Pearl Jam Tour 2011: 2-Day Festival for 20th Anniversary
Pearl Jam will celebrate its 20th anniversary this weekend at a two-day festival in East Troy, Wis. The 13-band blockbuster concert will be held at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre and marks the band’s first U.S. appearance this year.
Pearl Jam is also commemorating 20 years in the music industry with a Cameron Crowe-directed documentary, “Pearl Jam Twenty” that debuts Sept. 20 on PBS’s American Masters.
Critics are calling the film a “definitive portrait of the band” that includes over 1,200 hours of never-before-seen footage. The film provides fans with an intimate glimpse of Pearl Jam, with more than 24 hours of exclusive interviews and live footage of Pearl Jam’s live performances.
“We put so much into the film-- moments, pieces of footage shot by band members, audio snippets, visual bursts, new and old interviews-- many different formats, all meant to present an emotional scrapbook of what it felt like to be a member of the band on this 20-year journey,” says filmmaker Crowe.
“The richness of the footage made our path very clear-- just tell the story of the band and let the music guide us.”
The rock band has already released a 29-tracklist to the documentary’s two-disc soundtrack.
The band exploded onto the scene in 1991, defining the alternative-rock era and wowing audiences. Almost two decades ago, Pearl Jam released its debut album, “Ten” which quickly shot up to number one on the charts. The band has sold over 30 million records in the U.S. and an estimated 60 million worldwide.
Thousands of fans are expected to attend the PJ20 Destination Weekend.
“For Pearl Jam to choose Alpine to spend the weekend with their fans and their musician friends is just an honor for us,” said Live Nation Sr. Director of Marketing John Reens.
In addition to Pearl Jam headlining, other performers at the festival are the Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age, Mudhoney, Joseph Arthur and Glen Hansard.
