Pearl Jam Planning Huge Innovative Project

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We reported yesterday about the Oak View Group, which features Live Nation and Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis, attempting to purchase Seattle’s KeyArena to renovate it to become a live music hot spot.

While Live Nation will provide plenty of top level acts to perform at the venue as part of the deal, The Seattle Times is reporting that Oak View Group has begun exploring an “extended residency’’ deal with Pearl Jam that would see it play multiple KeyArena shows on a regular basis, much like Billy Joel does at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Pearl Jam met with the OVG group at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York last week, sealing the deal to attempt to rejuvenate Seattle’s live music scene. OVG think this can sweeten their bid for the venue, even without sports teams in place initially.

“If we don’t have their partnership here and we’re not able to do 40-plus nights of music and we don’t have Pearl Jam … we couldn’t stand on our own two feet and take this risk,’’ OVG CEO Tim Leiweke said. “We’re going to build it, and we believe they (teams) will come. And if they don’t come, we’re not going to get killed.’’

“So Kelly Curtis, the manager, agreed to serve on the advisory board and help us make it the perfect music experience,’’ Leiweke later said. “And the band … would love to do an extended residency kind of idea because they still believe Seattle is their home city.