On New Year’s Eve (or midnight Eastern Standard Time), Chris Cornell tweeted the news:

The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again! www.soundgardenworld.com

For the past 11 years, Matt Cameron has been Pearl Jam’s longest-serving drummer.  His current stint in Pearl Jam is as long as, or even longer than, his tenure in Soundgarden.  It has been speculated that the Soundgarden reunion tour will happen when Pearl Jam isn’t touring.  However, longtime fans of both bands would like to see Soundgarden tour with Pearl Jam.

If this is the case, and knowing the epic scope of the average Pearl Jam concert, Mr. Cameron would have to use some superhuman strength and endurance for such a tour.  Fans at the Ten Club (Pearl Jam fan club) forums have said that if Cameron joins Soundgarden for a tour, then Pearl Jam should (temporarily) reinstate either fired drummer Dave Abbruzzese (Vs., Vitalogy) or retired drummer Jack Irons (Vitalogy, No Code, Yield) behind the kit.  At the Ten Club forums, I suggested that Pearl Jam should rehire first drummer Dave Krusen part-time, to play Ten-centric encore sets – primarily to give Cameron a rest after playing a Soundgarden opening set and a Pearl Jam main set.  It would be icing on the cake to have the original Mookie Blaylock band play during Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary.

This is all hypothetical, of course, but it would be cool to have a Pearl Jam tour, with special guests Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and the original Mookie Blaylock band.  Mookie Blaylock, for those who don’t know, was the band named after the basketball player before their name change to Pearl Jam.  Krusen was behind the drum kit for that band.

Pearl Jam:  Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, with Boom Gaspar.

Soundgarden:  Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Ben Shepherd, and Kim Thayil.

Temple of the Dog:  Jeff Ament, Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.

Mookie Blaylock:  Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Dave Krusen, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.

If you throw in the re-formed Alice in Chains, then you’ll have a killer show featuring some of the diverse flavors of the Seattle music scene (erroneously marketed together as grunge).