Pearl Jam In Chicago: An Itinerary For The Day Off

Cubbies, A Boat Ride, A Tribute & Karaoke!

You guys… we’re basically a month away from Pearl Jam shows happening! While the waiting has surely felt like an eternity, time is ticking down rather swiftly. I’m sure many of you have already made plans for what to do on the day of the shows. Rituals mostly such as standing in line early for merch, heading to pre-show parties and all of the delights that come from following this band around.

What’s interesting about this tour is that there’s an off day in between the St. Paul, Chicago and Dallas shows, which means there’s a potential for a lot of down time to figure out what to do in the local area. There may be events happening while you’re in St. Paul and Dallas, but we’ve put all of our eggs into the Chicago basket to create a day and night full of Pearl Jam fan craziness.

While there’s no lack of things to do whilst traveling in The Second City, myself and a handful of dedicated fans have put together an event filled day where the whole community can all unite. Here is a bit of an itinerary for anyone looking for fun in Chicago on September 6.

Wrigley Field: Giants vs. Cubs @1:20pm til approx 4pm

I’m sure for many of you out of towners who love baseball that Wrigley Field is always a destination spot when embarking on the city. The baseball scheduling Gods lined this up perfectly – the Cubs play at home that day, which means you can experience one of baseball’s finest institutions – an afternoon game at Wrigley Field.

As I have teased for the last month, we finally know what the ‘fan club related’ event is, and of course it was for Pearl Jam day at the park! The first 1,500 fans to purchase the specialized tickets will receive an Eddie Vedder Cubs jersey as the big giveaway. It looks like many of us are excited for this, and the Cubs ticket department were smart enough to put us all in very similar sections. There will be tons of Pearl Jam fans ready to sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame, hopefully with Ed leading the way!

Wendella Boat Tour: Sunset Cruise @6:30pm til 8pm

One of the great traditions that was started back when Pearl Jam played at Wrigley in 2016 is a big gathering of fans taking a boat tour of the Chicago River. Originally organized by Adrianne Galloway, this fun cruise was packed to capacity back in 2016, and again when the band was there in 2018. With Amanda Tionna organizing it for this year, the cruise will take place as the sun sets upon the river. A beautiful sight for anybody who loves the amazing backdrop of the city. Let the Love Boat Captain be your guide!

To purchase a ticket in advance for the cruise, head to the Wendella Tour Website

The Curragh Irish Pub: A Tribute To Sean Sullivan @6pm til 8:30pm

Last winter, we lost a great friend to the community named Sean Sullivan after his long battle with Cystic Fibrosis. In his neighborhood of Bucktown, there is a get-together taking place at his favorite local pub, The Curragh. Organized by Kevin ORourke, this will be a celebration of Sean’s life as well as a fundraiser to support the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. If you wish to pay tribute to Sean and raise a toast in his name, please reach out to Kevin ahead of time.

The Curragh is located at 6705 N Northwest Hwy, Chicago, IL

Louie’s Pub: Pearl Jam Karaoke 2 @9pm til closing (1:30am)

And for the grand finale of your day of Pearl Jam fun is the highly anticipated return of Pearl Jam Karaoke! Doing Pearl Jam karaoke was always an idea of mine that I wanted to execute, but it was all put together due to the circumstances that befell us. Last May, I was eager to head to both of the Sacramento and Vegas shows booked for the end of the west coast leg. While on the drive up to Sacramento, the news broke that Jeff Ament had tested positive for Covid, and both shows would be canceled.

We were dealt a shitty hand, but we had to turn it around and make something good out of it. I asked a group of friends in Sacramento if they wanted to partake, but no one was in the mood for it. After some encouragement from good ol’ Andrew Taylor and some crunch time planning by Gina Rivera, we made the karaoke event happen in Vegas. To say it was a massive hit would be an understatement.

Coming off the high of that party, there was absolutely no way that I wasn’t going to try it for this tour, and where else but Chicago? The plan is to get together at Louie’s Pub at 9, and we are welcome to stay and drink and sing until last call.

Louie’s Pub is located at 1659 W North Ave and can be easily accessed from the blue line.

As of this writing, we have SOLD OUT this event in under 12 hours! We were held to a 100 capacity level at first, but then the bar opened up an additional 32 tickets which have all sold out just as quickly! If you were unable to grab a ticket, there is still a chance that you may get in. A few of us have bought extras in case people need to get in on the day of, and the potential that some people could cancel at the last minute remains a possibility. Please keep in touch, the more you bug us, the greater the chance you’ll be able to get in!

Tickets were sold at $10 per entry with 100% of the funds going directly to our Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser. We will also be selling Live On 4 Legs tour shirts and other items that will fund for CFF. Every ticket sold will get each patron two entries into our raffle. Here are some items that will be up for grabs:

3rd Prize

A four piece box set of the 2018 Home/Away Shows wine

2nd Prize

Wrigley Field 2013 Munk One Poster

1st Prize

An Eddie Vedder neon sign of the iconic flying pose over Wrigley Field

If you wish to donate to the raffle, but you do not have a ticket to karaoke, you can do so here.

For those of you who have a ticket, please remember to keep your confirmation email to present at the door of the event!

Wow, what a fun day planned! I hope you guys are as excited as I am to get to September and get these shows underway, and I hope to see you at one or all of these events on the 6th!