Pearl Jam embodied “the show must go on” this week – they found replacements for their COVID-stricken drummer… and did it with local talent, no less.
Eddie Vedder and co. performed two packed shows in Oakland, Calif. this week – a Thursday and a Friday – and in both cases he brought in skilled drummers from the area to help him and his band continue the show in the absence of matt cameron.
Pearl Jam’s regular drummer had COVID. Shout out to the Bay Area music teacher sitting on drums at Oracle Arena. (Didn’t get his name.)
I hope every one of his students is here tonight. pic.twitter.com/BirxwJELtT
— Peter Hartlaub (@peterhartlaub) May 14, 2022
@peterhartlaub
MC recently went down with the ‘rona, but Pearl Jam insisted on going ahead with the Oakland shows – as they had already pushed them back and didn’t want to do it again.
So, to help them move forward, they hired a few pros by the name of Josh Klinghofer and Richard Stuverud to carry the majority of the load through each performance – but for at least one song a day they also had guys from Oakland to fill in.
The first guy was a music teacher named Josh Arroyowho joined the band on stage for the last song, “Yellow Ledbetter”, and apparently did a hell of a job.
The following night, a teenager named Kai Neukermans – who plays in a band called The Alive – was brought on stage to take over drum duties mid-performance, for the song “Mind Your Manners”, and he too seemed to kill it.
Waiting for your permission to load Instagram media.
Now, before you started thinking that was a spontaneous thing that happened on the spur of the moment, it absolutely wasn’t. It looks like these two amateur drummers were carefully scouted and screened beforehand…and we’d imagine they’ve been doing some practice as well.
Still, it’s pretty cool that they got to play a Pearl Jam concert in front of thousands of people. It will raise your profile just a little…no doubt about it.
Our sincere thanks to
Source link
