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	PEARL JAM CLUB FLEET

Pearl Jam took a break of sorts from the heavy politicking that’s part of their participation in "Vote for Change" — a series of tours by several bands tied to the MoveOn PAC that will include 37 shows in 33 cities in 11 mostly swing states — by stopping at Boston’s FleetCenter for a pair of evenings last week. With Massachusetts all but ceded to Kerry, Eddie Vedder and company took the opportunity to focus on the music rather than the message, though they did play a pair of political punk covers — the Avengers’ scathing "The American in Me" and the Dead Kennedys’ "Bleed for Me." And they invited veteran activist/historian Howard Zinn on stage to say, "Stop the war."

Other than that, this was as relaxed a set by Pearl Jam as I’ve ever seen. Vedder and his band treated the FleetCenter stage as if it were nothing more than a little club that just happened to be placed in the middle of a particularly large room, and the crowd as a casual bunch of friends — a group of friends who just happened to include Zinn stage right and Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and baseball writer Peter Gammons stage left. (I guess baseball and politics don’t mix.) Indeed, after the band had sauntered on stage and nonchalantly picked up their instruments, it took a little while for the first song, "Release," to find any kind of recognizable form. But once they got going, they delivered a brand of emotionally charged, guitar-powered hard rock that’s broad enough to encompass punk salvos like "Do the Evolution" and acoustic ballads like "Crazy Mary." (The latter they wrote with Victoria Williams for her Sweet Relief tribute album.) Although they often seemed to be working without a set list, they managed all of the above without ever losing momentum — granted, Pearl Jam’s version of continuity is looser than that of most arena rock bands. Even the often frenetic Vedder let his massive voice do the work while guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament remained characteristically stoic. Guitarist Mike McCready provided most of the on-stage antics by walking in circles, jumping up on his monitor, and playing the occasional behind-the-back solo.

Not that any of this should come as a big surprise. Pearl Jam made it clear long ago that expensive MTV videos, multi-platinum album sales, fancy stage sets, and many of the other trappings of rock stardom aren’t their style. Instead, they’ve challenged their fans to meet them halfway, rewarding the Pearl Jam faithful with the kind of unscripted rock in the raw that characterized Tuesday night’s show. They didn’t deny the FleetCenter crowd the pleasure of hearing Top 10 Ten classics like "Even Flow" and "Jeremy." But they didn’t treat those songs any differently from the deeper cuts on less familiar albums that formed the bulk of the set.