Teen plays with Pearl Jam at concert after drummer tests positive for COVID: 'It was surreal'

Disaster struck the band Pearl Jam when drummer Matt Cameron tested positive for COVID-19 before a concert at Oakland Arena last Friday night, but a local 18-year-old stepped up to the plate to help the rock legends' show go on.

Kai Neukermans recounted the momentous occasion during a Wednesday interview with "Fox & Friends" hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy, calling the opportunity "surreal."

"On Thursday night, I heard that Matt Cameron was sick, and I was getting a bunch of texts from people that were at the show [saying] that they needed a drummer," he said. Neukermans remembered his previous encounter with singer Eddie Vedder's daughter Olivia after meeting her at a festival a few years ago and decided to send her a text.

"The next day, at around noon, Olivia texted me and tells me to send her a video of me playing a Pearl Jam song, and I didn't know any Pearl Jam songs, so I left school and learned the song called ‘Mind Your Manners,’" he recounted. 

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Neukermans said he recorded himself performing the song, sent the video to Olivia and the story escalated from there. The band had already secured more experienced fill-in drummers, but they let Neukermans come up for one song.

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He said he was "definitely really nervous" and said he tried not to display his anxiety while on stage.

He went on to say that this has been his dream for a long time, said the opportunity increased his popularity at school and described the experience of performing on stage with a legendary band.

"It was crazy to see all of those legendary musicians in front of me," he said. "It was pretty surreal…"