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The Backspacer Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Pearl Jam to support its ninth studio album, Backspacer (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, Backspacer. On August 11, 2009, the band played an intimate show at the Shepherd's 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". Later that night the band was joined by Simon Townshend, younger brother of Pete Townshend, to perform The Who's "The Real Me".

On August 21, 2009, the band played in Toronto. 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 taking to the stage to cover Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" and "The Needle and the Damage Done". 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.

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. They were joined onstage by former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell to perform the Temple of the Dog song "Hunger Strike". This was followed with an appearance by Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell on "Alive".

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. 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 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 commenting on the first night at Madison Square Garden, 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, MP3, 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 "New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival"
• 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"
• This concert was a part of "Main Square Festival"
• This concert was a part of "Rock Werchter"
• 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!"

Band members

Pearl Jam

• Jeff Ament – bass guitar
• Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar
• Mike McCready – lead guitar
• Eddie Vedder – lead vocals, guitar
• Matt Cameron – drums

Additional musicians

• Boom Gaspar – Hammond B3 and keyboards

Gallery

• Pearl Jam fans outside the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, England on August 11, 2009
• Pearl Jam in London, England on August 11, 2009
• Pearl Jam in London, England on August 11, 2009
• Pearl Jam, with Ronnie Wood, performing "All Along the Watchtower" in London, England on August 11, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Manchester, England on August 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Adelaide, Australia on November 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Adelaide, Australia on November 17, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Melbourne, Australia on November 20, 2009
• Eddie Vedder in Melbourne, Australia on November 20, 2009
• Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder covering "Under Pressure" in Sydney, Australia on November 22, 2009
• Eddie Vedder in Sydney, Australia on November 22, 2009
• Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder covering "Under Pressure" in Brisbane, Australia on November 25, 2009
• Pearl Jam in Brisbane, Australia on November 25, 2009
• Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 20, 2010
• Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 20, 2010
• Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2010
• Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2010

References

1. ^ "Pearl Jam Announces North American Tour Dates in Support of Their New Studio Album, Backspacer". pearljam.com. July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on July 11, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
2. "Pearl Jam to appear at Outside Lands Festival". Pearljam.com. April 13, 2009. Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
3. "Pearl Jam European Tour Dates". Pearljam.com. April 27, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
4. "Two More Pearl Jam Tour Dates Added". Pearljam.com. May 4, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
5. "And Another One ..." Pearljam.com. May 7, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
6. ^ "NME.com: Pearl Jam and Rolling Stones star unite onstage at intimate gig". NME.com. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
7. ^ "canoe.ca: Concert Review: Pearl Jam". Canadian Online Explorer. August 21, 2009. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. "The 2009 Line-up". 2009.aclfestival.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
9. ^ "Two Feet Thick: LA3: Cornell & Cantrell". Two Feet Thick. October 7, 2009. Archived from the original on October 10, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
10. "Ten Club: Bugs". pearljam.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
11. "Pearl Jam Setlist, Last Night of the Spectrum". philly.com. Archived from the original on November 3, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
12. Cohen, Jonathan (July 31, 2007). "Pearl Jam: 'Back' to the Future". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 2, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
13. "Pearl Jam kicked out the jams at the New Orleans Jazz Fest". nola.com. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
14. "The Announcement". Tenclub. Archived from the original on March 14, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
15. "Pearl Jam adds US dates to international tour". independent.co.uk. London. March 13, 2010. Archived from the original on March 15, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
16. "2010 European Tour Announced". pearljam.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2009. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
17. "Concert Review: Pearl Jam at the Q". clevescene.com. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
18. "Pearl Jam renews social pact with fans". buffalonews.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
19. "Band rocks for 2 hours; happy crowd sings along". dispatch.com. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
20. Aquilante, Dan (May 22, 2010). "Limp show could have been Vedder". nypost.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
21. "Fan survives balcony leap at Pearl Jam". herald.ie. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
22. "Pearl Jam and the Ten Club announce Bootleg program for 2009". pearljam.com. August 8, 2009. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.

• 2009 concert tours
• 2010 concert tours
• Pearl Jam concert tours