Pearl Jam Want to Hang Out With You to Protect Voting Rights

Pearl Jam have partnered with the online fundraising platform Omaze in an effort to protect voting rights and encourage Americans to cast their ballots in the 2020 election. Everyone that donates through Omaze.com/PearlJam will be entered into a sweepstakes where the winner (and a friend) will be flown to Seattle and be personally escorted around the city by Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament.

The winner will stay at the “Pearl Jam Suite” at the Edgewater Hotel and meet up with Vedder and Ament for drinks and a private tour of the Pearl Jam exhibit at the Museum of Pop Culture and London Bridge Studios where the band recorded Ten. “We would answer all your questions,” Vedder said in a video announcing the sweepstakes, “like how many guitar picks does Mike McCready throw out on any given night or how many bottles of red wine do you go through on a tour?” (The trip will happen once it is “safe and convenient for all parties” according to a press release.)

The money raised will go to Pearl Jam’s non-profit organization The Vitalogy Foundation along with various non-profits fighting to make sure that all Americans will be able to safely vote in person or at home.

“Voting freely and easily is our ultimate right as citizens of these United States,” Ament said in a statement. “Please join us in pledging to VOTE BY MAIL, as early as possible, in this critical election.”

Pearl Jam originally planned on spending much of 2020 touring in support of their new album Gigaton, but the pandemic essentially shut down the live music industry before their planned shows. They hope to return to the road in 2021.