Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan passed away on Tuesday (February 22). That evening, Eddie Vedder took the stage at Benaroya Hall for his second show in Seattle and emotionally paid tribute to his friend who helped pioneer the city's grunge scene.
“I got here about four o’clock and all of a sudden my body started shaking a little bit,” the Pearl Jam frontman told the audience. “I started to feel really terrible and I think it was because I was having an allergic reaction to sadness. Because we lost… there’s a guy called Mark Lanegan. You know, there are a lot of really great musicians, some people know Seattle because of the musicians that have come out of the great Northwest. Some of those guys were one of a kind singers. Mark was certainly that and with such a strong voice.”
“It’s hard to come to terms, at least at this point," he continued. "He’s gonna be deeply missed, and at least we will always have his voice to listen to and his words and his books to read, he wrote two incredible books in the last few years. Just wanted to process it and put it out there, let his wife and loved ones know that people in his old stomping grounds have been thinking about him and we love him.”
Vedder is currently on tour in support of his latest solo album Earthling. Watch him honor Lanegan above.