When the lineup for 2026’s Ohana Festival, held at Dana Point, California’s Doheny State Park, was announced, Pearl Jam fans rejoiced that the band would headline the final night. In 2025, after the group’s short North American tour wrapped up in Pittsburgh, drummer Matt Cameron announced he would be departing. The original consternation from hardcore fans turned into a big mystery when they revealed the drummer at the festival, rather than announcing Cameron’s replacement beforehand.
Having seen Cameron’s final show with Pearl Jam, I thought it would be equally memorable to see their live return with a new drummer, and I planned to attend Ohana Festival on Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately missing the festival founder and Pearl Jam lead singer, Eddie Vedder & Friends headlining set. It was an even bigger miss because Vedder, through sleight of hand, invited his Pearl Jam bandmates on stage and revealed the new drummer, Abe Laboriel Jr. Vedder thanked Paul McCartney for sharing his drummer with them (after Ohana was complete, a post Vedder made on social media left Laboriel Jr.’s place in the band uncertain).
Missing Friday didn’t put a damper on the rest of the tenth anniversary Ohana festival weekend. It was fortunate the festival went on at all, given that Tropical Storm Marie (which hit southern California a few weeks earlier) caused some Dana Point houses to tumble into the ocean and resulted in so much erosion that another beachfront festival, Ocean Way, was cancelled entirely. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, a nor’easter cancelled festivals from Maryland to New York at least the same weekend as Ohana. Attendees were treated to a lineup that featured Tyler Childers (Saturday’s headliner), Fontaines D.C., Pixies, Maná, Billy Idol, Rilo Kiley and more.
Saturday at Ohana Festival was hot. Scant palm trees and a few shaded areas offered some respite, but there was no avoiding the sun when watching the music. Jake Wesley Rogers kicked things off on the Tiki Stage with an acoustic set and joked, “You could fry a piece of fish on this guitar right now.” His set featured a couple of covers, including Dolly Parton‘s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” and “Pluto” with guest Olivia Vedder (Eddie’s daughter), a song about feeling like an outsider. He also played a stirring new song, “Broken Violins”, with his voice soaring over the crowd.
Marlon Funaki was another discovery but likely familiar to Angeleno’s, as he hails from nearby. Funaki played a mellow rock set, including songs like “Under Fire”, “Why Can’t You Be Mine”, and “Red Hearts” that got the crowd grooving.
The two best sets of Saturday came before the sun finally set. Stephen Wilson Jr. filled a 40-minute slot with five songs, most notably his opus “Gary”, which saw him run into the crowd and a cover of Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike”, on which Vedder joined him to reprise his part on the original. Wilson Jr. has a gritty, raw voice, kind of like Chris Cornell, though maybe not the octave range. It didn’t affect the song’s power, though, and everyone applauded.
Jon Batiste gave the most impressive performance of the weekend, showcasing New Orleans jazz (“When the Saints…”), transforming a wide variety of classical pieces, protest anthems and rock melodies into a medley that included Tom Petty‘s “I Won’t Back Down” and the powerful “Hallelujah”, where he asked the audience to point one finger in the air and sing along. While Batiste didn’t run out into the crowd, he did dedicate “If You’re Happy and You Know It” to a two-year-old he knew, adding a wonderful bit of levity to the genre-defying set.
Before Sunday’s final stretch, a potential tragedy paused Rilo Kiley’s set. The band appeared unnerved as a person possibly overdosed in the crowd. The crowd density made it hard to get a professional medical response quickly. Having only been at Ohana for a day and a half, I was already concerned about how dense the field could get, but this moment was decisive. Ohana Festival lacks designated pathways across the field and should include them in future iterations.
Sunday was a bit cooler than Saturday with a breeze. London band Villanelle joked that they had never seen the sun before. Other memorable moments included Vedder joining Pixies for “Wave of Mutilation”, Linka Moja’s cover of Cranberries’ “Zombie” and asking men to bark for her before “Men Are Dogs”, Australian Ecca Vandal’s aggressive punk energy and Fontaines D.C.’s post-punk blitz that previewed songs from their forthcoming record Dopamine Chamber, like “Marianne” and “Six Shot Morning”, and their shout-out to “Free Palestine”.
In the month Macklemore made headlines for supporting Palestine and then being removed from his opening slot, I found it strange that similar remarks from bands like Fontaines D.C. were few and far between. However, Vedder voiced strong support for artists’ right to free speech during Pearl Jam’s set.
All the bands performing, “any of ’em with a microphone were allowed to say whatever they wanted about any issue they wanted, and that’s part of free speech. This is part of free speech, and that’s even more important now that they’re trying to shut down some of the press. You’re more than welcome to use these microphones to have or start a conversation or a thought process. This is all because we trust you.”
Before playing their first note, Vedder and band shared a video tribute to the late Glen Hansard with the audience. Clips of Hansard’s moments from Ohana’s past played—humble appreciation, many introductions from Vedder, their collaborations, and snippets of songs like “Say It to Me Now” and “Song of Good Hope”. The audience was in tears. It’s rare for a festival to create a beautiful moment out of collective grief, but Ohana did it superbly. The band then flowed onto the mournful “Long Road”, before transforming and soaring into “Given to Fly”.
Pearl Jam’s set continued to lean heavily on early-career favorites, including “Jeremy”, “Why Go”, and “Better Man”, all of which let Laboriel Jr. show the might of his swing and kick. In comparison, the latter’s phrase “can’t find a better man” was dedicated to the drummer. Billy Strings joined the group to perform “Elderly Woman” and a cover of Neil Young‘s “Throw Your Hatred Down” before returning near the end for “Rockin’ in the Free World”. Pearl Jam may not know whether Laboriel Jr. will be their full-time drummer, but the Ohana Festival sets showed he’s more than capable of bringing power to their powerful catalog.
