Pearl Jam riding waves and hanging out with surfer mates on Australian festival tour

PEARL Jam singer Eddie Vedder and his band mates have been enjoying the surf on their Australian tour. And why not? You won't find a better plan.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder with Mick Fanning and Mark Occhilupo backstage at the Gold Coast Big Day Out. Picture: Twitter

American rockers Pearl Jam are enjoying an Australian surfing safari between gigs as the 2014 Big Day Out headliners.

Frontman Eddie Vedder, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Mike McCready are passionate surfers who always take the opportunity to hit the beach when they tour here.

They are also catching up with some of their Australian pro surfer mates, with world champion Mick Fanning and former titleholder Mark Occhilupo hanging out backstage at the Gold Coast event on Sunday.

The pair watched Pearl Jam's set from the side of stage before their rock star mate Vedder invited them to join him and share a swig from his bottle of red wine.

Vedder told the crowd the band performed singalong anthem Better Man because it was a favourite of Occy, who the frontman described as a "sensitive man".

He dedicated another song to "you big wave surfers out there, which in this part of the world is most of you!"

McCready said he headed to the Gold Coast early "to surf with a mate of mine" and was revelling in the extra days off afforded by the Big Day Out schedule.

International bands nicknamed the Australian festival the Big Day Off many years ago because the musicians enjoy a few days off between performances and a chance to relax and play tourist.

"I am getting so much surfing, I have too much down time, I really love it," McCready said.

Vedder, Ament and McCready are surfing their way down the coast before rejoining the tour in Melbourne, stopping off in Byron Bay on Tuesday.

"Eddie and Jeff and I went surfing today, it was pretty gnarly," he said.

"The older I get, the more I surf and do more stretches to get ready for the rock show."

The Big Day Out resumes in Melbourne on Friday, heads to Sydney on Sunday and Adelaide and Perth next week.

News_Module: Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

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