Pearl Jam are releasing their 12th album Dark Matter next month, which is more than enough to get some feeling nostalgic. Eddie Vedder, too, is not immune — and recently felt reminded of the punk shows of his youth by reflecting on attending Taylor Swift's Eras Tour with one of his daughters.
"Progeny of Eddie Vedder" does indeed strike me as surefire criteria for being able to afford an Eras Tour ticket, so at least that much checks out. In a new interview with MOJO Magazine, Vedder opened up about his experience congregating with the Swifties at the first tour to ever gross $1 billion USD.
“The run-up to it, making friendship bracelets with her and the generosity of these young girls and boys, trading these bracelets with different messages on them — lyrics, song titles, just acts of goodwill on these little bracelets,” the musician said of the lead-up to the concert and the atmosphere surrounding it. “They had found their tribe; they were all agreeing on something.”
Despite the gross misuse of the word "tribe," his point has been made. "The craziest thing was," Vedder added, "it reminded me of punk rock crowds, of being aligned with all of the misfits in our town, back in the day. It was galvanizing and powerful.”
Based on that recent viral video of a fan sobbing in the parking lot outside the stadium where Swift was performing in Sydney, Australia, when the pop star started playing "exile" last month, "galvanizing and powerful" might even be an understatement.
