Pearl Jam

With hits like "Alive" and "Jeremy," Pearl Jam quickly shot to the forefront of the alternative-rock music scene and became one of the most popular rock bands of the '90s. The band members have been selling out stadiums and arenas for almost two decades, all the while maintaining their organic Seattle roots. The band is on a 12-stop tour of the Eastern United States this summer, its first American tour since 2006. They play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Verizon Center, 601 F St. N.W., Washington.

With hits like "Alive" and "Jeremy," Pearl Jam quickly shot to the forefront of the alternative-rock music scene and became one of the most popular rock bands of the '90s. The band members have been selling out stadiums and arenas for almost two decades, all the while maintaining their organic Seattle roots. The band is on a 12-stop tour of the Eastern United States this summer, its first American tour since 2006. They play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Verizon Center, 601 F St. N.W., Washington.

On June 30, 2000, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam were headlining the Roskilde Festival in Denmark when nine fans were trampled to death as a huge crowd surged toward the stage when Pearl Jam began to play. "To have that happen while we were playing, it was hard to continue on from there because your memories get connected to things, especially music, and that was a matter of life and death that absolutely had us thinking the band couldn't go on," says Vedder from Hawaii, where he's on vacation after finishing up Riot Act, the band's new CD, released Tuesday.

Most mainstream pop artists seemed so tentative three years ago, slow to reflect in their music the anger many Americans felt about the nation's raggedy state of affairs. The Twin Towers had crumbled and thousands died, and President Bush had launched the war on Iraq. At the time, though, Toby Keith rocketed to superstardom with jingoistic songs like "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)." And Bruce Springsteen landed on the cover of Rolling Stone and at the top of the charts with The Rising, an overly earnest, mildly comforting album that loosely addressed loss and grief after 9/11 but took no political stance.

WASHINGTON -- Even though it was well past midnight, and Pearl Jam had just completed an exhausting, exhilarating 13-song set, the band wasn't quite ready to call it a night. "As long as you all are here, we might as well stick around a few minutes," singer Eddie Vedder told the crowd at D.A.R. Constitution Hall Saturday night. "We don't get together like this very often."Indeed, not. Apart from the fact that Pearl Jam is way too popular to make a habit of playing 3,000-seat halls, the shows at Constitution Hall -- the band played Saturday and Sunday nights -- weren't just ordinary concerts.

Rock super-group Pearl Jam is blinking in its much-publicized 18-month stare-down with Ticketmaster and will try to work with the company against which it filed antitrust charges a year ago.The group's manager says it is being forced to do so as it has spent a year trying to arrange its own tour and found the realities of a do-it-yourself major tour too daunting."

Pearl Jam's crusade to reform the concert industry is resurfacing on Capitol Hill, where Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., is expected this week to reintroduce legislation to require ticket vendors to disclose the fees they add to the price of each ticket.The bill is certain to meet serious opposition from the new Republican-controlled Congress. A similar proposal by Mr. Dingell died in committee during the last session. The new bill would also require the FTC to conduct a study of current ticketing practices, including the exclusive arrangements between promoters, venue operators and vendors -- such as Ticketmaster -- that underlie pricing decisions.

Tightly, unrelentingly, in an almost businesslike manner, Pearl Jam delivered mostly its greatest hits at Washington's Verizon Center Tuesday night. Each song - including fine cuts from the '90s grunge band's latest album, simply titled Pearl Jam - burned into the next as the rabid, packed house shouted the lyrics, almost drowning out lead singer Eddie Vedder. It wasn't until about 40 minutes into the show that Vedder gave his Mack-truck-like vocals a rest to greet the arena filled mostly with head-banging, fist-pumping, air-guitar-playing males.

Let's get one thing straight from the beginning: There's more to Pearl Jam than Eddie Vedder.Granted, the singer is the most identifiable and charismatic member of the group. It's his energy and stage presence that fans talk about after seeing the band live, his good looks and tortured sincerity that set hearts aflutter after MTV started showing the "Jeremy" video. And when people complain that Stone Temple Pilots is just a Pearl Jam rip-off, it's mainly because STP frontman Welland's singing seems such a dead cop of Vedder's vocal style.

It's a commonly accepted piece of the rock 'n' roll myth that every band wants to hit the big time. Who among us wouldn't want to experience a life where the toughest task of the day is playing guitar, and the reward was plenty of money and an endless stream of groupies and sycophants?So when Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder reacted to the success of "Vs." -- an album that sold more than a million units in its first week of release -- by griping about being on the cover of Time, most rock fans thought he was nuts.

Tightly, unrelentingly, in an almost businesslike manner, Pearl Jam delivered mostly its greatest hits at Washington's Verizon Center Tuesday night. Each song - including fine cuts from the '90s grunge band's latest album, simply titled Pearl Jam - burned into the next as the rabid, packed house shouted the lyrics, almost drowning out lead singer Eddie Vedder. It wasn't until about 40 minutes into the show that Vedder gave his Mack-truck-like vocals a rest to greet the arena filled mostly with head-banging, fist-pumping, air-guitar-playing males.

SEATTLE -- On a typically blustery spring Seattle afternoon, Eddie Vedder sits in a blue vinyl booth at West Seattle's Easy Street Records and Cafe, catching up with the owner. The small shop is a favorite hangout, and Vedder is barely noticed. In this beachy district where many of the city's rockers - including the 41-year-old Pearl Jam singer - have settled and started families, everyone's equal. Like Pearl Jam, which performs at the Verizon Center in Washington tonight, Seattle has grown with care.

Pearl Jam With Pearl Jam's new album out and rumors swirling about this tour being the band's last, there are plenty of reasons to catch Tuesday's show at the Verizon Center (formerly the MCI Center). My Morning Jacket, a Kentucky band with country influences, opens. The venue is at 601 F St. N.W. in Washington. Tickets are $63. Call 410-54-SEAT or visit ticketmaster.com.

Pearl Jam has always been built to last. Created out of Mother Love Bone, the Seattle band whose singer Andrew Wood died of a 1990 heroin overdose, the rockers had already gotten the self-destructive behavior out of their system by the time San Diego surfer Eddie Vedder came to lead the clenched-fist charge. If Nirvana stared into the void with pop songs that exploded in punk noise, Pearl Jam was always a classic rock band in disguise, harking back to The Who and the Doors. They shouted a life-affirming message in stentorian, heroic tones that pushed their 1991 debut, Ten, to sell that many millions of copies.

Pearl Jam / Nissan Pavilion Pearl Jam emerged in the mid-'90s as one of the most arresting rock groups of the genre. Although the band's profile has been low for a few years now, its place and influence in the pantheon of alternative rock is secure. Pearl Jam plays Nissan Pavilion on Tuesday night. Show starts at 7, and tickets are $38.50-$42.50. Call Ticketmaster at 410-481-SEAT or visit www.ticketmaster.com. David Sanborn / Birchmere For more than 25 years, David Sanborn's squealing, passionate horn has been a fixture in pop and smooth jazz.

HOLLYWOOD - Is Pearl Jam ready to go it alone? The iconic rock band's recent exit from Sony Corp.'s Epic Records makes it one of the biggest rock acts ever to become a free agent. Now that Pearl Jam has disclosed on its Web site that it has left Epic, its record company for more than a decade, labels and other acts are watching closely to see the next move from the Seattle quintet. Insiders speculate that the group, which shook up the music industry a decade ago when it took on TicketMaster, may defy convention again by forgoing a major-label deal, instead selling its next recording independently.

Pearl Jam has always been built to last. Created out of Mother Love Bone, the Seattle band whose singer Andrew Wood died of a 1990 heroin overdose, the rockers had already gotten the self-destructive behavior out of their system by the time San Diego surfer Eddie Vedder came to lead the clenched-fist charge. If Nirvana stared into the void with pop songs that exploded in punk noise, Pearl Jam was always a classic rock band in disguise, harking back to The Who and the Doors. They shouted a life-affirming message in stentorian, heroic tones that pushed their 1991 debut, Ten, to sell that many millions of copies.

Usually, when a band gives up the youthful aggression of breakneck riffs and screaming guitars, it loses its edge as well. It's as if these musicians think the opposite of loudness is soft rock and that musical maturity is a matter of quieting down and mellowing out. Thank god for Pearl Jam. Even though "Binaural" (Epic 63665, arriving in stores today) is softer than such earlier efforts as "Vs." and "Ten," this new disc hardly lacks aggression or intensity. In fact, there's as much adrenalized energy in "Grievance" or "God's Dice" as in such vintage crowd-pleasers as "Go" or "Do the Evolution."

Which of the following concerts do you plan to attend this summer? 8.2 percent Chris Isaak (4 votes) 8.2 percent Lollapalooza 2003 (4 votes) 8.2 percent Metallica Summer Sanitarium Tour (4 votes) 10.2 percent Ozzfest 2003 (5 votes) 6.1 percent Pearl Jam (3 votes) 0 percent Vans Warped Tour '03 (0 votes) 8.2 percent Some of the above (4 votes) 51.0 percent None of the above (25 votes) 49 total votes Question of the week: How often do you go to the beach during the summer? Weekly Twice a month Monthly A few times Never Vote at www.sunspot.

On June 30, 2000, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam were headlining the Roskilde Festival in Denmark when nine fans were trampled to death as a huge crowd surged toward the stage when Pearl Jam began to play. "To have that happen while we were playing, it was hard to continue on from there because your memories get connected to things, especially music, and that was a matter of life and death that absolutely had us thinking the band couldn't go on," says Vedder from Hawaii, where he's on vacation after finishing up Riot Act, the band's new CD, released Tuesday.