Pearl Jam plans to 'bootleg' its North American tour

On the heels of the release of 25 live albums from the band's European tour, Pearl Jam has announced plans to release recordings of each of the 46 shows on the band's North American tour.

No release date has been set for the 2-CD live sets, but they aren't expected to reach stores before Christmas, according to the band-sanctioned Pearl Jam Rumor Pit website. The site also reports that the band will soon begin work on a new studio album intended for release in 2001.

Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason and his assistant John Burton reportedly have already mixed recordings from the first leg of the North American tour, which concluded on Sept. 5. The second leg of the tour is scheduled to open on Wednesday (10/4).

A recent Los Angeles Times report, citing sources at Epic Records, said that 60,000 online orders have been received for the authorized European "bootlegs" since they went on sale on the band's website on Sept. 5.

Record stores began selling the "bootlegs" on Tuesday (9/26), though many aren't keeping all 25 albums in stock. According to the Times, some industry-watchers predicted that as many as a half-dozen of the albums would enter the Billboard 200 album chart.