In a touching display of compassion, Pearl Jam welcomed Roland Mandel, a terminally ill fan who was recently diagnosed with ALS, onto the stage at the band’s concert in Berlin on Tuesday.
Mandel—a teacher from Lüneburg, Germany—purchased tickets to see Pearl Jam in 2019 prior to falling ill. He was diagnosed with ALS last year and is currently in a wheelchair. With only a few months to live, he resolved to see Pearl Jam perform as part of his final wishes, but he almost didn’t make it to the show because all of the Berlin Waldbühne‘s 12 wheelchair-accessible spots were already sold out.
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Some of Mandel’s friends and family wrote to the venue to explain the situation, and a hashtag asking the band to play one of his favorite songs, ‘Rearviewmirror”, went viral. The #RVMforRoland hashtag and letters were successful, and Mandel was able to secure a spot to watch the concert the side of the stage.
At the end of the show, Pearl Jam played a cover of the Ramones‘ “I Believe in Miracles” before Mandel was wheeled out onto the stage. “He should also experience this special sight. He worked his ass off to be here tonight,” Eddie Vedder said as Mandel marveled at the 20,000-person crowd, all chanting his name in unison.
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“It was so unbelievable,” Mandel’s wife said the day after the concert. “He was so excited, so positive, so full of adrenaline. This stays for eternity.”
Watch a clip of the special moment shared by the Live on 4 Legs Podcast below.
What a moment! We did it everyone. Here’s Roland getting to live out a dream and getting a wonderful ovation. @AxelPicker #RVMforRoland #pearljam pic.twitter.com/LU1z3yM1tv
— Live On 4 Legs Podcast (@liveon4legspod) June 21, 2022
