Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder Raises $1.7m For Obama

Vedder played to 85 people who each paid $20,000 for a ticket to the show at the home of singer-songwriter Don Miggs in Tampa, Florida at the weekend.

NME reports that Vedder performed two Pearl Jam Songs, 'Rise' and 'Without You', along with covers of James Taylor's 'Millworker' and Neil Young's 'Rockin' In The Free World'

Vedder told the audience that were it not for a government program to help him find a job then he may not have been able to make it as a musician.

"I'm an example of someone who never made it to university," he revealed. "I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date."

He said that he signed up for a program which led him to a job as a security guard in a petroleum company : "It was that job which allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones. For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job."

(NME)