Pearl Jam gave their hit cover of Wayne Cochran’s “Last Kiss” an unexpected twist at Ohana Festival over the weekend, when Eddie Vedder’s youngest daughter, Harper, joined the band to mash up the song with Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day.” Watch the performance below.
The band kicked off the encore of their Sunday set with Vedder introducing his daughter. “We’ve had so much diversity on both these stages in the last few days,” he said. “We just had special guest Andrew Watt playing guitar on ‘Rearviewmirror,’ but I realized it had been a while since we had a powerful young woman up onstage with us. And so my pal Harper here is going to help me out.”
Then, Pearl Jam launched into what seemed like a conventional cover of Cochran’s 1961 song “Last Kiss.” After the chorus, however, Harper joined in to deliver the opening lines of Fearless cut “The Best Day.”
The father-daughter duo continued switching between the “Last Kiss” chorus and “The Best Day,” with the bridge of “I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger,” taking on a special meaning.
Pearl Jam originally released their “Last Kiss” cover as a fan club exclusive in 1998, but the song unexpectedly caught on at radio stations when they began airing it. The track was released as a charity single for refugees of the Kosovo War the following year and peaked at No. 2 as the band’s highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Earlier this year, Vedder spoke about attending one of Swift’s “Eras Tour” concerts and compared her fans to the “punk rock crowds” of his youth. Pearl Jam’s Ohana sets served as the final dates on their North American tour, but they’re headed to New Zealand and Australia in November. Get tickets here.
Meanwhile, Swift is set to embark on the final run of the “Eras Tour,” with upcoming dates in Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto, and Vancouver. Get last-minute tickets here.