Pearl Jam Welcomes Teen Drummer Kai Neukermans In Oakland

Pearl Jam brought out teen drummer Kai Neukermans of the local band The Alive during their concert Friday night in Oakland. The show was the second at the Oakland Arena performed without drummer Matt Cameron, who tested positive for COVID-19. Touring member Josh Klinghoffer and Seattle-based drummer Richard Stuverud once again shared fill-in duties.

Pearl Jam enlisted Neukermans’ drumming skills midway through their main set. The young musician sat in on “Mind Your Manners” from 2013’s Lightning Bolt. Prior to his taking a seat behind the kit, Neukermans was introduced by frontman Eddie Vedder, who told the audience:

This is very exciting for us. I saw this group play called The Alive and they just blew my mind. They’re pretty young for how hard they can play and how much impact they had. They were playing their own songs and then they had a Metallica cover that blew doors [open]. My daughter reminded me that they’re from here in Mill Valley. We reached them this afternoon. He hasn’t graduated high school yet. I think this is the year, right? Please welcome to the stage Mill Valley’s own Kai Neukermans!

The night began with Vedder offering a solo cover of the rarely played “Throw Your Arms Around Me.” He then introduced Klinghoffer’s project Pluralone for an opening set that featured Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard sitting in, as he often has this tour.

Pearl Jam’s set saw Klinghoffer and Stuverud trading off playing drums. Klinghoffer was up first for the show opening run of “Long Road,” “Given To Fly,” “Once” and “Corduroy,” which included a portion of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive.”

Stuverud then took over drumming for a cover of Neil Young’s “Throw Your Hatred Down,” followed by “Quick Escape,” “Dissident” and “WMA,” the last of which ending with Stuverud squaring off with Klinghoffer on percussion. After the aforementioned “Mind Your Manners,” Klinghoffer was back for the rarely performed Yield song “Brain Of J” and “Low Light,” with Stuverud tagging in for “Even Flow” then tagging out for Klinghoffer to take back over on “Immorality” and “Do The Evolution.”

Stuverud then took over for “State of Love and Trust” and “Seven O’Clock,” followed by Klinghoffer’s return for “Rearviewmirror” which closed the set as guitarist Mike McCready tossed and smashed his guitar on the stage.

The encore began with Vedder accompanied by Ament on acoustic guitar performing “Bee Girl.” The rest of the band and Klinghoffer then came out for “Smile,” “Better Man” and a cover of “Crazy Mary,” which was the final song of the night with Klinghoffer on drums. Pearl Jam and Stuverud finished the concert with “Porch,” “Alive” and The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly.”

Pearl Jam’s next concert is Monday, May 16 in Fresno, California. View additional audience-shot video from Friday’s show in Oakland below:

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com