‘She’s passed’: Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder’s sad news at Aussie show

“Absolutely f**king senseless”: Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder paused the band’s Sydney stadium show to deliver a heartbreaking message.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder paused the band’s Sydney stadium show on Thursday night to pay tribute to the two young Australians among the victims of a mass methanol poisoning incident in Laos.

Pearl Jam performed the first of two shows at Sydney’s ENGIE Stadium last night, as part of the Australian leg of the band’s Dark Matter world tour, when Vedder stopped to address the crowd about the tragic news story, which had a devastating development on Thursday afternoon with news one of the girls had died.

In footage first posted to TikTok, he spoke of a “sense of travel, adventure, gusto and verve … to hear the story of these two young girls in Laos …” He called the unfolding tragedy “absolutely f**king senseless.”

“The one young woman Bianca Jones, she’s passed, and her friend Holly Bowles is hanging in, and we wish her the best, and we are thinking about the parents,” he said.

Vedder said he hoped his message didn’t sound empty, but “it can’t be empty if there’s 50,000 of us.”

“We are sending you everything we have got today. We are so sorry,” the rocker continued, as he appeared overcome by emotion.

Vedder earlier in the tour, playing at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on November 16. Picture: Amanda Lee Starkey.

Vedder’s tribute comes after Jones, 19, died in a Thailand hospital after consuming drinks laced with methanol. She’s one of five people to have died, out of 10 backpackers who had fallen ill in the Laos tourist hotspot Vang Vieng, all believed to have consumed alcoholic drinks laced with methanol.

Ms Jones was travelling with Ms Bowles, also 19, who remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Melbourne teen Bianca Jones has died. Picture: Facebook

The friend she was travelling with, Holly Bowles is critically ill. Picture: Facebook

According to the Herald Sun, the pair complained they “couldn’t breathe” when they begged for help at a backpackers hostel.

A staff member from Nana Backpackers Hostel, where the women were staying, claims the pair came to reception pleading for assistance and to be taken to hospital.

“They spent all day of the 12th (of November) in their room. We didn’t know what happening with them because they go party outside,” the worker, who went by the nickname Pikachu, said.

“They come to tell my staff, please, can you help me, bring me to the hospital.

“They feeling hard to breathe, the staff in the night shift just quickly bring her to the hospital.”

The friends had left Melbourne a couple of weeks ago to set off on their dream holiday. They were due to return home for Christmas.

Death toll reaches five

Among the other victims to have died from the mass poisoning are Simone White, 28, an associate lawyer from Kent in the UK.

It is still not known where the contaminated drinks were sold.

Simone White died, while her friend who also fell ill put the warning out to “avoid all local spirits.”

Simone’s friend Bethany Clarke raised the alarm with an urgent warning on the Laos Backpacking Facebook group.

She wrote: “Urgent — please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars.

“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”

Bethany added that she was “very fatigued and then fainted, then just felt nauseous and then my liver started to shut down”.

The Bangkok Hospital where Holly Bowles is on life support. Picture: David Caird

She continued: “I got to the private hospital in time but underwent many infusions and tablets and days of recovery.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a US citizen died after possibly ingesting the chemical, following the confirmed deaths of two Danish women.

What is methanol poisoning?

Methanol is often added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, which is the normal alcohol used in alcoholic drinks.

According to the Methanol Institute, this usually occurs in countries where taxes on ethanol are seen as too high — such as Bali and other Southeast Asian countries.

Drinking just 25 to 90ml of methanol can be fatal, the institute said.