Eddie Vedder’s original idea in creating the Ohana Festival was to make a rock festival feel more like a family gathering. Last weekend's edition, the fest's 10th, may have been the purest version of that vision to date.
Over the three days (9/25, 9/26, 9/27) at the Doheny State Beach behind the Orange curtain, Vedder was everywhere once again.
He opened the beachside festival by himself, he popped into other artists’ sets, he gave love to a fallen friend, then he upgraded the billed "Eddie Vedder & Friends" performance into a full blown surprise Pearl Jam concert, and then two nights later he and his Seattle band closed the whole thing down.
Along the way, one of today's greatest guitarists, Billy Strings, wound up becoming one of the weekend’s biggest guests.
Vedder kicked off the festival on Friday afternoon with a surprise ukulele rendition of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”
Later he turned up during Bad Religion’s set for “American Jesus,” the Recipe for Hate (1993) banger.
Fun fact: Vedder originally sang backing vocals on the track, but his contribution was uncredited.
That appearance continued a sweet tradition Vedder has developed at his own festival.
Entering the weekend, Vedder had made 19 guest appearances with 18 different acts over Ohana’s first nine years. By Sunday night he had added three more: Bad Religion on Friday, Stephen Wilson Jr. on Saturday and Pixies on Sunday.
For those of us of a certain age, Saturday’s guest spot was especially powerful. Stephen Wilson Jr., who last year released a covers EP called Blankets where he covered Nirvana’s “Something In The Way,” The Postal Service’s “Clark Gable,” The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight.”
On that EP is also a cover of Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike,” which he closed his set with. Wilson took on Chris Cornell’s part and then Vedder walked on stage and did his lines. Chills. Smiles. Goosebumps.
"We're gonna do a little nautical song by the beach," Pixies frontman Black Francis said on Sunday.
Then he introduced "the host with the most," Eddie, who joined the quartet for “Wave of Mutilation,” from their perfect album Doolittle (1989).
Now let's go back to Friday. On opening night, Vedder started his Eddie Vedder & Friends set acoustically, including the fan favorites “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and “Far Behind.”
Simon Good joined him for Glen Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope,” played as a tribute to Ed's good friend and collaborator, who passed away this summer. Billy Idol helped out on The Who’s “I’m One,” after that Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament came out for “Bee Girl.”
Dramatically, when Vedder began picking “Corduroy," on a Telecaster, he stopped and said he could use some friends to join him.
"Like I would need some really good friends," he said to the delight of the audience. "Do I got any extra friends back there?"
The curtain behind him dropped, and lo: Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Ament and longtime Paul McCartney drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. What had been advertised as Eddie Vedder & Friends had suddenly become Pearl Jam’s first performance since Matt Cameron left the group in 2025.
And together they played a full 15-song set that concluded with a four song encore which included the Dead Boys cover "Sonic Reducer" and The Who's "Baba O'Riley."
Two nights later PJ was back at it for their announced finale, and thats when the young guitar slinger waited in the wings.
Strings was in town after rocking The Forum in Inglewood the night before, where he covered Mother Love Bone’s “Crown of Thorns” among others. It was his off day and en route south to his gig in San Diego on Monday, so why not join the fun?
“Two years ago, I met a young man who graced the Ohana stage and I’ve been following him ever since,” Vedder said.
Together they played “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” on acoustic guitars.
Ed then told the crowd a fun fact about the Midwesterner: that in 4th grade Strings played a Pearl Jam song in the school talent show. Surprise: he won.
All grown up now, the jovial guitar hero strapped on an electric guitar for Neil Young’s “Throw Your Hatred Down,” the Mirror Ball (1995) track Young recorded with Pearl Jam 31 years ago.
Pearl Jam's set ended with their traditional cover of Young's "Rockin in the Free World," which Billy helped out on.
For now there are no more Pearl Jam gigs on the calendar for 2026. Those two shows it turns out were the only ones for the year. Eddie has two solo dates in November in Brazil lined up, which is nice.
Billy however is on the road for his Fall Tour.
Get tickets off his website while you can because those babies won't be around forever.
Billy Strings Fall 2026 Tour
10/2 Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
10/3 Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
10/6 Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, OR
10/9 Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett, WA
10/10 Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett, WA
10/20 Tivoli Theatre, Chattanooga, TN
10/21 Tivoli Theatre, Chattanooga, TN
10/23 The Orion Amphitheater, Huntsville, AL
10/24 The Orion Amphitheater, Huntsville, AL
10/30 CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, MD
10/31 CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, MD
11/20 DCU Center, Worcester, MA — with Trey Anastasio
11/21 DCU Center, Worcester, MA — with Trey Anastasio
12/4 Saenger Theatre, New Orleans, LA
12/5 Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
12/9 Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, Sugar Land, TX
12/11 Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX
12/12 Moody Center, Austin, TX
