Pearl Jam Returns at Ohana Festival After Matt Cameron Exit
Pearl Jam will play its first concert since Matt Cameron left the band at ohana festival in Dana Point, California, when the 10-year anniversary event runs from Sept. 25 through Sept. 27. The booking gives the festival a headline act with a fresh lineup question attached, and it lands while ticket pre-sales are already moving.
Cameron’s July 2025 exit
Cameron left in July 2025 after 27 years with Pearl Jam. His departure changes the band’s live setup at the exact moment Ohana is using its anniversary lineup to sell a three-day weekend around Eddie Vedder’s longtime festival.
Vedder has curated Ohana since it began in 2016, which makes Pearl Jam’s appearance more than a routine festival slot. It is the first public live date for the band after one of its longest-serving members stepped away, so the Dana Point booking now carries lineup-watch value as well as ticket appeal.
McCready’s drummer search
Last month, Mike McCready said the band did not yet have a new drummer. He also said, “We’re in the process of just talking about it, and figuring out what our next move is” and added, “I don’t have anything concrete to tell you, because I don’t know right now … We move very, very slowly, and then when something happens, we move quickly.”
That leaves Ohana as the first test of how Pearl Jam presents itself after Cameron’s exit. In 2022, when Cameron had Covid, the band brought in Dave Krusen, John Klinghoffer, and Richard Stuverud to sub for him, so the group has already used outside players when circumstances forced a change.
Ohana’s 10-year lineup
The festival’s 10-year anniversary lineup also includes Eddie Vedder & Friends, Tyler Childers, Alabama Shakes, Fontaines D.C., Pixies, Rilo Kiley, Billy Idol, Jon Batiste, Maná, Bad Religion, Courtney Barnett, Sugar, the Format, Tom Odell, and Men I Trust. That spread gives the weekend a broad draw beyond Pearl Jam’s return date and keeps Vedder at the center of the event’s identity.
Ticket pre-sales are available now for members of the Ten Club, and the general pre-sale starts May 14. For anyone following Pearl Jam as a live act, the more useful detail is simple: the band is back on a festival bill before it has publicly settled its post-Cameron lineup, and Ohana is where that transition will first meet an audience.
