Pearl Jam Dusts Off Kiss Cover For First Time Since 2008 In Rome

Pearl Jam‘s European Tour continued on Tuesday night at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, where the band had a special treat in store as part of their encore. Drummer Matt Cameron handled vocals on the Seattle rockers’ first cover of “Black Diamond” by Kiss since June 25, 2008.

The bust out came towards the end of a 36-song performance from Pearl Jam that spanned over three hours. Frontman Eddie Vedder led the group on a show filled with classic material including seven songs from their debut album Ten. Tuesday’s concert also had a smattering of covers such as a quick take on Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” and a more fleshed out “Comfortably Numb.” Additionally, Vedder sang the tour’s first version of “Imagine” by John Lennon.

Eddie took a moment during the first encore to tell the crowd, “It’s not the first time in the history of the group but it might only be the second. It’s a rare occurrence, but tonight … on the vocals we have Mr. Matt Cameron taking over on this one.” With that guitarist Mike McCready played and sang the intro to the early Kiss favorite “Black Diamond” before Cameron took over. Vedder was off in that last night’s “Black Diamond” was the third sung by Matt Cameron at a Pearl Jam show. The first took place at The Vic Theatre in Chicago on August 2, 2007 and the second went down at Madison Square Garden with special guest Ace Frehley on June 25, 2008.

Watch fan-shot footage of “Black Diamond” captured by PearlJamOnLine: