Pearl Jam brings the Carling Weekend: Reading Festival to a close

Pearl Jam have closed the Carling Weekend: Reading Festival 2006 this evening (August 27).

The festival headliners brought this year's proceedings to a close on the main stage playing in front of a huge audience.

Being one of the band’s first festival appearance since the accident in 2000 at Roskilde where nine fans died in a mosh pit crush during a Pearl Jam set, the Seattle group kicked of their appearance tonight by reminding the crowd to be safe.

“Take care of each other please,” requested frontman Eddie Vedder before his band played a note. “I know you can do it… we can do it, take care of each other, please.”

His group then launched into ’Interstellar Overdrive’, however before long the singer appeared to relax as the gig continued and even started joking with the audience.

“There’s a lot of flags from a lot of different countries,” Vedder observed of the crowd, before playing ’Dissident’. “Being from American I guess we should say ‘we come in peace!’.”

The band provided a rousing send off this year's event including the likes of 'I Am Mime' and 'Blood' in their set.

Vedder seemed so impressed with the crowd's reaction to his band's performance, that singer was visibly teary as Pearl Jam left the stage.

Earlier Placebo had also played on the main stage but were forced to break their set due to technical difficulties.

Leaving the stage for ten minutes – during which time female members of the audience flashed their breasts for the big screens' cameras – the band were eventually able to return and complete their set.

Explaining what happened afterwards, frontman Brian Molko told the BBC : “My guitar broke and I missed all the breasts!”

That's it for 2006. To review coverage from this year's event, including pictures and blogs go to NME.COM/festivals now.

Meanwhile for the ultimate review of the Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds Festivals get next week's issue of NME on newsstands nationwide from August 30.

Pearl Jam Tickets