EDDIE VEDDER Reunites With Dutch Woman After 27 Years

According to The Pulse Of Radio, PEARL JAM frontman Eddie Vedder recently reunited with a Dutch woman whom he had befriended after a show in 1992 — and did not see again until last weekend, after 27 years had passed.

PEARL JAM played a show in the Dutch city of Utrecht back in 1992. After the show, Vedder spent most of the rest of the evening talking to one particular Dutch woman, who ended up going to a café with him and giving him a ride back to his hotel on her bicycle. The two had an immediate connection, but never saw each other again — until last Wednesday night (June 12) in Brussels, Belgium.

Vedder played two solo shows in Amsterdam last weekend, and at the second show, he asked, "Is the woman who gave me a lift to my hotel in 1992 maybe here tonight?... I am almost certain that I would still recognize her face." No one came forward, but Dutch news outlet Het Parool investigated and found the woman, named Valeska Custers, who is now married with three children.

Custers remembered the night vividly, including that Vedder wore her backpack on the bike but forgot to give it back to her. She said she tried to meet up with the singer again at a few other PEARL JAM shows over the years, but it never happened.

This time, someone in Vedder's band showed him the Het Parool article, and Vedder’s tour manager invited Custers and her husband to Vedder's show in Brussels, where they finally reunited. Vedder reportedly told Custers, "You still have the same smile." He said he kept the backpack, which contained her brother's shirt, for years, but had lost track of it. She replied, "[My brother] says you can keep it."