Eddie Vedder performs ‘The Seeker’ with The Who
Eddie Vedder joined forces with The Who at a private cancer benefit in Los Angeles last weekend, where the Pearl Jam frontman helped perform an acoustic rendition of the group’s 1970 single ‘The Seeker’.
‘The Seeker’ was the first single released after the success of The Who’s rock opera Tommy. The track explores the difficulty of retaining one’s artistic integrity after achieving huge success. Pete Townshend would later reveal that part of the song was written while he was drunkenly wandering through a swamp in Florida.
Townshend also went on to claim that the was never a massive fan of the single, conceding: “It sounded great in the mosquito-ridden swamp I made it up in – Florida at three in the morning, drunk out of my mind. But that’s where the trouble always starts, in the swamp.”
Introducing the song, Roger Daltry – who has also spoken of his ambiguous relationship with ‘The Seeker’ – explained that he wouldn’t be doing the “very loud scream” on the basis that he couldn’t “get my balls to drop any further at the moment.” He subsequently asked the audience to fill in the gaps.
Eddie Vedder has previously covered ‘The Seeker’ as a solo artist and with Pearl Jam. He’s been vocal about his love of The Who, so appearing with the band live must have really made his year. The performance was for the benefit of Teen Cancer America, the American branch of Roger Daltrey and Petre Townshends’s UK charity Teenage Cancer Trust.
The two musicians are also set to auction off a signed guitar to raise money for the charity’s Play It Back Music Program. The winner will be selected randomly on December 6th.
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