{"id":73609,"date":"2026-09-26T13:04:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/26\/did-paul-mccartneys-longtime-drummer-just-join-pearl-jam-2\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T13:04:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:04:45","slug":"did-paul-mccartneys-longtime-drummer-just-join-pearl-jam-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/26\/did-paul-mccartneys-longtime-drummer-just-join-pearl-jam-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Paul McCartney&#8217;s Longtime Drummer Just Join Pearl Jam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/pearl-jam\/\">Pearl Jam<\/a>\u00a0performed with longtime <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/paul-mccartney\/\">Paul McCartney<\/a> drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. last night &#8211; but the group did not confirm that he was their new full-time drummer.<\/p>\n<p>Early into his solo set at the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California on Friday night, <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/eddie-vedder\/\">Eddie Vedder<\/a> surprised the crowd by bringing out all of his Pearl Jam bandmates, along with Laboriel.<\/p>\n<p>Together they played 15 songs, beginning with the <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/pearl-jam-vitalogy\/\"><em>Vitalogy<\/em><\/a> gem &#8220;Corduroy.&#8221;\u00a0You can watch fan-shot video of that performance below.<\/p>\n<p>According to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2512693\/pearl-jam-reveal-new-drummer-at-ohana-festival\/news\">Stereogum<\/a><\/em>, Vedder introduced Laboriel as &#8220;filling in&#8221; during the show, rather than formally announcing him as the band&#8217;s new drummer. Pearl Jam is scheduled to perform at the festival again on Sunday night.<\/p>\n<p>Laboriel has been a member of McCartney&#8217;s live band since 2001, in addition to performing with <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/sting\/\">Sting<\/a>, Steve Vai and <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/eric-clapton\/\">Eric Clapton<\/a>. He also performed on Vedder&#8217;s 2022 solo album <em>Earthling<\/em>, and played live with him during the singer&#8217;s 2023 Ohana set.<\/p>\n<p>If Laboriel is Pearl Jam&#8217;s new full-time drummer, he replaces Matt Cameron, who joined the group in 1998 and performed on every one of their studio albums since 2000&#8217;s <em>Binaural<\/em>. He also served as <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/soundgarden\/\">Soundgarden<\/a>&#8216;s drummer from 1986 until their initial breakup in 1997.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/matt-cameron-splits-with-pearl-jam-after-27-years-statements-issued\/\">Matt Cameron Leaves Pearl Jam, Both Sides Issue Statements<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cameron served simultaneously as both band&#8217;s drummer after Soundgarden got back together in 2010, a reunion that was sadly ended by singer <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/chris-cornell\/\">Chris Cornell<\/a>&#8216;s 2017 <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/chris-cornell-death-one-year-later\/\">death<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tsm-clipoard-container\">\n<p>&#8220;[Matt] has propelled the last 27 years of Pearl Jam live shows and studio recordings. It was a deeply important chapter for our group and we wish him well always,&#8221; the band said in a statement announcing his departure. &#8220;He will be deeply missed and is forever our friend in art and music. We love you Matt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pearl Jam played their last with Cameron as their drummer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/pearl-jam\/2025\/ppg-paints-arena-pittsburgh-pa-2b5fcc06.html\" target=\"_blank\">on May 18 in Pittsburgh<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Watch Pearl Jam with Abe Laboriel Jr. Perform &#8216;Corduroy&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"photogallery-wrapper blog-photogallery \">\n<h2 class=\"photogallery-title\">Pearl Jam Albums Ranked <\/h2>\n<div class=\"photogallery-description\">\n<p>They survived the grunge era to become one of the great rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll bands of the new century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"photogallery-credit\">Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/rest\/carbon\/api\/scripts.js?mver=164&#038;gver=10&#038;bid=295&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fbtloader.com%2Ftag%3Fo%3D5642230212591616%26upapi%3Dtrue&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.p-n.io%2Fpushly-sdk.min.js%3Fdomain_key%3DmxuuNIMSzp6MHphJEoAGlLFQ3qmwQguzkGZl&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Ftownsquare.media%2Fpublic%2Fresources%2Fjs%2Fpubcid.min.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fplatform.twitter.com%2Fwidgets.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fapis.google.com%2Fjs%2Fplatform.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fconnect.facebook.net%2Fen_US%2Fsdk.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.pinterest.com%2Fjs%2Fpinit.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" async defer data-osano=\"ESSENTIAL\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/pearl-jam-abe-laboriel\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pearl Jam\u00a0performed with longtime Paul McCartney drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. last night &#8211; but the group did not confirm that he was their new&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rock","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}