Pearl Jam announced a mysterious scavenger hunt type project earlier today via its monthly fan club newsletter.
The message states ” Starting today, look for Pearl Jam in cities around the world…” and includes a map showing what appear to be nine flame icons in Seattle, France, New York, Mexico City and other locations. A link to use Facebook or Instagram Lens when at a location on the map was included in the message.
When visiting the band’s website the same map appears and gives GPS coordinates to one of the locations if there is one near you. The coordinates all point to murals that feature an image of a glacial wall with the word “Gigaton” in the Pearl Jam heat monitor logo font. When the Lens app is pointed at the mural a brief clip of atmospheric sitar music plays. Gigaton is likely a reference to climate change and is the measurement most commonly used to measure the impacts of climate change.
The group has reportedly been in the studio off and on for the past few year and reports of a new album have been circulating since the band released the cowbell-heavy track “Can’t Deny Me” in 2018. Pearl Jam teased today’s announcement by posting cryptic images on its social media channels last night and earlier today.
Fans are anticipating a new album as well as a North American tour this year. A new album would be the band’s first since 2013’s “Lightning Bolt.”
Pearl Jam is known for lengthy concerts and for most of its career went on nationwide tours that lasted months. Last year the band took the year off and was inactive on the touring front. In 2018 the group only performed seven concerts in America. It looks like that will change in 2020.
