Eddie Vedder’s annual Ohana Music Festival kicked off on Friday and the Pearl Jam frontman and the Earthlings headlined the festival’s first of three nights in Dana Point, California. It was the first time in two years he and his Earthlings bandmates — guitarists Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer and Glen Hansard; Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and bassist Chris Chaney — performed together. To mark the occasion, they delivered several covers alongside Earthling and Pearl Jam songs.
They kicked it all off with a cover of Devo’s “Gut Feeling” before launching into Pearl Jam’s “Corduroy.”
During the latter part of their set, which earlier included a cover of the Who’s “I’m One,” the band jammed out Led Zeppelin’s instrumental intro of “The Song Remains the Same” before launching into Pearl Jam’s “Rearviewmirror.” Prior to performing the songs, Vedder shouted out “all the magnificent human beings” that were playing the festival. “Just legends, so many great women on the stages all day today and through the weekend,” he said before giving props to Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Madrid’s Hinds, Jessica Dobson from Deep Sea Diver, Akira Galaxy, and Kim Deal, and he also shouted out his wife and additionally Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, who was not performing but apparently in the audience.
Following the shout-outs, Vedder shared a story about a high school administrator whose mission he said was “to ruin my life.” But music got him through. “There was this piece of music, and I’ll never forgot where I was or how loud it was, and for some reason, this piece of music — not even the words, nothing — it was like a drug,” Vedder said. “It lifted me up. It was a lift-off. I realized, you know what? Fuck that guy. And someday, he will mean nothing to you,” he said. Later, he added, “We will play this piece of music and I will let it be a reminder that music is power. Music has power. You should be responsible with the power of that music and a voice and a microphone and communicating to people that we trust and we’re grateful they can trust us … This person who had ill will for me? He didn’t win.”
They also performed a medley of the English Beat’s “Save It for Later” and Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” that featured Fitz and the Tantrums’ James King on saxophone.
They closed with one of Vedder’s perennial covers, Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” featuring a bevy of guests, including Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones and saxophonist King.
Ohana Music Festival continues through Sunday, with Hozier headlining tonight and Green Day closing the event out on Sunday.
