A California teenager saved the day when he filled in for Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, who tested positive for COVID-19.
The band was scheduled to play Oakland Arena on Friday night but was forced to use a fill-in drummer when Cameron fell ill. It just so happened that Pearl Jam fan Kai Neukermans, 18, of Mill Valley, was able to step in.
In video footage from Friday's show, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder is seen introducing Neukermans to an excited crowd.
"Everybody, this is Kai; Kai, this is everybody!" he says before handing off the responsibility to the teen.
"You're leading the band, brother," Vedder says as the band launches into its set, which included an explosive rendition of "Mind Your Manners" from its 2013 “Lightning Bolt” album.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Neukermans is the drummer for local band The Alive, which consists of his 14-year-old brother, who plays bass, and their friend Bastian Evans, 17, who handles guitar and vocals.
When word got out that Cameron had tested positive for COVID-19, Neukermans's friends and family encouraged him to reach out to the band to offer his services. He contacted Vedder's daughter Olivia Vedder, who he met in 2018 at Ohana Fest and who said she would pass the message to the band.
"It was a last-minute thing, and I didn’t think it was going to work out," Neukermans said.
When Pearl Jam contacted him the next day asking for a video of himself drumming, Neukermans was stunned. Within an hour of submitting footage, Pearl Jam's manager asked him to show up at the stadium for rehearsals. The next day, Neukermans was seated behind a drum kit playing or a crowd of fans in a nearly 20,000-seat arena.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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