Pearl Jam has reluctantly canceled a show in Austria after frontman Eddie Vedder’s throat was damaged while performing at Lollapalooza Paris earlier this month. The band announced the cancellation on social media Wednesday, revealing that Vedder’s injury occurred amid the European heat wave that’s shattered temperature records.
“To all those who were anticipating a great Pearl Jam show tonight in Vienna, we were too,” the band wrote in a statement. “However, due to the extreme circumstances at the last outdoor site outside of Paris (heat, dust, and smoke from the fires) our singer Ed Vedder’s throat was left damaged. He has seen doctors and had treatment but as of yet, his vocal cords have not recovered.”
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The band called it “brutal news” with “horrible timing” for everyone involved, from “those who work so hard to put on the shows as well as those who give their precious time and energies to attend.” Pearl Jam continued that while they are “deeply sorry” and tried to find options to play, Vedder just has “no throat available at this time.”
Pearl Jam reiterated that they are “so very, very deeply sorry,” making it clear that tickets for the show, initially scheduled at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, will be refunded at point of purchase. It’s unclear if the band will continue on with the next stop of the tour, which is scheduled for the O2 Arena in Prague on July 22. The tour’s European leg concludes July 25 in Amsterdam before Pearl Jam heads to North America in September.
At Lollapalooza Paris, Pearl Jam put on quite the show, playing 22 songs, according to the band’s website, including hits “Even Flow” and “Jeremy,” alongside performers like A$AP Rocky and Imagine Dragons who also played the festival. Pearl Jam previously made headlines this month when Vedder kicked a fan out of one of the band’s concerts, stopping the music after he saw a woman hit someone in the head before telling her off for her actions.
