When fan Carlos Zamorano flew over 7,000 miles to attend two recent Barcelona shows on Pearl Jam’s ‘Dark Matter’ world tour, he was hoping for a chance to showcase his guitar skills to Eddie Vedder. Queueing from 4 am on both nights, during the first show, he held a sign offering Vedder some Chilean wine in exchange for letting him play. While Vedder noticed the sign, he took a pass on his offer – although he did take the sign at one point, and security returned it with a note from him that said: “Keep playing.”
During the next show, Zamorano returned with another sign that read: “I swear I’m good at playing guitar” and Vedder not only recognised him but told the audience he’d had a dream about a fan asking to play with him — joking: “This guy has been asking me for a song for two days.” As Pearl Jam closed out their set and got ready to play ‘Yellow Ledbetter’, Vedder asked: “You really know how to play guitar?”
Zamorana was escorted onstage and handed a guitar by a tech, and the band launched into the 1992 hit. In various endearing clips shared by fans, the band was seen looking impressed by his technical ability as the audience cheered him on. Recalling the experience on Instagram, Zamorano wrote: “I don’t think there are any words that can convey what this moment meant to me, and the joy that seeing these images still gives me. It was a dream come true, and I really enjoyed it to the fullest.”
Earlier in the tour, the band had to cancel tour dates in London and Berlin after a health scare, something Vedder discussed during the band’s encore in Barcelona. In between performing ‘Just Breathe’ and ‘Wasted Reprise’, Vedder said: “Can I just say that the last week, it almost felt like a near-death experience. It was very uncomfortable, and it got frightening. It felt like chest bronchitis. It felt like maybe you couldn’t breathe, and maybe you wouldn’t make it through the night, and maybe you’d have to go to the hospital.”
While the cancellation of shows can be a disappointment for fans, in this case, it led to an unforgettable experience for one who was able to realise a dream of playing with their favourite band
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