band of Horses — 2010 North America leg (excluding May 20) *The Black Keys — May 20, 2010

Tour dates

;Festivals and other miscellaneous performances *This concert was a part of " Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival" *This concert was a part of " Austin City Limits Music Festival" *This concert was a part of "

" *This concert was a part of " Hard Rock Calling" *This concert was a part of "Rock In Park Festival" *This concert was a part of "

Open'er Festival The Open'er Festival is a music festival which takes place on the north coast of Poland, in Gdynia. It is one of the biggest annual music festivals in Poland. The first edition of the festival was organized in Warsaw in 2002 as ''Open Air Festi ...

" *This concert was a part of " Main Square Festival" *This concert was a part of "

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiva ...

" *This concert was a part of " Heineken Jammin' Festival" *This concert was a part of " BBK Live Festival" *This concert was a part of "

Optimus Alive! NOS Alive (formerly Optimus Alive) is an annual music and arts festival held in the Algés (Oeiras), Algés riverside, close to Lisbon, in Portugal. It is organized since 2007 by the Portuguese live entertainment company Everything is New. Its n ...

Band members

;Pearl Jam *

Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Ament wrote or co-wrote many of Pearl Jam's hits, ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986, appearing on each of the ...

–

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s ;Additional musicians * Boom Gaspar – Hammond B3 and keyboards

Gallery

File:ShepherdsBushEmpire.jpg, Pearl Jam fans outside the

, London, England on August 11, 2009 File:PearlJamShepherdsBush01.jpg, Pearl Jam in London, England on August 11, 2009 File:PearlJamShepherdsBush02.jpg, Pearl Jam in London, England on August 11, 2009 File:PearlJamShepherdsBush03.jpg, Pearl Jam, with

, performing " All Along the Watchtower" in London, England on August 11, 2009 File:PearlJamManchester09-01.jpg, Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009 File:PearlJamManchester09-02.jpg, Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009 File:PearlJamManchester09-03.jpg, Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009 File:PearlJamManchester09-04.jpg, Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009 File:PearlJamAdelaide2009-01.jpg, Pearl Jam in Adelaide, Australia on November 17, 2009 File:PearlJamAdelaide2009-02.jpg, Pearl Jam in Adelaide, Australia on November 17, 2009 File:PearlJamMelbourne2009-01.jpg, Pearl Jam in Melbourne, Australia on November 20, 2009 File:PearlJamMelbourne2009-02.jpg, Eddie Vedder in Melbourne, Australia on November 20, 2009 File:PearlJamSydney2009-01.jpg,

Ben Harper Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, liv ...

and Eddie Vedder covering "

Under Pressure "Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen's tenth studio album ''Hot Space'' (1982). The song reached number one on the U ...

" in Sydney, Australia on November 22, 2009 File:PearlJamSydney2009-02.jpg, Eddie Vedder in Sydney, Australia on November 22, 2009 File:PearlJamBrisbane2009-01.jpg, Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder covering "Under Pressure" in Brisbane, Australia on November 25, 2009 File:PearlJamBrisbane2009-02.jpg, Pearl Jam in Brisbane, Australia on November 25, 2009 File:PearlJam-MSG1-2010.jpg, Pearl Jam at

on May 20, 2010 File:PearlJam-MSG1-2010-2.jpg, Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 20, 2010 File:PearlJam-MSG2-2010-a.jpg, Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2010 File:PearlJam-MSG2-2010b.jpg, Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2010

References

{{Pearl Jam 2009 concert tours 2010 concert tours Pearl Jam concert tours