POP MUSIC REVIEW : After a Tarnished Summer of Doubt Brought On by the Strain of Touring, Pearl Jam Is Alive, Well and Rocking

Pearl Jam’s concert on Monday at the Sports Arena was a classic case of no news being good news.

For some time now, it has been easy to get the impression from afar that this Seattle band was obsessed with turning concerts into headlines.

The danger there is that Pearl Jam could begin to appear calculated, making audiences question the authenticity of the group’s musical impulses.

On Monday, however, singer Eddie Vedder didn’t announce a new assault on archenemy Ticketmaster . . . or leave the stage with the flu after seven songs as he did last summer in San Francisco . . . or attempt some daredevil stunt to stir audience passions, as he sometimes did in the past.

The only attraction was the music--and it was largely masterful.

During 2 1/2 hours of mostly tenacious, but sometimes tender rock ‘n’ roll, the quintet continued to display the remarkable growth that has made it such a commanding force in rock over the last two years.

As it moved from such early anthems as “Alive” through such recent ones as “Immortality” and “Better Man,” and on to some promising new numbers, the band frequently wove moody, Doors-like interludes into key songs.

This kind of improvisation can be tedious in the wrong hands, but Pearl Jam’s playing on Monday was liberating as it extended the power--not simply the length--of the songs.

The night was so electric that it was hard to tell who was more excited--the band or the audience, which has been wondering since June whether this show (and a second one on Tuesday) would ever come together.

Pearl Jam, which has toured sparingly since the spring of 1994, was scheduled to appear June 26-27 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, but those shows were canceled after safety concerns were raised by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

The dates were moved to the San Diego Sports Arena, only to be canceled again when the band scrapped the rest of its brief tour after Vedder’s illness in San Francisco. Sources said the decision was made because the “pressures of a full-scale tour had taken the joy out of making music.”

Since then, Pearl Jam has made up those canceled dates, but has spread them over several weeks to keep the pace more comfortable.

Fans began lining up outside the arena hours before the doors opened for the 7:30 p.m. concert (which also featured the Ramones). After all, this was a homecoming of sorts for Vedder, who attended high school here. But the fans weren’t just out to toast a local hero.

As a singer and writer, Vedder articulates many of the contradictions and complexities of youth--addressing the themes of self-affirmation and low self-esteem, celebration and doubt, idealism and death. Vedder forges a bond with his fans by describing often dark and desperate scenes that seem torn from a shared experience.

While Vedder has been growing, the rest of Pearl Jam has become looser and more assured. There was a time when the core of the band--guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament and former drummer Dave Abbruzzese--seemed so rigid that they appeared to be holding Vedder back, but they and new drummer Jack Irons now push him.

There were moments in the set where the old material seemed a bit worn. Mostly, however, Pearl Jam was alive itself. After its summer of doubt, the band once again radiates the joy of making music that matters.