Watch Eddie Vedder Reunite With Jack Irons to Perform Pink Floyd Classic
Eddie Vedder staged a surprise reunion with former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons Friday night at Seattle’s Key Arena to perform Pink Floyd‘s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” Irons was serving as opening act for another of his previous bands, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Vedder and Irons previously collaborated on their speedier, more percussion-heavy rendition of the Wish You Were Here classic in August 2016 when the former band mates teamed up at California’s Ohana Festival.
Vedder and Irons’ reunion came just a week after Pearl Jam invited all five of their drummers – Irons, Dave Krusen, Dave Abbruzzese, Matt Chamberlain and current drummer Matt Cameron – to their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in April; only Krusen and Cameron will be inducted. Irons is already a member of the Rock Hall thanks to his induction alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers.
While Vedder didn’t also perform alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Key Arena gig, the band did pay tribute to some serious grunge’s roots with their first ever cover of Malfunkshun’s “Until the Ocean,” according to Setlist.fm. Video of that performance has not emerged yet.
Malfunkshun’s lead singer was Andrew Wood, who would go on to perform in Mother Love Bone with Green River’s Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. Wood’s death in 1990 would result in Ament and Gossard eventually forming Pearl Jam.