Ohana kicks off with surprise set from Pearl Jam and its brand-new drummer

Eddie Vedder was clearly enjoying the moment – teasing fans at his 10th annual Ohana Festival with the opening notes of Pearl Jam‘s “Corduroy,” before switching from acoustic to electric guitar and musing that he might need some help on this song.

“I feel like I would need some friends,” Vedder said, grinning as low lights silhouetted a drummer and one or two other musicians on a scrim behind him. “Like, I would need a whole – like some really good friends. Do I got any extra friends back there?”

The curtain dropped, and fans screamed as in the shadows on stage they recognized Pearl Jam guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, who’d already appeared for a duet with Vedder in his headlining Eddie Vedder & Friends set on Friday, Sept. 25.

But who was that seated by the drum kit with a kick drum on which a large question mark appeared to have been made out of gaffer’s tape? With a bit more light it became clear: Abe Laboriel Jr., with his shaved head and beard, who since 2001 had been Paul McCartney’s drummer on tour, and now might be Pearl Jam’s replacement for longtime drummer Matt Cameron, who last year announced his departure.

Simon Good, left, a longtime collaborator of the late Glen Hansard, who was a good friend of Eddie Vedder’s, joins Vedder on stage for a cover of Glen Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope,” during the “Eddie Vedder and Friends” set on the first night of the annual Ohana Festival at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point on Friday, September 25, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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No official announcement was made on stage on Friday, and Laboriel looked a little unsure whether he should join the other four for a bow before Vedder waved him over. But he sounded terrific with the band, with a heavy beat and deep pocket all night long, and he clearly had rehearsed with Pearl Jam extensively to learn the hits, deep cuts and covers it mixes in and out of the set night by night.

And then there was the moment late in the show when you could hear Vedder say, “Thank you, Paul,” almost under his breath, which certainly could be read as a passing of the drumsticks.

Pearl Jam headlines Ohana on Sunday, Sept. 27, and by then we might know more. But for fans who didn’t expect to see them with Vedder on Friday, it was a thrilling capper to a day of music at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point that included performances from Maná, Billy Idol, Bad Religion, Courtney Barnett, Sugar, and more.

This 10th year of the festival Vedder founded to play music with his friends and advocate for environmental causes had to be emotionally tough for the Pearl Jam singer. In the past, a headlining set by Eddie Vedder & Friends almost always included the Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, one of Vedder’s close friends, who died in a motorcycle accident in July.

And after opening his set solo on acoustic guitar with Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and his own “Far Behind,” Vedder addressed the absence he and many festivalgoers felt.

“I think we’re just gonna jump into it here, because there is a friend we’re all missing, and he was such a big part of this festival and a lot of people here knew him through this festival,” Vedder said of Hansard, who performed at Ohana at least five times in its first nine years.

“He was here so often, we worked so closely, and it was always so much joy,” he continued, his voice thick with emotion. “And he has so many friends and they all knew him as a very powerful musician but a very beautiful friend.”

Vedder continued, acknowledging that many in the audience might be experiencing their own kinds of loss and grief.

“There’s no way around it, just through, and it’s not easy and it takes time,” he said. “Again, because here on the shore and feeling the healing powers of the ocean, we thought we’d play this and share it with anybody who needs it.”

Hansard’s own “Song of Good Hope” followed, with Vedder singing and Irish guitarist Simon Good accompanying him as a slideshow of photographs of Hansard, often with Vedder – at Ohana, in Ireland, on the infield grass at Wrigley Field, home of Vedder’s beloved Chicago Cubs – played on the video screens.

After a duet with Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament on “Bee Girl” and another with Billy Idol singing the Who’s “I’m the One” to Vedder’s accompaniment, the Pearl Jam surprise arrived, and the mellow melancholy of the acoustic part of the show shifted into a blast of furious, fun rock and roll.

Fan favorites “Corduroy” and “Porch” bookended the 12 songs of the main set. In between came a trio of songs including the title track of Pearl Jam’s most recent album, “Dark Matter,” and Pearl Jam tunes including “Scared of Fear” and “Wishlist.”

“I Got Id” and “Green Disease” aren’t played that often in recent years, but here they surfaced paired with “Do the Evolution” as the musical accompaniment for Vedder’s celebration of the ocean environmental success of the Ohana community in recent years.

Neil Young, a kind of musical and spiritual elder for Vedder and Pearl Jam, wasn’t physically present, but he was clearly in mind with “Do the Id” slipping into a bit of Young’s “Cinnamon Girl,” and Pearl Jam’s “Won’t Tell” dedicated to Young and the harvest moon that shone over Ohana and the sand and surf that border the festival grounds.

After a quick consultation offstage on what to play in the encore, Pearl Jam returned with “Better Man,” the band loose and smiling, and “Even Flow,” which soared, as other songs had in the set, on the epic power of the music.

A cover of “Sonic Reducer” was dedicated to the late Cheetah Chrome, who co-wrote the Dead Boys classic punk song. A final epic, the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly,” had the crowd singing along to its lyrics of teenage wastelands.

So, yeah, with friends like these, who could lose? Of course, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what came before on Friday, but earlier sets included highlights of their own.

The Mexican rock superstars Maná played a terrific set of its classics, including “Clavado en un Bar,” “Mariposa Traicionera,” and “Me Vale,” the latter sung by drummer Alex González. Vedder introduced the band himself, clearly thrilled to have Maná on “our relatively small stage.”

Billy Idol thrilled a large crowd at the Tiki second stage with hits such as “White Wedding,” “Rebel Yell,” “Flesh for Fantasy,” and “Dancing With Myself,” taking multiple opportunities to celebrate his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens. He sounded great and looked great too, changing his stage clothes at least four times during his hour on stage.

Bad Religion had a huge crowd at Ohana main stage, mosh pits churning as they blasted through classic songs such as “21st Century (Digital Boy),” “Infected,” “Punk Rock Song,” and “American Jesus,” the last of which brought Vedder running from the wings to sing the final verse and chorus with Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin.

Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett brought her brand of laconic slacker rock to the Tiki stage earlier in the afternoon. Highlights included “Avant Gardener,” “History Eraser,” and a closing run through “Nobody Really Cares if You Don’t Go to the Party.”

The alternative rock band Sugar reunited last year after three decades apart and arrived on Ohana stage midafternoon, sounding like they’d never stepped away. Singer-guitarist Bob Mould handled most of the vocals on songs such as “Helpless” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” with bassist David Barbe handling “Where Diamonds Are Halos” and backing vocals throughout.

“This is our first time at Ohana,” Mould said at one point. “Everybody says it’s the best festival. They’re right.”

Ohana kicks off with surprise set from Pearl Jam and its brand-new drummer

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