10 Rock Musicians Who Almost Died On Tour

It's pretty much impossible for any rock and roll show to go off without a hitch. Regardless of the pedigree at work, accidents happen and sometimes shows that seem fine on the surface could also get dangerous really quickly. Though most rockstars might like to avoid these situations, Eddie Vedder seemed like the one person who actively welcomed it at the beginning of Pearl Jam's career.

When these grunge icons were first starting to get the ball rolling, Vedder was actually fairly reluctant to be in the lead singer role, oftentimes brooding and not really doing too much other than croak out the melodies on stage. Once the tour kicked up a notch though, Vedder wanted to do something even more daring than what he was seeing from his grunge counterparts. During songs like Alive and Even Flow, Vedder would often be seen climbing the scaffolding of the venue without so much as a net to catch him, leaving most of his bandmates terrified for his safety.

Vedder has gone on to say that it was the power of the music that made him scale the lighting rigs, but he does also own up to the dangerousness of it. When recounting it now, he recalls leaping into the crowd and eventually finding deep scratches on his back when he went to wash up after the gig. For as much as people like to put down grunge as disaffected kids whining about their problems, there's no other rock star willing to do something like this.