Pearl Jam's Mike McCready to perform national anthem at Safeco Field

SEATTLE — Mike McCready, lead guitarist for Pearl Jam, will perform the national anthem before the Mariners face the Astros on Friday, September 16 as part of the annual Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Night at Safeco Field.

“I’m very honored to be able to do the Star Spangled Banner at a Mariners game because I’m a big fan and we have season tickets there and I know that they don’t take that lightly, and it’s generally done a certain way,” McCready said. “It’s good to know that the Mariners organization trusts me enough to be able to do it and know that it’s done for the reasoning of raising awareness of Crohn’s and colitis.”

The national anthem has taken a new meaning over the last month, starting with 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick who has sat and knelt during the song to protest police brutality against African-Americans. In a sign of unity Sunday, the 15th anniversary of 9/11, the Seahawks linked arms. Michael Bennett said after the game that the team plans to continue with the demonstration every game.

VIDEO: Mike McCready performs the national anthem at the Seattle Mariners game 6/28/2013.

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic auto-immune diseases of the digestive system known collectively as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD. It’s estimated that 1.6 million people in the United States have the disease, 72,000 of them living in the five Northwestern states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

McCready, who has performed the anthem at Seattle sporting events in the past, was diagnosed with Crohn’s at the age of 21, but didn’t reveal his struggle publicly until 2002.

Special group tickets for the game are available online here.

MyNorthwest.com