Eddie Vedder is currently traveling through Europe on a solo tour. During his show in Düsseldorf on Sunday, among Pearl Jam favorites and his own original material, he included a very special cover of Chris Cornell’s “Seasons”.
As JamBase points out, it marked the first time Vedder had ever performed the rendition live as a solo musician. And, as he recounted to the audience, there was a reason he chose to debut the Singles soundtrack cover that evening at the German city’s Mitsubishi Electric Halle.
(Read: Soundgarden’s Top 20 Songs)
Exactly 19 years ago that day, Pearl Jam performed at Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The set ended in tragedy after a massive crowd rushed the stage and killed nine people. However, it wasn’t all darkness that day; as Vedder explained, right before Pearl Jam took the stage, they learned of the birth of Cornell’s daughter, Lily.
Watch fan-caught footage of the poignant “Seasons” cover below.
https://twitter.com/CorbinReiff/status/1145478906901872640
Previously, Vedder dedicated a 2012 concert performance of “Daughter” to Lily. In a recent Instagram post, Lily referred to Vedder and his family as her “family forever.”
Longtime friends, Vedder has paid tribute to Cornell multiple times since the Soundgarden rocker’s death in 2017. In a heartfelt speech, he said Cornell “wasn’t just a friend, he was someone I looked up to like my older brother.
Elsewhere during his solo trek, Vedder had his own Before Sunrise moment in Utrecht, reuniting with a woman, Valeska Custers, whom he’d met 27 years ago. The tour continues on Wednesday in Dublin.