In Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival, EDDIE VEDDER says he risked DYING during stage climbing stunt, miraculously SURVIVED.
While Pearl Jam still manage to put on a great show, they are not nearly as wild as they were back in the day. If you were lucky enough to catch the legendary grunge band in the early ‘90s, you may have seen one of Eddie Vedder’s most famous stunts.
During outdoor shows, the frontman would climb the stage’s scaffolding in the middle of the band’s set. Microphone in hand, Vedder would sing while hanging from the top of the stage, and would often dive straight into the crowd.
While fun to watch for fans, Vedder’s antics became a bit of a liability when Pearl Jam took part in the traveling music festival Lollapalooza in 1992. During that tour, the musician increased the danger level of the adrenaline-fueled stunt every time he survived it.
In the new book “Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival” by authors Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour, Vedder recalled fearlessly climbing the scaffolding on those temporary stages.
“Over the gigs, it got higher and higher,” he said. “You’d do one, and then you’d notch it up because you survived the last one.”
While he was never seriously injured, his crazy antics didn’t leave him completely unscathed. “I’d take a shower and realize I had, like, a thousand deep scratches on my back,” Vedder remembered.
