Eddie Vedder Surprises Montana Crowd With Special Acoustic Performance Of “Just Breathe” With Lukas Nelson

The dream duo. Last night, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder surprised the crowd in Missoula, Montana during their headlining show at Washington-Grizzly Stadium at the University of Montana as part of their current 2024 Dark Matter World Tour. And they had a very special guest join them onstage for "Just Breathe," as Vedder introduced Lukas Nelson , who did a stunning cover with his father Willie many years ago for his 2012 Heroes album, saying: "Alright, we have a special guest. He was on his way to play in Jackson, Wyoming, he went out of his way to come by and stop here. I'm very, very happy to introduce him and get to play this song with him. Mr. Lukas Nelson, please join us. Ladies and gentlemen, Lukas! Look, I can tell you that arguably one of the most powerful... poignant moments I've ever experienced as some kind of songwriter was when Lukas and his pop, Willie, did a version of this song and brought a whole new meaning to it. So Lukas, I just wanna tell you, it's an honor to play this song with you tonight." Lukas humbly responded: "The honor is mine." “Just Breathe” was originally released in 2009 as the second single from Pearl Jam’s ninth studio album, Backspacer. A solo write by frontman Eddie Vedder, it peaked at #6 on the U.S. Billboard Alternative chart, which makes it the band’s highest-charting follow-up single since “Wishlist” in 1998. I’ve always loved this song so much, and Lukas has a beautiful rendition with his father Willie Nelson, but hearing him sing it with the original songwriter in Eddie Vedder is beyond cool... plus, the fact that is was a simply acoustic performance just does it fro me and I can't get enough. And actually, on an old episode of Willie’s Roadhouse , Vedder likened their rendition to: “Smoking a great joint without all the coughing or the smoke.” A great comparison when it comes to Nelson covers, indeed... Eddie also told Willie what an unbelievable honor it was to have him sing that song, even going so far is to call it his own: “Best contribution to music so far.” I tend to agree, and I have to say that I'm quite jealous of all the fans in Montana who got to witness this in person. What a moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqYi-MyyXA The Willie/Lukas duet, which is an all-time great cover in my very humble opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-Cx9IX4So&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE "Just Breathe" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7ioE4wRil8