Ongoing History Daily: Imagine if this tour had happened

Eddie Vedder and the rest of Pearl Jam were huge fans of the Clash in general and of Joe Strummer in particular. It had been their dream to somehow do something formal with him—and it almost happened.

With a little help from Pete Townshend (another hero of Eddie), Joe and his band the Mescaleros, agreed to open for Pearl Jam on the North American leg of the Riot Act tour in 2003. But then, disaster. Strummer died of a heart attack in his kitchen on December 22, 2002, a few months before the tour was scheduled to begin.

In Pearl Jam lore, this became known as The Tour That Never Was.