Eddie Vedder tributes Shane MacGowan, Sinead O’Connor with Warren Zevon’s 'Keep Me in Your Heart'

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder gave an emotional tribute to Shane MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor at the band’s Dublin concert.

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Pearl Jam has been on their Dark Matter World Tour for a few months now, and just kicked off the European leg in Dublin, Ireland this past Saturday. The concert was set to wrap up until singer and guitarist Eddie Vedder came back on stage for an encore, and some chats with the crowd. It was at that point he began to talk about fellow musicians Shane MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor.

As seen from fan footage of the night, Vedder is standing alone on stage as he recalled his past antics with MacGowan. “I broke into Van Morrison’s dressing room to give Shane some more beer!” he said, chuckling and strumming a song’s beginning chords. “Don’t tell Van that…But I was thinking about Shane, and I was thinking about Sinead, and I just wanna play this.”

With nothing but his rugged voice and acoustic guitar, Vedder launched into a rendition of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart”. The song is clearly a personal favorite of Vedder’s, as he’s covered it since appearing on the David Letterman show back in 2017. “Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house / Maybe you'll think of me and smile” he sang with a folky rasp. “You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse / Keep me in your heart for a while.”

Shane MacGowan of The Pogues and Sinead O’Connor are often considered the Green Island’s most legendary vocalists and activists. Both passed away just last year, O’Connor at 56 years old in July and MacGowan at 65 years in November. The two musicians were close friends, from collaborating on the song ‘Haunted’ in their careers, to weathering the storms of their personal lives. MacGowan even credited O’Connor with helping him get clean of heroin, and O’Connor named her son Shane after him. “They seemed different in the way siblings are different,” the New York Times wrote, “two musicians riffing on a shared context, picking up different threads of the same conversation.”

The Irish music scene has continued to feel their absence since both their passings, which made Vedder’s shoutout in Dublin all the more impactful. Following the concert, rock fans went on to social media to thank Vedder and the band for their tribute. “Did anyone else notice the two birds flying in a small circle above the stage at the same time as the tribute to Shane MacGowan and Sinead O'Connor?” one fan noted. “They flew off together into the distance just as the song was ending, was beautiful.”

Pearl Jam is set to continue their 2024 Dark Matter World Tour through the rest of the year with European dates through August before returning to the U.S. I nSeptember. They’ll finish things off with one show in New Zealand and three in Australia in November. See a full list of remaining tour dates here and find tickets here.

Pearl Jam - 2024 Dark Matter remaining tour dates:
Jun 29 | London, UK | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Jul 02 | Berlin, DE | Waldbühne
Jul 03 | Berlin, DE | Waldbühne
Jul 06 | Barcelona, ES | Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 08 | Barcelona, ES | Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 11** | Madrid, SE | Mad Cool Festival
Jul 13** | Lisbon, PT | NOS Alive Festival
Aug 22 | Missoula, MT | Washington-Grizzly Stadium
Aug 26* | Indianapolis, IN | Ruoff Music Center
Aug 29 | Chicago, IL | Wrigley Field
Aug 31 | Chicago, IL | Wrigley Field
Sep 03 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden
Sep 04 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden
Sep 07 | Philadelphia, PA | Wells Fargo Center
Sep 09 | Philadelphia, PA | Wells Fargo Center
Sep 12 | Baltimore, MD | CFG Bank Arena
Sep 15 | Boston, MA | Fenway Park
Sep 17 | Boston, MA | Fenway Park
Nov 08 | Auckland, NZ | Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Nov 13 | Gold Coast, AU | Heritage Bank Stadium
Nov 16 | Melbourne, AU | Marvel Stadium
Nov 21 | Sydney, AU | Giants Stadium
* Rescheduled date from 2022
** Festival dates are already on sale