At Eddie Vedder’s second Seattle show: Macklemore’s cape, Tom Petty’s guitar and a baseball

As he did the night before, Vedder seemed to revel in intimately engaging with the audience, which included many familiar faces from the EBRP community in town for a summit preceding the benefit shows... Throughout his charitable twin gigs, it was abundantly clear how much the EBRP community and the push to find a cure for the rare, life-threatening condition mean to Vedder. The Vedders cofounded the nonprofit in 2010 with family friends whose son was born with EB. “It’s so special to be playing for a purpose, and the purpose being this incredible mission,” he said. “To have the doctors and researchers and scientists and activists and donors — and the families that have shown us all such courage — to be with you this week has been extremely powerful.” Walking the Seattle walk, Vedder and the extended Pearl Jam family have helped set the tone among our civic-minded homegrown luminaries for using their position to contribute something to the greater community, whether it’s fighting homelessness in Seattle or being part of a worldwide effort to cure what Vedder previously termed an “insidious” disease. It’s a Seattle legacy that artists like Macklemore and Brandi Carlile, as well as organizations like SMASH, continue to build upon in their own ways. And that collective spirit is worth celebrating.​

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