Pearl Jam has decided to postpone the first leg of their Gigaton 2020 tour.

The groundbreaking alternative band announced that the set of North American dates scheduled to start on March 18 will be postponed indefinitely for the time being. A series of Tweets from the band’s official account on March 9 explained that the decision was made due to the rising number of cases of the Coronavirus in the United States. The group’s hometown of Seattle has been one of the US locations hit hardest by the disease.

“As residents of the city of Seattle, we’ve been hit hard and have witnessed firsthand how quickly these disastrous situations can escalate. Our kids’ schools have closed along with universities and businesses,” the band’s statement begins. “It’s been brutal and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.”

The shows will be rescheduled, and the band has assured fans that tickets will be honored for the new dates. Fans should hear from Ticketmaster with more details, so if you’re a ticket holder be sure to check your e-mails. Yes, including that spam filter, we know what gets caught in there.

Please note that this only affects the US leg running from March through April, international dates kicking off in June are still on-track as of this article.

While we recognize and deeply respect that Pearl Jam is making the best possible decision for the sake of their fans and really everyone in this rough time, we have to admit this kind of sucks. Eddie and the rest of the band are right there with us, though. Their final tweet regarding the cancellation is a heartfelt message:

We are so sorry… And deeply upset.. If anyone out there feels the same based on this news, we share that emotion with you. - Ed & Pearl Jam