Noted Dad rocker Eddie Vedder and frontman of known Dad band Pearl Jam has dad-ed things up a notch during his performance at Bonnaroo over the weekend. To celebrate his daughter’s 12th birthday, Vedder invited her up on stage getting a cool 19,000 people to hold their phones up like candles.
Sure, it may be the end result of forgetting to get his daughter an actual birthday present but it’s actually a pretty cool last minute job for his oldest daughter, Olivia. Speaking to the audience, Eddie explained his plan:
“See I got a birthday cake for a girl but I didn’t get any candles,” he told the crowd of thousands. “If you light up your phones you could be the candles and when she blows them out you could turn them off.”
Video of what happened next hasn’t yet surfaced but we’re guessing it will eventually and it’ll be pretty damn special. The crowd, all 19,000 of them sang Happy Birthday to Olivia before she blew out their phone lights. Unsure if this rivals, or simply beats that one time he performed an adorable rendition of the Batman theme song with his other daughter.
Keeping things on brand, Vedder unleashed a cracker of a dad joke. Turning the topic to politics, the vocalist brought up controversial Republication nominee Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall between North America and Mexico. To which Vedder retorts:
“I was thinking about — if there’s an option … maybe we could just build a wall around him. We’d pay for it. I’d pay for it. It’d be cheap, 5 by 5. I’d like a little cinder block window in there so we could all just walk up to it once in a while and just do this (raises middle finger).”
Earlier in the year, Vedder had slammed North Carolina’s backwards thinking ‘Bathroom Bill’. While onstage he took the opportunity to slam Tennessee for contemplating a similar bill. Vedder warns lawmakers in the state that they’ll end up on the wrong side of history.
“This generation, this generation, and the ones to come they’re more tolerant, they’re more understanding, they’re more empathetic of others. And Susan you can either be part of history or you can be history. These people want you to make the right decision, am I correct?”
Other than that, by all accounts, some Pearl Jam songs were played…
An epic Saturday. Thanks for having us, @Bonnaroo!! #PJBonnaroo #PJTour2016 pic.twitter.com/fpHdH9XD0X
— Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) June 12, 2016
