A surprise announcement from Eddie Vedder in Pittsburgh: “Welcome to the final night and final show of Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter Tour.” Photos by Patrick Bell.
Nobody saw it coming – and maybe that’s exactly what made it hit harder.
With no heads-up in the days before, Eddie Vedder caught everyone off guard right before the band kicked into Why Go at the PPG Paints Arena, dropping the bomb that this was it: the final date of the Dark Matter Tour.
Getting real emotional, Ed told the crowd: “Good evening, and welcome to the last night and final show of the Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter Tour. Two years ago is when we started recording this record, and we felt, and still feel it was one of our best and…” (the crowd cheers) “I wasn’t asking for that, but we appreciate the encouragement after all these years, and trust, but it was a group of songs that we really wanted to share with the world. And we’ve taken these songs to the States a few times, Europe, Australia and all leading up to tonight, the grand finale. In the black and gold city of champions, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!“
Simple words – but they hit like a ton of bricks. That second night in Pittsburgh wasn’t just another gig. It was the final stop of the 2024/2025 Dark Matter Tour. And Ed made it sound final-final, catching fans totally off guard.
Dark Matter Tour 2024/2025
48 shows played (out of 51 scheduled), across 3 continents.
The Dark Matter World Tour kicked off on May 4, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada, and wrapped up on May 18, 2025, in Pittsburgh, USA.
It was a year-long journey that saw Pearl Jam tear it up in:
- North America, with back-to-back bangers in Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, and Boston;
- Europe, with stops in Ireland, England (Manchester), Spain (a wild two-night stand in Barcelona), and Portugal. Shows in London and Berlin got axed due to illness in the band;
- Oceania, where they returned to New Zealand and Australia for the first time in a decade;
- And finally, a surprise Southern U.S. leg announced outta nowhere last December.
Opening acts came and went, ranging from Deep Sea Diver and the homies Pixies, to Richard Ashcroft, Glen Hansard, and up-and-comers like The Murder Capital, Liam Finn, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, and Dead Pioneers.
So what does it mean that the Dark Matter Tour is over?
It probably means we won’t see that badass stage design from Rob Sheridan again – those trippy lights, spacey vibes, and the crazy visual panels that gave this whole era such a unique identity.
And yeah, it probably also means songs like Won’t Tell, Upper Hand, or Waiting for Stevie might not stick around in the setlist going forward (sad, but real).
We all know Pearl Jam – they don’t do repeats. Every tour’s got a different skin. And the skin we just saw for the past year? That one’s likely been shed for good.
The future? Might be closer than you think.
Even though the Dark Matter Tour is done, the guys are already looking ahead.
In a recent chat with Rick Beato, Jeff Ament dropped that they’ve already been tossing around ideas for the next studio album. And it sounds like they might keep it lo-fi and stripped-down.
As Jeff told Beato: “Even now we say stuff like, ‘Hey, let’s make the next record on an 8-track, each of us on our own channel.’ We’re still trying to figure out how to keep growing and stay stoked about this chemistry we’ve built over the years.”
Translation: they’re not done. Not even close.
Thoughts on the Dark Matter Tour – and what’s next
The Dark Matter Tour 2024/2025 was one hell of a ride. It gave new fire to a band that – over 30 years in – is still out there shaking things up. Honestly, I wish it had gone on longer. I haven’t seen the band this tight, this raw, this present in a long time. That tells you they believe in this new material. And you could feel it, every single night.
Lucky are the ones who caught it. But maybe the real luck is knowing Pearl Jam never really stop.
There’ll be another tour. No doubt. Six months from now? A year? Who knows – but it’s coming.
There’ll be another album. Yep. Will it drop in a year, two, three? Who knows – but it’s coming.
There’s still music to make. And to play live. And we’ll be there – ready – again.
Pearl Jam’s history of ending tours on stage
Looking back over the past 15 years, Eddie’s no stranger to closing out a tour right from the mic. Let’s rewind the tape on a few of those moments…
July 10, 2010 – Optimus Alive Festival, Oeiras, Portugal
During the main set, Vedder says this is the last show of the Backspacer Tour and fans should expect a break before they’re back on stage. And he wasn’t kidding – they didn’t play live again until September 3, 2011, at Alpine Valley, kicking off the band’s 20th anniversary weekend.
October 22, 2014 – Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
On the band’s 24th birthday, Pearl Jam wrapped up the Lightning Bolt Tour (which had started in July 2013). No mention of it being the last show that night – but they didn’t return to the stage until 13 months later, on November 4, 2015, in Santiago, Chile.
September 4, 2018 – Fenway Park, Boston
Before wrapping up with Yellow Ledbetter, Eddie says: “This is the last time we’ll play together for a while, the next time will be in the studio.” In 2019, they hunkered down to record what would become Gigaton. They were supposed to hit the road again in March 2020… but the pandemic had other plans, pushing everything back to 2022.
September 19, 2023 – Moody Center, Austin, Texas
Right before Retrograde, Eddie thanks the crowd and confirms this is officially the final show of the Gigaton Tour, which started back in 2021. The band didn’t hit the stage again for 8 months – until May 4, 2024, when they launched the Dark Matter Tour in Vancouver.
Born in Reggio Emilia in 1980. He created pearljamonline.it in 2001 and wrote the first edition of “Pearl Jam Evolution” in 2009 along with his wife Daria. Since 2022, he is behind 2 podcasts: “Pearl Jam dalla A alla Z” and “Fuori Orario Not Another Podcast”. He has collaborated with Barracuda Style, HvsR, Rolling Stone, Rockol and Il Fatto Quotidiano. He continues relentlessly to try to find “beautiful melodies that say terrible things”.
Favorite song: Present Tense
Favorite album: No Code
Favorite bands/artists other than PJ: Tom Waits, Soundgarden, Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Dead Kennedys, Mark Lanegan, Cat Power, R.E.M.