Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Post Malone teamed last night (Feb. 17) at the second Reportin’ for Duty benefit concert at the 250-capacity Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tn., to perform Pearl Jam’s “Better Man,” the late Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” and a cover of the ’60s song “Last Kiss,” which became an improbable massive hit for Pearl Jam in 1999.
Earlier in the evening, Vedder covered another Petty song, “Keep Me in Your Heart,” solo acoustic and also played solo and Pearl Jam material such as “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” “Far Behind” and “Porch.” Other performers included Jelly Roll, the War and Treaty, Ruby Amanfu and Jake Wesley Rogers. Proceeds from the event will support EB Research Partnership (EBRP), which works to identify treatments and cures for the debilitating skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa.
In 2010, Vedder and his wife Jill co-founded the organization, which hosted a similar event last year at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry also held in memory of late actor and EBRP champion Leslie Jordan.
Malone is a longtime Pearl Jam fan who previously covered the band’s version of “Last Kiss” at a 2022 Rome Show. He also tackled “Better Man” during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show earlier that year. During the latter, Malone credited his brother Jordan, a Marine, for introducing him to Pearl Jam and recalled listening to “Better Man” repeatedly while on a trip to visit him in Hawaii when he was 12 or 13 years old. “He introduced me to Pearl Jam in a big fuckin’ way,” Malone said.
For Vedder, the concert came ahead of Pearl Jam’s upcoming 12th album Dark Matter, due April 19, and world tour, which begins May 4 in Vancouver. He will also lend a hand at Roger Daltrey’s Teenage Cancer trust benefit shows, which descend upon London’s Royal Albert Hall from March 18-24.
Fresh off performing “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Malone has a handful of festival appearances on tap this year, including Rolling Loud in Los Angeles on March 16, Stagecoach in Indio, Ca., on April 27 and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tn., on June 14.
