Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Chad Smith Drops In On Pearl Jam Concert At The Forum

Pearl Jam loaded the stage last night for the penultimate song of their second of two shows at The Kia Forum. Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith took over Josh Klinghoffer‘s auxillary drum kit, Dark Matter producer Andrew Watt played guitar and the members of opening act Deep Sea Diver took various postions as they joined Pearl Jam on raucous cover of Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ In The Free World” at the arena outside Los Angeles.

Frontman Eddie Vedder foreshadowed L.A. resident Chad Smith’s appearance earlier in the night when he spoke to the crowd about drummers. Vedder noted Smith was in the house as was former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons. The vocalist also mentioned a photo of late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins hung in the backstage hallway of the historic venue before heaping praise on his own drummer, Matt Cameron.

Pearl Jam are now eight shows into their Dark Matter World Tour and are still digging deep into the massive catalog. Five 2024 premieres were played on Wednesday one night after the group scattered nine tour debuts into the setlist on Tuesday at The Forum. All five came within last night’s 17-song main set.

Eddie Vedder dedicated the “Long Road” opener to his Uncle John, who passed away 10 years prior. Vedder told the audience of the huge role his uncle had in making him the man he is today. Pearl Jam followed a few songs later with the tour’s first version of Vs. (1993) gem “Go.” Then, after reeling off the first three tracks from Dark Matter in the order they appear on the album, the band rolled through 2024 debuts “Untitled,” “MFC” and “All Those Yesterdays.” The latter two both appear on Pearl Jam’s 1998 LP Yield.

The run of three consecutive tour debuts was followed by the beloved “Even Flow” and Vedder talking drummers. Pearl Jam later went on to dust off Vitalogy (1994) standout “Corduroy” for the first time this year before capping the main set with “Porch.”

Eddie Vedder used Tom Petty’s guitar and dedicated a cover of “I Won’t Back Down” to the late rock icon at the start of last night’s encore. Chad Smith, Andrew Watt and Deep Sea Diver emerged a few songs later for the aforementioned “Rockin’ In The Free World.” Pearl Jam closed the show as they have each 2024 performance by looking to Dark Matter for “Setting Sun.”

Watch fan-shot video of “Rockin’ In The Free World” and last night’s tour debuts below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR0kBcJAzcw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cog2J65274 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0_wPs5ssfo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wduYtK-9Qr0