During Pearl Jam’s Sunday night show in Pittsburgh, frontman Eddie Vedder stepped up to the mic and let his thoughts be known. He never called Trump by name, but he made it clear how he felt about the situation and about Springsteen.
“I just want to point out that (Springsteen) brought up the issues,” Vedder told the crowd. “He brought up that residents are being removed off America’s streets and deported without the due process of law. That’s happening. He brought up that we are abandoning our longtime allies around the globe and signing on with dictators. That is also happening.
“And here driving through all the colleges, the University of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon and the incredible area you’ve got and thinking that they are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideologies as Bruce said,” he continued. “Now look, I appreciate you listening and I bring it up because the response to all that and him using the microphone, the response had nothing to do with the issues. They didn’t talk about one of those issues. Didn’t have a conversation about one of those issues. Didn’t debate any of those issues. All that we heard were personal attacks and personal attacks that nobody else should even try to use their microphone or use their voice in public or they will be shut down.
Recently Eddie Vedder and Stephen Marley have shared new covers of two Neil Young classics from Harvest for an upcoming tribute album benefitting the Bridge School as Rolling Stone reports.
While “Rockin’ in the Free World” has become a Pearl Jam live staple, for his contribution, Vedder covered “The Needle and The Damage Done,” Young’s devastating 1972 song about heroin addiction. The Pearl Jam frontman plays the cover pretty straight (not that that’s a bad thing), with just acoustic guitar accompaniment and a vocal performance that’s distinctly reminiscent of Young’s soft, quivering tenor.
Vedder’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” and Marley’s “Old Man” mark the third and fourth offerings from from Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, following, Courtney Barnett’s rendition of “Lotta Love” and Chris Pierce’s interpretation of “Southern Man.” Heart of Gold arrives April 25, and it’s set to be the first volume of a two-album project.
The upcoming compilation will also feature contributions from Fiona Apple, Mumford & Sons, Brandi Carlile, Sharon Van Etten, Lumineers, Steve Earle, and the Doobie Brothers with Allison Russell. Artists for volume two haven’t been announced yet.
Proceeds from Heart of Gold will benefit the Bridge School, which Young’s late ex-wife Pegi co-founded to help individuals with severe speech and physical impairments. Between 1986 and 2016, Young held an annual benefit concert benefiting the Bridge School.
Recently fans at Jack White‘s Tokyo show were surprised when Eddie Vedder joined the stage for a cover of Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’. Check it out below.
The moment took place on March 15 during a concert in the city’s Toyosu PIT venue.
White was closing his encore – which had included the White Stripes songs ‘Hypnotize’ and ‘Seven Nation Army’ – with the Young classic, when Vedder unexpectedly took to the stage for the first chorus.
The Pearl Jam frontman even freestyled slightly, delivering the line: “There’s only one Jack White.” Check it out below.
It follows White covering the song solo during his headline performance at the Saturday Night Live’s 50th-anniversary concert last month.
The musician will wrap up the Japan leg of his tour tomorrow (March 17) with another show in Tokyo, before he heads back to North America for further dates. The run kicks off in St. Louis on April 3 and will see him head to Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and more.
