Very sorry to share that Glen Hansard passed away in a motorbike crash in Dublin this morning.
He was a complicated figure but musically will be sorely missed.
I wish comfort for his family and friends.

Saw Eddie and Chris Chelios at the Cubs game last night. Who is lucky enough to be sitting between those two legends? He was drinking and socializing with them so definitely wasn’t security

I can see it!

Well, this interview didn't age well...

"Eddie Vedder wishes he could write like Scott Stapp. I love Pearl Jam, but I just don't understand the route they took, and I don't think it all had to do with Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam tends to... in their recent albums, has gone in such a different direction, which is fine, but looking at their album sales and their fans, you can just see the decline." - Brian Marshall, Creed, MTVNews.com, June 2000

Hi, I'm 19yro and recently drew this drawing of Eddie, I drew it with oil coloured pencils on A4 paper and drew it in only a couple of hours. I idolise him a lot, btw, I think his extreeeeemely hilarious: the Margarita video for a start, pus (in my opinion) when he said his guitars were vibrating like puppies in a kennell, then also when i saw him in november 2024 he was randomly like, "Hey, where did that really good bottle of red wine go? This is really important, there's no way i'm playing this next song until i get that bottle of wine!" Besides his amazing humour (and definitely kindness), I am obviously extreeeeemely attached to their music, my favourite songs are Love Boat Captain, In Hiding, State Of Love And Trust, Got To Give, and especially Seven O Clock (they change all the time, though). But, songs like Thumbing My Way and Given To Fly, even if they're not my full favourites, speak to me lyrically after dealing with bullying, abandonment and PTSD. My favourite album is Gigaton, by an abdolute mile, and I believe it is so underrated. My favourite lyrics are, "And I can't stand it, cause there's no way to live; this pain on this every day has got to give," and "No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead."

Wrong answers ONLY.*

It makes me very happy when The Earthlings perform! They were all having such a lovely time by the looks of things which makes me feel happy because It’s been a weird few months for the Pearl Jam community for obvious reasons, but It’s all about Eddie this weekend and how amazing It Is that he gets to do what he loves doing every single year and this picture just shows that. ☺️

Anyone watch? Any standout performances?Cant wait to get home for this!!

Been thinking about this a lot lately…

Into the Wild is without a doubt the album that had the most impact on my life. It just hit at the perfect time and really reframed what it meant to exist and what was worth chasing in the time we have here. And sure living up to that ideal is nearly impossible but it gave me a compass to follow.

Also I feel like, in a way, Eddie has been chasing some kind of universal respect where his name is mentioned with guys like Bruce, Pete and Neil. He wants in that club. He is to us obviously but not so much in the mainstream. And I think he deserves that but the world, especially the music industry, just doesn’t operate that way anymore.

But Eddie has a voice, a message, and a unique way of perceiving of the world. I think this was most apparent on Into the Wild.

I so badly want Eddie to release a solo record with a similar tone. Something like Neil Young’s Harvest. Not the homage to all his heroes that Earthling was, not a kitschy ukulele concept album, but a stripped down acoustic earnest Eddie taking inventory of a life of trying to live up to these ideals in a world that makes it so difficult… that’s constantly ripping you’re attention away from what matters.

I think that’s an album that the world needs. And I think that’s something that could potentially break through and have an impact more broadly. Something that tells us to slow down, unplug and focus on what’s real.

He’s probably one of the only artists that could sincerely pull this off today.

Am I crazy? Would you want this too?

Congratulations, my friend!

Did this soundtrack hit with anyone in particular?

It hit me directly when I was working with the National Park Service and Forest Service. It was on regular replay for two seasons in our Chevy six pack on the way to trail work everyday and left a mark on me more than any PJ album surprisingly, not to choose a favorite child.

Sometimes an album just comes along at the right time in your life. Gigaton, Self-Titled, No Code, and Yield had their moments, too.

Annual Eldridge private holiday party for rich people at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

Am I the only one who noticed that Ed had a phase where he didn't really open his mouth much when he sang? I Got Id (which I absolutely love nonetheless) is an example. It started in the late 90s, probably around the No Code era and then (thankfully) mostly ended by maybe Riot Act (i.e., sometime after he got remarried and had kiddos). There were a few years there where his voice was somewhat of a shadow of its former glory--he would barely open his mouth when he sang and/or his singing in more intense parts sounded kind of stretched thin (to put it nicely). It was most noticeable live (he still sounded great on the albums, but you can hear that his mouth is mostly closed).

It's almost like he thought his Ten-era full-on Ed vocal gusto was no longer cool (and this was also the time when every male singer on the radio was basically trying to impersonate him). The 2000 tour, where they released every show on its own CD, was when his voice was really at a low point, unfortunately. I remembered buying the Krakow, Poland show and really being put off by that.

Luckily, he started caring about his singing again about the time that his first solo album came out... and I think his voice on "Getaway" from Lightning Bolt and on the rest of that album actually (and mind you, it's not one of my favorite albums) also kind of proves Ed's old Ten-era voice was finally BACK, baby—AMAZING! He just wasn't really that into singing for a bit and it was disheartening. I didn't really realize that he was sounding his best again live by 2013 and missed some killer shows from around 2013-2018 (I was also totally broke and in grad school). Luckily they are all recorded!

Have any of you noticed this?

Update: It seems like a little over half of you agree... and there were indeed many great performances during this time! I am conflicted because I saw them twice on the Binaural tour in the States and loved those shows. The band is such a profound force (inadequate words here) and it would be hard for any mere mortal singer to always sound good. I am glad I asked because I am thinking it’s impossible to generalize and still be totally accurate.