Pearl Jam got a lift both from surprise guest Billy Strings and a second bite at the apple with Paul McCartney drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. to close out the 10th anniversary edition of Eddie Vedder’s Ohana festival last night (Sept. 27) in Dana Point, Ca. Laboriel debuted two nights earlier when Pearl Jam stunned the crowd by playing a 15-song set during what had been billed only as “Eddie Vedder and friends.”
Strings, who covered pre-Pearl Jam band Mother Love Bone’s “Crown of Thorns” the night before during his own sold-out show at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, came out on acoustic for “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” which Vedder said had won him a school talent show in fourth grade. An avowed Pearl Jam fan who performs several of their songs live, Strings stuck around for an electric guitar duel with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready on “Throw Your Hatred Down,” from the band’s 1995 Mirror Ball album backing Neil Young.
“Two years ago, I met a young man who graced the Ohana stage and I’ve been following him ever since,” Vedder said when introducing Strings. “He was in town playing and he’s not on the Ohana bill this year, but on his night off he decided to come down to see the show. I asked him if he’d mind coming to work a little bit, so we could share his talents with you.”
Meanwhile, Laboriel once again brought the thunder to Sunday’s 18-song festival-closing set, the only two repeats from which were “Better Man” and “Even Flow.” He was particularly powerful on classics such as “Why Go,” “Jeremy” and “Alive” without being note-for-note faithful to the originals, while his unique fills and accents made songs like “Given To Fly,” “Dissident” and “Daughter” sound fresh.
Pearl Jam’s drum seat was vacated in July 2025 by Matt Cameron after a 27-year run — until Laboriel was revealed on Friday. The band stopped short both nights of naming him as Cameron’s permanent replacement, but it seems clear they hope to continue playing together in the future even if Laboriel continues to play live with McCartney.
“We’re very honored that a Beatle no less, Paul McCartney, would allow us to borrow him to help us,” Vedder said of Laboriel before “Better Man.” “Well, [be]cause here’s the thing. There’s an old musical adage that I do believe, and that is that you cannot be … and we’ve had the best … but you cannot be a great band without a great drummer. So, we thank Abe for keeping us in the running.”
The show wound down with a rollicking cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” with many of the day’s musicians onstage to sing or shake tambourines, and a shortened version of “Yellow Ledbetter” so as not to run afoul of the local curfew.
Pearl Jam’s performance began on a highly emotional note, as Vedder spoke at length about his close friend and collaborator, Glen Hansard, who died in a July motorcycle accident. Afterwards, a video tribute played on the big screens, featuring a montage of moments of Hansard performing in numerous incarnations at Ohana over the past decade.
“We’d like to honor someone who was part of our Ohana, our family,” Vedder said, at one point stopping to compose himself. “A great friend to anyone who ever met him and a great musician, a great human. [There was] really no one like him, so that’s what made it harder to deal with a loss of somebody so irreplaceable. He was here so often and we worked together so closely, and we wanted him to be here again. So, we’re going to let Mr. Glen Hansard open the show.”
The final day of Ohana was highlighted by sets from the reunited Rilo Kiley, Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. and Pixies, who welcomed Vedder to handle vocals on the relentless “Wave of Mutilation.”