Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready said Pearl Jam have been on a break and have not met in person at all since canceling and postponing their 2020 tour due to the pandemic.
Pearl Jam have recently done a live video with Jill Biden, released their 1992 MTV Unplugged performance, and announced a 30th anniversary celebration, but Eddie Vedder and company sadly aren’t getting together anytime soon, as McCready refers to the current situation as ‘in limbo’ due to world circumstances.
McCready told Cleveland, “None of us have hung out. I saw Stone (Gossard) from across the street once, and that’s about it.
We do a lot of Zoom calls and we see each other that way, and I’m glad that exists. But I’m also missing giving somebody a high five. I’m missing that kind of contact. I miss those guys.”
Pearl Jam released Gigaton in March and had a major tour planned including their first ever performance and interview on The Howard Stern Show, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be, and the band have not performed live now in over 2 years, the longest touring hiatus in the band’s 30 years history. Gigaton itself was a return for the band, with it being the first new Pearl Jam album in 7 years, following up 2013’s Lightning Bolt.
“I’m very proud of that record [Gigaton]. But I feel like we put it out and not being able to play it live or work on those songs in a live setting really made me sad. Safety is No. 1, of course, but I really wish we had a chance to play those songs live so they could expand. We were getting them ready and the rug was just pulled from underneath us.”
Pearl Jam don’t appear to have any plans for new online streaming concerts at this point, with Foo Fighters performing an acoustic show without any fans at the Troubadour in Los Angeles a few days ago, breaking their pandemic live show hiatus.
