Pearl Jam Play With Replacements & Volunteers After Drummer Tests Positive For COVID
COVID hit the Pearl Jam tour but the show went on thanks to a little help from their friends, and members of the audience.
The band’s drummer Matt Cameron was forced to miss their two shows in Oakland, California Thursday and Friday night, but they were able to rock on thanks to assists by Josh Klinghoffer, who is touring with the band, a well as Richard Stuveru, a frequent Jeff Ament collaborator, who switched off on songs throughout both shows.
“Matt Cameron is a true artist and he’s a force of nature,” frontman Eddie Vedder shared. “However, even his superhero status could not prevent him from testing positive,” adding, “We’ve been scrambling for 24 hours because after 25 months of… We were supposed to be here 25 months ago. We’ve been waiting and we’ve been waiting. Postponing wasn’t an option and for us neither was canceling.”
- But the band wound up getting help from others as well. During Thursday night’s show they asked if there were any drummers in the audience, and a guy named Josh Arroyo volunteered. And after getting COVID tested he actually came out and played the drums for the band’s final song of the evening “Yellow Ledbetter.” Check it out to the right.
- And on Friday, 17-year-old Kai Neukermans of the local band The Alive, volunteered, and performed on the “Lightning Bolt” song “Mind Your Manners.” He reportedly sent a text to Eddie’s daughter Olivia Vedder, whom he met at Ohana Fest in 2018, and she asked her dad and then he got a request to send in a video of himself drumming. Check it out to the right.
- ONE MORE THING! While in the San Francisco area for the band's Oakland shows, guitarist Mike McCready joined pro-choice protesters at the city's Women's March on Saturday. He shared video of the march on social media, writing, "I woke up in San Francisco after last night’s Oakland show and joined the San Francisco march to protect peoples’ freedom to choose!" Check it out to the right.
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The "Billboard Music Awards"
MACHINE GUN KELLY seems to be getting all the attention because he dedicated his performance to his "wife" MEGAN FOX. He also paused at one point and said, "And this is for our unborn child."
So are they married? Is Megan pregnant? No one knows, but for some reason, tons of people care. (Check out some of the other performances here.)
During a recent show in Brazil, METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD admitted to fans that he was dealing with some insecurities . . . and he got support from the rest of the band.
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The new SMASHING PUMPKINS album will be a 33-song rock opera.
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KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN and TRAVIS BARKER got married and it's legal this time.
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Maneskin Release New Single And Will Be On The New Elvis Soundtrack
Last year’s Eurovision winners Maneskin are on a roll. They released their new single with a debut live performance of “Supermodel” during the Eurovision Song Contest final and are getting ready for a tour starting later this year that’s already sold out in several venues, but that’s not all the band has going on.
Maneskin’s Damiano David has revealed that the band recorded a cover of Elvis Presley’s “If I Can Dream” for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” movie, something he says the band is “really proud of.” “Elvis” is set to have its world premiere in Cannes this week.
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Museum Dedicated To Metallica’s Cliff Burton Opens
The museum honoring the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton is now open in Sweden near where Burton died in a tragic tour bus accident in 1986 at the age of 24. The museum includes pictures, albums, posters, and tickets on display, along with interviews and photos from Lennart Wennberg, the first photographer to arrive at the crash site.
There’s also a stage that recreates Metallica’s last performance with Burton in Stockholm, with copies of the bass and drum kit he and drummer Lars Ulrich used. The museum also has a poster with the last autograph Burton gave.
Historian Krister Ljungberg, who’s involved with the museum, says “I’m not a huge fan of Metallica, but I usually say that I’m the biggest fan of Metallica fans. I really love these people; they are absolutely amazing.”
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Photo: Getty Images