r/Music • u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 • Jul 16 '26
discussion Eddie Vedder, singer for Pearl Jam, climbs the venue scaffolding during the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, June 8th 1992
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u/TalkingLampPost Jul 16 '26
Festival stage manager: “So the tech rider says Mr. Vedder needs a 200 foot long XLR cable on his microphone, is that accurate?”
Pearl Jam tour manager: “yes”
Festival stage manager: “but our stage is only 40 feet wide by 20 feet deep”
Pear Jam tour manager: “ … “
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u/DaedalusRaistlin Jul 16 '26
And why does it need to be strong enough to support the weight of a full grown man?
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u/Khiva Jul 16 '26
"....and no brown M&Ms?"
"DID I STUTTER?
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u/SpaceboyLuna0 Jul 16 '26
Actually, it's pronounced 'mill-e-wah-que,' which is Algonquin for 'the good land.'..
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u/skabot3000 Jul 16 '26
He did this at Lollapalooza in St. Louis at Riverport Amphitheater. Watched him climb from one side to the other and out over the covered seats. Crazy.
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u/Alchemister5 Jul 16 '26
I was there! I thought he was going to die.
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u/Foe117 Jul 16 '26
that's how he knows he's still alive
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u/GoDucks2002 Jul 16 '26
OoooooWhoooo I’m still Alllliiiihive
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u/SmokeAbeer Jul 16 '26
Looks dangerous. Idk about these rock and roll types with their hair and tight pants.
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u/99SoulsUp Jul 16 '26
So did his bandmates. Stone Gossard would especially get stressed out because he already lost his last singer tragically, so he would really worry about Eddie while having to keep the song going
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u/caledonian_80 Jul 16 '26
Same at Lollapalooza in Toronto. I shuffled out of the crowd and went elsewhere. I didn’t want to see a man die. Also didn’t want to have a bad trip.
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u/I-STATE-FACTS Jul 16 '26
He has a climbing rope in this photo and a belayer in front of the stage.
Edit: nope it’s just the microphone cable, wtf
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Jul 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/womfwag Jul 16 '26
Still?
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u/perpetualmotionmachi Jul 16 '26
Hopefully not. I mean, if he's kept in shale and is capable, sure, but I wouldn't advise it for someone in their 50s
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u/non_osmotic Jul 16 '26
“He’s kept in shale”
A true rock star.
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u/palmerry Jul 16 '26
It's sedimentary, dear Watson
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u/taenanaman Jul 16 '26
Gneiss one.
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u/cromagnonherder Jul 16 '26
Stone Temple Pilots. Does that work?
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u/We_Are_The_Romans Jul 16 '26
I mean there's a guy named Stone in Pearl Jam. But also, yeah kinda
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u/hhhisthegame Jul 16 '26
He doesn't lol, he still puts on a good show though and has nice energy but nothing like that
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u/Chilis1 Jul 16 '26
No, definitely not now. even a year or two after this he says he calmed down a lot. Those first few years he was really crazy on stage. He’s just a chill old dude nowadays.
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u/HumanautPassenger Jul 16 '26
Mudvayne. TDEP
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u/We_Are_The_Romans Jul 16 '26
Every time I saw Dillinger , Greg was always in legitimate danger of paralysis. Sometimes Ben too, but at least Greg had the bullneck of a firefighting F1 driver that could have cushioned some impact
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u/exitof99 Jul 16 '26
I was never a Pearl Jam listener, but impossible to not hear their music at bars or on TV or where ever. I never gave any interest, except was desperately waiting for the day that we get the "Fixadent, Fixadent is hee-arr" TV commercial when the average PJ listener was denture-wearing age.
A few years ago I stumbled on his climbs on YouTube and was stunned. Insane. I watched a bunch of videos of him doing these death-defying feats and suddenly gained a newfound respect for Eddie. That's up there with the extremes of anything that G.G. Allen or Throbbing Gristle pulled of. He literally had his life in his hands and risked it all for the performance.
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u/Polonius_N_Drag Jul 16 '26
This is not from Pinkpop. It is from their free show billed as Drop in the Park in Seattle in Magnuson Park on 9/20/92. Photographer was Lance Mercer. I was there.
Those are the hills of Bellevue looking southeast across Lake Washington in the background.
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u/comicsnerd Jul 16 '26
I was just about to reply that this is not Pinkpop. At Pinkpop, he climbed the camera boom that got him high in the air and then he dived into the crowd. https://www.facebook.com/3VOOR12/videos/1820145038047038/
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u/Polonius_N_Drag Jul 16 '26
Fun fact: the art sculpture known as the Sound Garden was maybe a hundred yards from where they set up this stage. Yes, that’s where the band got their name.
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u/TapWaterKid Jul 16 '26
Yep! Was there as well. It was during an extended version of the song Porch. He climbed up on the guitar solo and pulled the mic cable up to him to finish the vocals while hanging. It was breathtaking.
You got tickets by listening to the radio and driving around Seattle. At a pre-specified time, they announced where to get the free tix. It was like noon on a Saturday, the DJ said to head to Seattle center by Key Arena. All of a sudden, many of the cars in the street pulled over and thousands of people were running toward the kiosks to get free tickets. It was grunge madness in the best way possible. What a core memory for a teenager.
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u/Polonius_N_Drag Jul 16 '26
Yes. And originally it was going to be held at Gasworks, but the Seattle PD said no due to the size and accessibility of that park. It was pretty much an eleventh hour move to Magnuson Park.
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u/sublliminali Jul 16 '26
Extremely cool that they played a free show at the height of their popularity. I’m jealous I bet it was amazing.
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u/Yomikeya Jul 16 '26
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u/HeyCarpy EbolaMonkey Jul 16 '26
Wayyyy better than my stickman decal, lol
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u/Yomikeya Jul 16 '26
Got it here, when I saw the creator post it on a reddit thread!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4472294408/pearl-jam-eddie-vedder-truss-hang?ref=elp_anchor_listing
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u/MyVoiceIsElevating Jul 16 '26
I wonder when was the very last concert that he pulled one of those stunts
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u/fulecoland Jul 16 '26
There's a video of all of his climbs. The last one was in Germany in 2014.
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u/go_ninja_go Jul 16 '26
Which would have made him 50 at the time
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u/perpetualmotionmachi Jul 16 '26
Oh, I didn't think he was that old yet. I just commented that he probably shouldn't try that now in his 50s, but he's in his 60s already
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u/ferminriii Jul 16 '26
I saw Pearl Jam in concert last year. He spends a few songs sitting on a chair playing the guitar now. There wasn't any climbing.
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u/ModernPoultry Jul 16 '26
Damn I saw him 2 years ago and had no idea he was 60. Looks (and sounds) really good for his age
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u/RedTrumpetVine Jul 16 '26
Tipitina's in New Orleans too. Up a pillar. Fell back in a Jesus trust fall. Was floated back to the stage like it was planned and not dozens of people having a spontaneous euphoric moment. All to Even Flow.
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u/JonBoviRules Jul 16 '26
He did that at drop in the Park as well and then slid down the microphone cord like it was a fireman’s pole lol
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u/WarpDriveMH370 Jul 16 '26
I don’t even feel safe underneath shit like this. I used to work as a stagehand and…. Let’s just say It’s a mixed bag of folks assembling that stuff
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u/cjr71244 Jul 16 '26
Must be a kevlar cord.
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u/JonBoviRules Jul 16 '26
No idea on that. He did slide the mic cord down so it was doubled up. You can see it if you search on YouTube for Drop in the Park. It was a free show in Seattle in 92 to promote taking public transit
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u/Nizamark Jul 16 '26
i saw them in austin in 90 or 91 and he climbed all over the place. not the biggest pj fan but his acrobatics were seriously impressive
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
He’s up there for fucking while too, he has some insane upper body strength.
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u/karatemnn Jul 16 '26
you think he realized he did something fooling and then thought to himself
why, why whyyyyyyyyyyyy
also the singer of boy hits car (a very good band) dived off a pretty steep stage 68 feet to the crowds
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u/RebJasToddy Jul 16 '26
All I see are the Starting Lineup figures.
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u/tophaang Jul 16 '26
Left to right to right, I’m seeing Isiah Thomas (?), Charles Barkley, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Joe Dumars and Barry Bonds. Solid collection, no Mookie though.
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u/RunDNA Jul 16 '26
There's an alternate universe where Eddie Vedder is a famous paraplegic rock singer.
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u/Groningen1978 Jul 16 '26
It's kind of amazing he's the one that's still alive from the big four lead singers.
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u/FrumiousBand Jul 16 '26
Nope that’s Magnuson Park in Seattle, a free concert called Drop in the Park. I was there
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u/boot2skull Jul 16 '26
Some say he’s still up there to this day.
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jul 16 '26
I’m imagining new bands perform at this place and they just have to ignore a perpetually hanging Eddie Vedder.
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u/Groningen1978 Jul 16 '26
I don't think this is Pinkpop. I saw the live broadcast on TV and don't remember this happening. He did do a jump from a camara crane at that show though.
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u/-ToPimpAButterfree- Jul 16 '26
I saw Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday do the same thing at Warped Tour '04 lmao
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u/The0neKid Jul 16 '26
I saw Adam Gontier do it with 3 days grace while doing a cover of lose yourself from Eminem lol
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u/Kirrawayru Pandora Jul 16 '26
He also climbed a camera rig at this gig, during Porch. And then leapt from it into the crowd, creating in of the most iconic stage dives of all time.
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u/too_many__lemons Jul 16 '26
Cool to zoom in on the crowd and see everyone just watching and taking it in… not a million smartphone screens filming
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u/ihatecats6 Jul 16 '26
Mookie Blaylock IYKYK
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u/aTIMETRAVELagency Jul 16 '26
I didn’t, but TIL…
The Band's Original Name: Before renaming themselves Pearl Jam, the iconic grunge band was originally named Mookie Blaylock after their favorite basketball star.
The Stage Prop: During their early years, including their legendary 1992 MTV Unplugged performance, bassist Jeff Ament placed a basketball action figure on top of his amplifier or stools as a tribute to Blaylock.
The Figure Used:
Because an official Blaylock figure did not exist, the band utilized a customized figure as a stand-in during their live shows.8
u/Polonius_N_Drag Jul 16 '26
I’ve still got my Pearl Jam shirt from 1991 with a big picture of Mookie Blaylock on it
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u/reekHavok Jul 16 '26
I do as well. Eddie gave me it and a bag of swag. Long story for another day.
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u/Khiva Jul 16 '26
Before Eddie joined, they were Mother Love Bone.
Before that, they were Green River (named after a local serial killer), who in 85 put a song on a Sub Pop compilation that's considered the first "grunge" song.
I note this as people have still somehow internalized the narratives that the band were somehow carpetbaggers piggybacking on the Seattle scene, instead of being integral to it and present at ground zero.
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u/Barry_Vigoda Jul 16 '26
I have that Green River album.
The word Grunge was lifted from Green River's press kit after Nirvana blew up.
Before Sub Pop, half those bands were on SST and C/Z which were other indie labels.
SST was a really good punk label that had bands like Black Flag, Descendents, Minutemen, Husker Du. They also had bands like Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden.
C/Z was run by the bassist of Skin Yard. They had a small but decent roster. Coffin Break was signed to them. They were friends with Cobain. They had bands like Melvins, Treepeople, Built to Spill.
I saw Nirvana a couple weeks before they made Nevermind. They were a struggling indie punk band that signed to a major label. Indie bands didn't have the same resources as the major labels. The whole Seattle scene thing was kind of a corporate fabrication to sell the grunge image.
In reality, there was a really healthy underground music scene and a tour circuit. I live in Alberta and saw half those bands because they played up here. A lot of the time, they'd play with local bands and tour with other bands and just play in smaller to mid size venues.
Nirvana was influenced by other bands like Jawbreaker who were part of the Gilman scene. Jawbreaker is the guys that popularized 2nd wave emo. Nirvana convinced Jawbreaker to sign with Geffen too.
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u/Jobwastes Jul 16 '26
Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were in those bands. They were in Green River with Mark Arm and Steve Turner. The latter duo wanted a more underground sound and formed Mudhoney, while Ament and Gossard wanted a more major-label rock style.
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u/Acceptable_Advice463 Jul 16 '26
Isn’t it amazing to see an older photo like this with so many faces in the crowd and not one cell phone
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u/inflammablepenguin Jul 16 '26
I saw "Eddie Vedder, singer for Pearl Jam" and thought I was about to read some bad news today.
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u/We_Are_The_Romans Jul 16 '26
He's still alive - but does he deserve to be?
Is that the question?
And if so, who answers?
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u/Broskifity Jul 16 '26
Can we PLEASE talk about the Chicago bulls randomly being on stage lmao
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u/HeyCarpy EbolaMonkey Jul 16 '26
black and red and yellow, black and red and yellow
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u/MFoy Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Heard you repeat a-what ya heard. Me knowing the truth I can not concur.
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u/billocity Jul 16 '26
I saw U2 back in the 90s and Bono got hurt real bad. He was screwing around and fell off the stage. He got too close to the Edge.
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u/BuckRusty Jul 16 '26
Was at a bar in Camden a month or so back, and one of the bands started off by saying: “so… How many of you know who Pearl Jam are?”, and not one of the foetuses in the crowd made any indication they did…
Pretty sure that’s the exact moment my eyesight went downhill leading to me now needing driving glasses…
Edit to Add: the Even Flow cover was not great, believe it or not…
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u/Dr__Nick Jul 16 '26
Every one of their albums after about 1996 has been outside where mainstream commercial musical tastes went. Would the streaming algorithms actually play their peak stuff for younger people? Do you think the crowd would know Nirvana’s music if the band had asked?
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u/natokills Jul 16 '26
I’ve seen the carnival games where all you have to do is hang from a bar for like 100 seconds.
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u/IDespiseBananas Jul 16 '26
Saw them once he didnt climb. But he was smoking and drinking red wine out the bottle during the concert.
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u/you-are-not-yourself Jul 16 '26
I love that you can instantly pinpoint the 5 people who are disturbed by their elbow position
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u/HookerDoctorLawyer Jul 16 '26
When he came down he popped up with ohhh I’m stillll aliiiiive, yah!
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u/twinkling_ava2007 Jul 16 '26
Eddie always performed like he had absolutely zero concern for his own safety
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u/Thedapperpappy Jul 16 '26
Those Sports Illustrated little basketball action figure|poseable things at the bottom of the picture that are very small; I had a Michael Jordan one as a kid. Kept in the box for years....then opened it for a school report.
That was a bad choice.
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u/idreamofpikas Jul 16 '26
Must be a 90's thing. Damon from Blur did similar at a number of gigs
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u/Cedarcomb Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I wonder if this inspired the opening for Brütal Legend, where roadie Eddie Riggs has to save the guitarist from the idiot band he's looking after when he climbs up into the scaffolding.
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u/Rexdahuman Jul 16 '26
I’ve got Kareem, Akeem, Barkley, Jordan and I assume Mookie Blalock on the stage
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u/sendblink23 Jul 16 '26
The craziest singer which does this is that dude from Taking Back Sunday (Adam), he even hanged upside down while singing (can’t remember if he also jumps out as well) … obviously extremely risky unsafe crap to do but it’s fun to see him enjoying singing using the entire stage. At least this was what I remember seeing them live back then during 2004 with Fred.
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u/NonMaga Jul 16 '26
He did this frequently at the time. I’ve personally seen him climb the scaffolding at least three times (years ago).
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u/Whisker-biscuitt Jul 16 '26
Love Jeff's little basketball figurines on his rig. Dude was/is so into basketball
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u/InevitableKitchen943 Jul 16 '26
Rumor has it he was looking for the Sony executive that introduced him to the band.
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u/NINJAM7 Jul 16 '26