The Official 2026 Tour Rumor Thread

Shaindli1 said:

Looks like 2026 is happening!

Shaindli1 said:

Looks like 2026 is happening!

Lerxst1992 said:

Haijay said:

marumaruko said:

Haijay said:

40% would be 32,000 people out of 80,000 are “fans”. No? How about 25%? 20,000 out of the 80 are fans. No? What would you say is more accurate? 

See, the problem on here has always been the downplaying of the bands popularity. I remember when it was announced they were playing Wrigley. The general consensus  on here was “it might be well attended, but it wont sell out”. BANG , fastest sellout ever. 


I asked this of some Europeans who were talking about PJ’S great mistake of trying to play Tottenham. As an example, if Pearl Jam is selling out Wulheide, at 22,000, how many more people might have wanted to go to that show? If you allow for 40% going to both, you end up with over 35,000 asses that woulda gone to the second.  Knock that down to 30% two-timers, you’re pushing 40,000. Do you think those are realistic numbers? Or do you think that since they sold it out at 22,000, they couldve only drawn 22,047?
 

I’d rather say their popularity is being a bit overstated here. 

Did Wrigley really sell out? I thought consensus was that there were plenty of available tickets on the day of the show, but could be wrong. However, together with Fenway it made for the only stadium gigs they played.. 

Re: Europe — almost every mid- to bigger-name artist can sell out the Waldbühne (that’s probably the one you meant). Some even manage two shows in a row. Pearl Jam didn’t. 

Maybe next time they can try Wuhlheide. Bit smaller, equally beautiful. In any case looking at recent touring schedules they didn't do European fans many favours. That won't be making it easier in the future. 

marumaruko said:

Haijay said:

40% would be 32,000 people out of 80,000 are “fans”. No? How about 25%? 20,000 out of the 80 are fans. No? What would you say is more accurate? 

See, the problem on here has always been the downplaying of the bands popularity. I remember when it was announced they were playing Wrigley. The general consensus  on here was “it might be well attended, but it wont sell out”. BANG , fastest sellout ever. 


I asked this of some Europeans who were talking about PJ’S great mistake of trying to play Tottenham. As an example, if Pearl Jam is selling out Wulheide, at 22,000, how many more people might have wanted to go to that show? If you allow for 40% going to both, you end up with over 35,000 asses that woulda gone to the second.  Knock that down to 30% two-timers, you’re pushing 40,000. Do you think those are realistic numbers? Or do you think that since they sold it out at 22,000, they couldve only drawn 22,047?
 

I’d rather say their popularity is being a bit overstated here. 

Did Wrigley really sell out? I thought consensus was that there were plenty of available tickets on the day of the show, but could be wrong. However, together with Fenway it made for the only stadium gigs they played.. 

Re: Europe — almost every mid- to bigger-name artist can sell out the Waldbühne (that’s probably the one you meant). Some even manage two shows in a row. Pearl Jam didn’t. 

Maybe next time they can try Wuhlheide. Bit smaller, equally beautiful. In any case looking at recent touring schedules they didn't do European fans many favours. That won't be making it easier in the future. 

Every concert has tickets available, especially with the new system. And every concert i go to, i see empty seats in rows. Sometimes two, sometimes 6. That is not a Pearl jam thing. 

PJ fooked up with their ticket prices in Europe, i hope they learned a lesson. They and Hosier were the only ones to sell out Marlay in ‘24 though. I think a week away, those two Waldbuhne shows were within 3000-5000 from sold out, and probably would've got close to sell outs, since prices dropped a bit

  

For decades PJ was a much tougher ticket to get at face than most 90s bands, 3 of their big competitors, such as Chili's, Foos, even Metallica. I can recall multiple arena tours for those three huge bands with tickets available the entire duration between on sale and show. that never used to happen with Pearl Jam. Now all three of those bands could do a large run of immediately sold out stadium shows globally, where Pearl Jam has to pick and choose maybe a handful of stadiums...plus we all learned how to spell desaster in Euro language back in 2024 on this forum

They decided to go the route for tickets with the fan club and a lot of us benefited greatly from that. The downside is it's hard to get younger fans when the band is telling them they are always a secondary  priority


The near level prices are a by product of the blind ticket purchase lottery and system in general 

Metallica are on a different level than Foo, Chilis, and Pearl Jam, maybe? Idk, i cant stand them, but respect them as survivors. Pearl Jam have spent their entire careers keeping a low profile, and keeping things close to the chest. Those other three, not at all. That would play into it as band gets over 25 years, i think. 
I have to disagree with the global stadiums thingy. Take the Chilis. They were riding high on the return of John, and there was a palpable interest in their “return” and tour. They had never done a stadium tour. Their tours were always pretty similar to PJ, albeit longer. 

  Yes, they played some big shows in Europe for sure. Not all sold out, some not even close, however. I do know that in the US, the shows were mostly in ballparks, which tend to have a lil bit less than football stadiums. Usually 37-47 vs 40-60 for end stage. So their stadium dates in the US averaged around 40,000, and there were a good number of the not sold out, or even near. Vancouver was only about 32,000, in a venue that generally hosts concerts of 40-50. In South America they did very well, mostly sold out, as well as Aus. Their Dunedin NZ  was nowhere near sold out. 

This was 2018, and the atmosphere around the band felt different back then - pre-Covid. I remember my first shows in 2022 (Frankfurt and Krakow) feeling somehow different compared to Padova in 2018 and especially that magical run in 2016. I don’t want to put it down to Covid alone, but it feels like we crossed another milestone with the band. Something changed, maybe even in how the world sees them.

I also think part of it has to do with the newer material. The Gigaton songs really come alive in smaller settings. It feels like the band has deliberately steered their songwriting away from stadium hits. LB still had tracks like Sirens and its title song that carried that big, arena-filling energy, but Gigaton and DM don’t really have those kinds of songs anymore, I feel.

I even loved that tiny festival setting in Pemberton or the square in Pistoia (although those were completely different times) and I just can't imagine them playing these huge festivals like they sometimes do (although I haven't experienced it). Maybe that's something I should experience next, whenever it comes, a Fenway show and a Nos Alive festival appearance. 

To me however, they sound at their best in arenas and cozy settings, I hope they continue down that path. 

But maybe it means to downsize the operation at some point...