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DANA POINT, CA- I caught Eddie Vedder and The Earthlings at Ohana Fest earlier this year, and the show has been sitting with me ever since. It was more than just a tight set from a veteran rock legend. It felt like the kind of performance that reminds you why supergroups were such a big deal in the first place. Not the novelty kind. Not the industry stunt kind. The real kind. The kind that forms out of genuine friendships, long histories, and a shared need to make meaningful music during the small windows of free time that artists at this level rarely get.
A supergroup is usually defined as a musical group formed by artists who are already successful in other bands or as solo acts. The idea goes back decades, and the earliest examples include late 60s and 70s giants like Cream and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The appeal back then was obvious. You had stars teaming up and creating something bigger than any one of them, and for fans it almost felt like the musical equivalent of the Avengers forming onstage.
Over the years, supergroups have come together in a few different ways. Some are one off collectives, formed to record a single album or perform at a specific event. Traveling Wilburys is a classic example, with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty teaming up for two albums in the late 1980s. Others fall into the side project category, where musicians create a secondary band that lives alongside their main gigs, sometimes recording multiple albums and touring whenever schedules line up. A newer example of that approach is MIRADOR, the project created by Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet and Chris Turpin of Ida Mae.
Then there is a third type. These are supergroups built around legacy artists who pull together a group of trusted players and let the band grow into something real. This is where Eddie Vedder and The Earthlings land. Technically, the group was not formed first. It grew out of the recording sessions for Vedder’s solo album Earthling, released in 2022. Vedder brought in Chad Smith, Josh Klinghoffer and Andrew Watt to help shape the album. Once the music was finished, that same lineup, plus Glen Hansard and Chris Chaney carried the songs onto the stage and began performing together as The Earthlings. What makes this notable is that they kept playing together after the album cycle, which gives the group a sense of authenticity and staying power rather than feeling like a one time promotional lineup.
When Vedder took the Earthling album on the road in 2022, he carried these musicians with him, billing them collectively as The Earthlings for the tour. It was clear even then that this was not just Eddie plus hired hands. It was a band identity. A group of musicians with individual careers who were coming together to explore a specific musical chapter.
Fast forward to Ohana Fest 2025. Vedder and The Earthlings hit the stage again, but this time the set revealed something about who they are as a band. They played a set that exceeded twenty songs, but only four of those songs came from the Earthling album itself . The rest of the show leaned heavily on covers, deep cuts, and moments of pure musical freedom. They were not onstage to simply run through the album they were built to support. They were there to play the songs that meant something to them as musicians and as friends. The return to this band identity after three years tells you that playing together is not just some obligation tied to an album cycle. It is something they want to keep returning to.
This is especially interesting given the state of modern music. With streaming, social media, and constantly shifting algorithms, most listeners are consuming music in quick bursts. Two minute singles. Thirty second clips. Collabs posted for engagement rather than artistic chemistry. Newer bands today rarely have time to establish long term chemistry within their own lineup, let alone make space to form meaningful supergroups with players from other acts. That is why a band like The Earthlings hits so hard. It feels like a reminder that musicianship and camaraderie still matter.
And this sense of joy is really the core of why supergroups ever mattered. At their best, supergroups are about connection. When they become more than a convenience or a PR move, they allow artists to step out of the lanes their main band is known for. They get to play songs they love, experiment with different arrangements, or simply exist outside the expectations placed on them. For Vedder, who has spent decades inside one of the most defining rock bands of the 90s, The Earthlings provide a chance to open the windows and let the air in. For the other players, they get to tap into the energy of working with a songwriter whose career carved itself into rock history.
Some people might argue that supergroups do still exist today. They are not wrong. If you look at lists of musical supergroups that are active or were recently active, you will see plenty of bands made up of musicians from other acts. The difference is that many of these groups release one album and disappear, or they exist as short lived side projects. They may be talented, but they often lack the weight or continuity that classic supergroups had.
The Earthlings feel different because they feel alive. They feel like a group of musicians who could get back together any time their schedules line up and create something meaningful… like they did at this year’s Ohana Fest. They feel like a band that thrives on presence and spontaneity rather than obligation. And in a music world that has become very calculated and data driven, the raw human element is refreshing.
Maybe this performance at Ohana Fest was another one off. Maybe it was the band reclaiming a moment tied to Earthling the album, before going back to their main projects for a while. But standing in the crowd, watching them dig into covers and jam together, you get the sense that this is not a piece of nostalgia or a leftover from an album tour. It is a genuine supergroup that could reappear whenever the stars align.
Supergroups will never be as common today as they were in previous eras because musicians no longer have the same long term visibility or career arcs. But when one does appear and it actually feels real, it is worth paying attention. And Eddie Vedder and The Earthlings feel like one of the rare ones. A supergroup that feels natural rather than forced. A band that lets legendary players take a breath and make some noise just because it feels good. A reminder that even in a fast moving musical landscape, chemistry will always matter more than novelty.
As a total non-sequitur, I’d be remiss to mention that the Ohana Fest set also included special moments that long time Vedder fans noticed immediately. Eddie performed “Setting Forth” (for the first time since 2017) and “No Ceiling” (for the first time since 2019) from the Into The Wild soundtrack. True ear candy for the die-hard EV fans.
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