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Much like in 2016, Eddie Vedder was an omnipresent figure at this year’s installment of Ohana Fest, which took place in SoCal over the weekend. Along with making surprise appearances during the sets of Social Distortion and Liam Finn, the Pearl Jam frontman delivered an impressive headlining set of his own on Saturday, which included the debut of a new song, a handful of cameos, and some pointed remarks for President Trump.
Vedder, one of Ohana’s organizers, popped up during Social Distortion’s set and the two acts played “Ball and Chain”. He also dropped in on Simon Townshend’s performance to do a rendition of “She Asked Me”. Additionally, Vedder and Finn teamed up to rattle off Pearl Jam’s “Habit”; here, Vedder snuck in a dig at our POTUS, swapping the lyrics “speaking as a child of the 90’s” to “speaking as a child of the fucked up Trump generation.”
For his headlining set, Vedder kept the surprises coming. He reportedly opened with a new song tentatively titled “Share the Light”, followed by covers of Fugazi’s “I’m So Tired”, Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage, George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity”, and The Swell Season/The Frames’ “Falling Slowly”. While performing Pearl Jam cut “Sometimes”, Vedder again took aim at Trump, crooning “You’re Trump and you got small hands, the orange blends, the challenges you give man.” The diss was reminiscent of a similar onstage improvisation last year.
To close out the evening, Vedder convened an all-star cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” featuring Glen Hansard, Fiona Apple, Finn, Townshend, and Austin rocker David Garza, among others.
Below find fan-caught footage and pictures from Vedder’s time at Ohana Fest 2017.
Eddie Vedder and Liam Finn perform Pearl Jam’s “Habit”:
Eddie Vedder and Simon Townshend perform “She Asked Me”:
Eddie Vedder and Social Distortion perform “Ball and Chain”:
Eddie Vedder debuts new song “Share the Light”:
Eddie Vedder covers George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity”:
Eddie Vedder & co. cover “Rockin’ in the Free World”:
