Just Announced Eddie Vedder at the Chicago Theatre June 28

Eddie Vedder’s going on tour in June in July in support of his second solo album, which he announced this week will be all ukulele, all the time. Ukulele Songs is a mix of originals and covers performed, as one might expect, entirely on the Hawaiian four-stringer; it comes out May 31. He’ll be stopping in Chicago June 28 at the Chicago Theatre, and presale tickets for the tour go on sale March 29 (on Ticketmaster, no less). Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames will open. Here’s the full list of dates:

June 15—Providence, Rhode Island—Providence Performing Arts Center
June 16—Boston, Massachusetts—The Wang Theatre
June 18—Hartford, Connecticut—The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
June 21—New York, New York—Beacon Theatre
June 22—New York, New York—Beacon Theatre
June 25—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—Tower Theatre
June 26—Detroit, Michigan—Fox Theatre
June 28—Chicago, Illinois—The Chicago Theatre
July 1—St. Louis, Missouri—Fox Theatre
July 2—Minneapolis, Minnesota—Orpheum Theatre
July 5—San Diego, California—Copley Symphony Hall
July 6—Long Beach, California—Terrace Theater
July 8— Los Angeles, California—The Wiltern
July 9—Santa Barbara, California—Santa Barbara Bowl
July 11—Oakland, California—The Paramount Theatre
July 14—Portland, Oregon—Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
July 15—Seattle, Washington—Benaroya Hall

And here’s a 2007 performance where Vedder covers Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and goes on to do “Soon Forget,” off Pearl Jam’s Binaural; he’s credited his use of the ukulele on that song with busting him out of a nasty case of writer’s block. The Sabbath is a bit touch and go, but we’ll assume his skills have improved a bit in the intervening years. And as verging-on-faddy as ukuleles can be (so hot right now!), Vedder’s voice sounds quite nice with the instrument.