Pearl Jam reportedly choose new drummer, reveal set for Ohana Festival

Pearl Jam have reportedly chosen a new drummer, but the band is keeping the name under wraps until its first live show after Matt Cameron’s exit, a Sept. 27, 2026 slot at the 10th annual Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California. The reveal will land at Doheny State Beach, where Pearl Jam is listed as a headliner on the festival’s 10th-anniversary lineup and where the band’s next chapter will start in public.

Cameron announced on July 7, 2025 that he was leaving after 27 years behind the kit, ending one of the longest and most consequential drum runs in Pearl Jam history. Pearl Jam and Cameron both issued statements that day filled with mutual respect and gratitude, and Cameron later said the physical grind of the band’s marathon concerts helped drive the decision, along with a desire to focus on other projects. In his own statement, Cameron wrote, “After 27 fantastic years, I have taken my final steps down the drum riser for the mighty Pearl Jam.”

That kind of exit does more than clear a chair. Cameron was Pearl Jam’s longest-tenured drummer, and his playing helped define the band’s live identity across a catalog that demands range, not just power. The next drummer has to handle the punch of the early material, the dynamics of the deeper album cuts, and the endurance that comes with Pearl Jam’s long-set reputation. That combination narrows the field quickly. This is not a plug-and-play pop tour slot. It is a feel job, a stamina job and a legacy job all at once.

Pearl Jam’s history also explains why the transition carries so much weight. Before Cameron, the band moved through several drummers, including Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese and Jack Irons. Cameron’s 1998 arrival, after Soundgarden’s initial breakup, finally stabilized the role for more than two decades. Replacing that kind of presence is not just about filling time on stage. It is about preserving the pulse that fans hear as soon as the first song kicks in.

Stone Gossard has leaned into the secrecy, saying on Pearl Jam Radio that the band likes the mystery and that there is not enough mystery in the world. For a band as closely watched as Pearl Jam, that approach turns a personnel change into an event. When the lights come up at Ohana, the first song back will answer more than who is sitting at the kit. It will show how Pearl Jam wants to sound next.