Pearl Jam did not treat 25 September 2026 as an ordinary festival booking. The band played Ohana Festival at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point under a bill that had been announced as Eddie Vedder and Friends, then turned it into a full Pearl Jam show. The night mattered because it was the first public performance with Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums after Matt Cameron’s exit.
The surprise carried the weekend. A billed solo slot became a band set, and the reveal, more than the running order, set the tone for the rest of the festival.
The set ran through Corduroy, Hail Hail, Scared of Fear, Wishlist and Dark Matter. Laboriel Jr. played his first show with the band across that material. Nothing in the song choices pointed to a reinvention; the band leaned on continuity instead.
The crowd reacted to the drummer before he played a note, chanting Abe! as he moved to the kit. The approval came quickly, and it mixed curiosity with plain familiarity.
The set lasted about ninety minutes. That length suited the occasion: enough songs to answer the lineup question, and no room for anything sprawling.
For a hard rock audience, the interesting part is how a band this size handled a lineup change in public. Pearl Jam made the switch visible and let the songs carry it. The night ends up defined by transition rather than spectacle.
