Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder says his first Taylor Swift show “reminded me of punk crowds”

Eddie Vedder has said that taking his daughter to a Taylor Swift show reminded him of being with “the misfits” at punk rock shows as a kid. 

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The Pearl Jam frontman said that he was struck by passion and inclusivity of the Swifties when he accompanied one of his daughters to the show, and compared it with the community in which he grew up. 

In an interview with Mojo, Vedder recalled the “galvanising and powerful” energy that united the audience, and spoke about “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 good will on these little bracelets.” 

Vedder was born in Illinois, and spent his teenage years between San Diego and Chicago, where he became strongly attached to the respective local punk scenes, joining the bands Surf and Destroy, Indian Style and Bad Radio. As he explained, he can see similarities to those days in Swiftie culture. 

“They had found their tribe, they were all agreeing on something,” he said. “The craziest thing was it reminded me of punk rock crowds, of being aligned with all of the misfits in our town, back in the day.” 

Pearl Jam announced their new album ‘Dark Matter’ in February and released its title track and lead single. The album will be out on April 19 and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. 

The band have also announced a huge world tour that will cover North America, the UK, Europe and Australia, running from June to November. 

Included in the tour are two huge UK shows, at Manchester’s Co-Op Live on June 25 and London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 29. Any remaining tickets for the UK can be found here, and for US shows here. 

Last month, Vedder teamed up with Post Malone at a benefit concert in Tennessee, playing Pearl Jam’s ‘Better Man’ and Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’. 

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