Neil Young and Pearl Jam are coming to Philly (but not together)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse are headed here in May, and Eddie Vedder and the Seattle rock band will be back in South Philadelphia in September.
Neil Young and Pearl Jam are forever linked due to their work together on the 1995 album Mirror Ball, when Young — then known as “the Godfather of grunge” — teamed with the young Seattle rock band for an intergenerational collaboration.
Today, Young and Pearl Jam both announced tours and that they’re coming to the Philadelphia-area this year.
Not together, though. Young is touring with Crazy Horse, his erstwhile, ragged-but-right compadres who he has worked with on and off for more than a half century, dating back to 1969′s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
On this concert trek, which the environmentally conscious Young has dubbed the “Love Earth” Tour, the band will be playing the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Sunday, May 12. They’ll be on the road in support of Fu##in’ Up, their new album which will be out in limited edition vinyl on Record Store Day on April 20, and available in all formats on April 26.
The album, Young said in a news release, was created “in the spirit it’s offered … made this for the Horse lovers. I can’t stop it. The horse is runnin’. What a ride we have. I don’t want to mess with the vibe. I am so happy to have this to share.”
The album’s title presumably refers back to “F*!#in’ Up,” the differently spelled ode to self-destruction on 1990′s Crazy Horse album Ragged Glory. The Camden date will mark Young’s first show with Crazy Horse in the area since they played the Wells Fargo Center in 2012.
Pearl Jam will play the Wells Fargo Center in 2024, with two shows, slated for Sept. 7 and 9. The shows will be the Eddie Vedder-led band’s first in the region since they played Camden in 2021.
The band has a long and storied history in Philadelphia, dating back to playing J.C. Dobbs on South Street in 1991 to closing down the Spectrum with four shows in 2009 to co-headlining the first Made in America festival with Jay-Z in 2012. In 2016, a banner was added to the Wells Fargo rafters marking their 10 sell-outs of South Philly arenas. After September, that number will likely need to be changed to 12.
Pearl Jam has also announced a new album. The band will be touring behind Dark Matter, which was recorded in California with producer Andrew Watt. Vedder said, “We’re still looking for ways to communicate. ... 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.”
The album is due out April 19, and a special edition LP available on Record Store Day. Irish songwriter Glen Hansard will open for Pearl Jam in Philadelphia.
A presale for Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Love Earth” Tour begins at neilyoungarchives.com at 1 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 13. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. though LiveNation.com. Fans can opt to receive a free CD of F##kin’ Up with their ticket.
For Pearl Jam’s “Dark Matter” World Tour, tickets are available either through the band’s Ten Club via pearljam.com or though a registration process open through Feb. 18 at shops.ticketmasterpartners.com/pearl-jam.
Both Young and Pearl Jam are participating in Ticketmaster’s Face Value Ticket Exchange, where fans who purchased tickets unable to attend shows can sell tickets at face value.