Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder was already scheduled to join a host of major names at the March 24 finale of this year’s Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert series, but he got in on the action a few days early last night (March 20) during the Who‘s set at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Vedder guested with longtime Teenage Cancer Trust curator Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and company for a performance of “The Punk and the Godfather” from the Who’s Quadrophenia, and bounded onstage uttering “I love you Roger. I love you Pete” as his microphone check. The artist has appeared several times at past benefits for Teenage Cancer Trust and is also hosting a listening party for Pearl Jam’s new album Dark Matter today in London.
Daltrey is passing his curatorial baton after this year’s series, which features Robert Plant, the Chemical Brothers, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Squeeze, among others. Teenage Cancer Trust says Daltrey has helped it raise $40 million over the past two decades, with those funds serving as “the foundation for the 28 specialized units within the NHS, as well as specialist nurses and youth workers, to be there for a young person when cancer has turned their world upside down.”
The concerts continue tonight with Gallagher and special guest Blossoms, Young Fathers tomorrow, the Chemical Brothers on the 23rd and the heavy-hitting roster of Daltrey, Vedder, Plant, Paul Weller and Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones on the 24th.
