Pearl Jam Announces 2023 Tour Dates, Adopts ‘All-In’ Ticket Pricing

Pearl Jam has announced a short tour for late summer and early fall of 2023, playing nine arena shows in five cities in August and September. Perhaps not surprisingly with a group long known for its careful attention to ticket practices, the explanation of how the band will be handling the ticket sales runs much longer than the actual list of tour dates. (See the full list of shows below.)

For the first time, the band has adopted “all-in” ticket pricing, meaning the added fees that are attached to tickets almost across the board appear as part of the basic ticket price, rather than showing up as a surprise during checkout. Pearl Jam is doing the tour with Live Nation, which has advocated for the all-in model — although many major artists have reportedly been reluctant to adopt it, for fear of having ticket prices look higher at first glance when everything is included.

Ticketmaster praised Pearl Jam for using the all-in pricing model, saying in a statement to PvNew: “Pearl Jam has always advocated on behalf of their fans and we hope more artists, teams and venues follow their lead and start using the all-in pricing display available on Ticketmaster. It would be better for fans if all-in pricing was mandated nationally, but in the meantime we created the all-in display option to help fans see the full costs upfront.”

The announcement about the tour dates had Pearl Jam staking its position on other controversial ticketing practices, as well. The use of “platinum” — i.e., dynamically priced — tickets came to the forefront after some of Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 tickets reached astronomical face-value heights, and Taylor Swift rejected the use of platinum pricing on her own tour. Pearl Jam is using the platinum system — here called “PJ Premium” seats — but the announcement emphasizes that only 10% of tickets will be part of that program, and that these tickets help subsidize lower prices for the other 90%.

To avoid scalping, tickets will also be non-transferable, as well, except in Illinois. The band said that the majority of tickets will end up in the hands of members of its Ten Club fan club via a presale.

The tour begins Aug. 31 in St. Paul and ends Sept. 19 in Austin, with stops between in Chicago, Indianapolis and Fort Worth.

The pre-sale begins today for members of the Ten Club. A subsequent sale to those who sign up for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program will begin April 28. Advanced registration for Verified Fan begins today.

“Pearl Jam continues to try to protect fans’ access to fairly priced tickets by providing the majority of tickets to Ten Club members, making tickets non-transferable where permitted, and by selling PJ Premium tickets,” read the statement. “PJ Premium seats are located in a variety of preferred locations and account for approximately 10% of ticket inventory per show. They are priced at market rate to offset increased touring costs while also keeping prices low for the rest of the ticket inventory. PJ Premium tickets will be available through Verified Fan along with regularly priced tickets.”

The announcement added: “Tickets on this tour will continue to be non-transferable in all states except Illinois where it is prohibited by law. We apologize in advance to Illinois fans who may be subject to increased ticket prices on the secondary market.” And: “Pearl Jam will use all-in pricing across this tour for the first time. This means the ticket price listed is the full out-of-pocket price inclusive of fees so there are no surprises at checkout.”

“Pearl Jam has always advocated on behalf of their fans

The tour dates: