Pearl Jam address illness that forced show cancellations “felt like a near-death experience”

Pearl Jam kicked off their world tour recently, of which New Zealand is a stop in November but was unfortunately forced to cancel dates across late June and early July due to lead singer Eddie Vedder becoming ill.

On Saturday (July 6), the band returned to the stage in Barcelona, Spain, touring in support of their new album, Dark Matter. At the encore of that show, Vedder customarily walked out to perform an acoustic song by himself. This time, it was "Just Breathe," after which he addressed the crowd, and described his illness

“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 and maybe you'd...," Edder described

Vedder continued "A few of us... it just felt... You just realize how precious this life is, how lucky we are to have been living on a planet where we can go around and play to incredible people like the people in this room here tonight," his voice trembling a bit as he struggles to gather his thoughts. "So, it was a poignant experience. I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon. And we won’t be forgetting tonight anytime soon.”

A fan filmed the address and we’ll chuck the video below!