Seattle-based grunge legends Pearl Jam — Eddie Vedder (vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar) and Matt Cameron drums) — will be releasing their twelfth studio album, the Andrew Watt-produced Dark Matter through Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records on April 19, 2024. Dark Matter is the band’s first batch of material since 2020’s critically acclaimed Gigaton.

Last year, the grunge legends retreated to Malibu‘s Shangri-La Studios, where they simply plugged their instruments in and played with producer Andrew Watt at the helm. Writing and recording in a frenzied and passionate burst of inspiration, with the musicians facing one another in the same space, communicating sonically and musically at the highest level, with the album being completed in three weeks.

The album channels the shared spirit of a group of lifelong collaborators and creative brothers in one room, playing as if their lives depended on it. For the band, all of the blood, sweet, tears and energy of a storied and legendary career felt renewed and poured into the album’s material.

“I’m getting chills, because I have good memories. We’re still looking for ways to communicate,” Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder says. “We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”

“What Ed said about getting us in a room at this point, we felt like we were about to make a really important record. A lot of that had to do with the atmosphere Andrew set up,” the band’s Jeff Ament says. “He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players. He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ His excitement was contagious. He’s a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track. I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band. I feel so grateful for the fans, but mostly for my brothers and these people I’ve made music with.”

Dark Matter‘s first single, the swaggering album title track “Dark Matter” is built around a bombastic and forceful power chord riff, thunderous boom bap-inspired drumming, enormous arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Vedder’s imitable, impassioned delivery. “Dark Matter” seems to pay tribute to the band’s legacy with the song at points bringing back memories of their legendary first three albums — 1991’s Ten, 1993’s Vs. and 1994’s Vitalogy — but with a modern take that reveals a band constantly and willing to push their sound in bold new directions while continuing to be impassioned and unflaggingly earnest in everything they do. Simply put, they may be older — hell all of us are getting older — but this song rips as much as their beloved, classic period.

Dark Matter features cover art by light painting artist Alexandr Gnezdilov. Light painting is an artistic form of photography, where images are created by adjusting a camera’s exposure for an extended period and using a light source, such as a flashlight to “paint” in the dark. The album cover art was crafted using a large, self-made kaleidoscope. Each letter visible on the cover was individually captured and handwritten midair with a specially designed flashlight to create the pearlescent effect.

The band will celebrate indie record stores with the release of a special edition of Dark Matter on Record Store Day, April 20, 2024. You can find that special edition only at participating stores. To get more information and find participating store, check out Record Store Day’s website: https://www.recordstoreday.com.

Last but definitely not least, Pearl Jam will be supporting Dark Matter with an extensive world tour — the first time, the band has announced a new album and tour, with full tour dates simultaneously.

The world tour will see the band playing 25 cities in nine countries and will see them playing much of North America, including a two night run at Madison Square Garden, September 3, 2024 and September 4, 2024, as well as stops at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and their first hometown shows in six years at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. The North American tour will feature support from Deep Sea Diver (leg 1) and Glen Hansard (leg 2).

The UK and European run includes their first show at London‘s brand new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For that run of the tour, The Murder Capital will be support for much of the UK and EU dates; however, the great Richard Ashcroft will be support for Dublin and London.

The tour also sees the band’s first New Zealand and Australian dates in over a decade. Pixies will serve as support for those dates.

Tickets will be available two ways:

1. A Ten Club members-only presale will be held through Ticketmaster Request for eligible members. Only paid Ten Club members active as of Monday, February 12 are eligible to participate in this presale. More info at pearljam.com

2. Fans can register for a chance to participate in the Dark Matter World Tour 2024 registration sale at shops.ticketmasterpartners.com/pearl-jam by Sunday, February 18 at 11:59 PM local time for Europe, UK, Australia and New Zealand shows and by Sunday, February 18 at 11:59 pm PT for North America shows. This will be the only way for fans to participate in the onsale. Registration does not guarantee access to the sale.

The tour will use all-in pricing across all North America, Europe and UK shows to ensure the ticket price listed is the full out-of-pocket price inclusive of fees.

For fans in North America who can’t use their tickets, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster will offer a Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange beginning at a later date to give fans the best chance to buy tickets at face value. To help protect the Exchange, Pearl Jam has also chosen to make tickets for this tour mobile only and restricted from transfer. This applies to all shows except those in Illinois and New York where non-transferability is prohibited by law. You must have a valid bank account or debit card within the country of the event(s) in order to sell through the Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange.

All tour dates are below.

Dark Matter World Tour Dates:
Date                City                                         Venue
May 04            Vancouver, BC                       Rogers Arena
May 06            Vancouver, BC                       Rogers Arena
May 10            Portland, OR                           Moda Center
May 13            Sacramento, CA                     Golden 1 Center
May 16            Las Vegas, NV                        MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 18            Las Vegas, NV                        MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 21            Los Angeles, CA                     Kia Forum
May 22            Los Angeles, CA                     Kia Forum
May 25**         Napa Valley, CA                     BottleRock Festival
May 28            Seattle, WA                             Climate Pledge Arena
May 30            Seattle, WA                             Climate Pledge Arena
Jun 22             Dublin, IE                                Marlay Park
Jun 25             Manchester, UK                      Manchester Co-Op Live
Jun 29             London, UK                             Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Jul 02              Berlin, DE                               Waldbühne
Jul 03              Berlin, DE                               Waldbühne
Jul 06              Barcelona, ES                         Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 08              Barcelona, ES                         Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 11**           Madrid, SE                              Mad Cool Festival
Jul 13**           Lisbon, PT                              NOS Alive Festival
Aug 22            Missoula, MT                          Washington-Grizzly Stadium
Aug 26*           Indianapolis, IN                       Ruoff Music Center
Aug 29            Chicago, IL                             Wrigley Field
Aug 31            Chicago, IL                             Wrigley Field
Sep 03            New York, NY                         Madison Square Garden
Sep 04            New York, NY                         Madison Square Garden
Sep 07            Philadelphia, PA                     Wells Fargo Center
Sep 09            Philadelphia, PA                     Wells Fargo Center
Sep 12            Baltimore, MD                         CFG Bank Arena
Sep 15            Boston, MA                             Fenway Park
Sep 17            Boston, MA                             Fenway Park
Nov 08            Auckland, NZ                          Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Nov 13            Gold Coast, AU                       Heritage Bank Stadium
Nov 16            Melbourne, AU                        Marvel Stadium
Nov 21            Sydney, AU                             Giants Stadium

* Rescheduled date from 2022
** Festival dates are already on sale