Pearl Jam made their return to the stage over the weekend, headlining the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
During the band’s first proper show in three years, they debuted several songs from their latest album, last year’s Gigaton. The band also welcomed a new addition to their live show – former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who played guitar and percussion and sang backing vocals for the entirety of the sprawling set.
The rockers played six songs from Gigaton and paid tribute to New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen with a cover of ‘My City of Ruins’. They also closed the set with Neil Young‘s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ and blended ‘Wishlist’ with part of the Rolling Stones‘ ‘Waiting for a Friend’, honouring late Stones drummer Charlie Watt, who died last month.
Though this marked Klinghoffer’s first show with Pearl Jam, he made a kind of soft debut back in May, joining frontman Eddie Vedder for his solo set as part of Global Citizen livestream event VAX LIVE. According to Consequence, a representative for Pearl Jam has since confirmed that Klinghoffer has joined the band as a touring member – he’ll join the band onstage next at Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Music Festival in California.
Klinghoffer played in Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 until 2019, when the band replaced him with previous guitarist John Frusciante, who Klinghoffer himself had stepped in for a decade earlier. Last year, Klinghoffer opened up about his dismissal from the group, maintaining that there was no animosity or hard feelings between him and his former bandmates.
Watch fan-shot footage from Pearl Jam’s Sea.Hear.Now set below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR0DM8OKb7I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4A9Y_lq34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsjXqWe6IW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rbOrWQ6lJo
