This has been a good week for all-star collaborations on stage.
On Wednesday, as part of a tribute to Levon Helm, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket and former Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters teamed for a take on The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Meanwhile, across the country, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder sat in with Kings of Leon to sing their tune “The Bucket.”
The fan-shot video of the former collaboration features Waters and MMJ frontman Jim James trading the verses originally sung by Helm. Too bad they’re virtually drowned out by an endlessly wailing saxophone (never a good idea).
Watch it here:
The performance was part of an all-star tribute to Helm, who passed away earlier this year.
“Love For Levon” also included John Mayer, Grace Potter, Mike Gordon (from Phish), Allen Toussaint, John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, Jakob Dylan, Bruce Hornsby, John Prine, Mavis Staples, and Helm’s bandmate from The Band, Garth Hudson. It was held in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and culminated in a huge ensemble version of The Band’s legendary “The Weight.”
Meanwhile, a somewhat less starry but still significant collaboration occurred at a San Francisco show, where Kings of Leon had another special guest join them for their hit “The Bucket” Wednesday night.
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder stepped up to the mic for some Springsteen-esque vocals, but the below video only captured 19 seconds of it.
Watch:
Bassist Jared Followill tweeted, “Great show in San Fran with Pearl Jam. Eddie came up and sang The Bucket with us. Always an honor to share the stage with them. #Heros.”