Eddie Vedder

EDDIE VEDDER With Glen Hansard At: Citi Performing Arts Center’s Wang Theatre, last night Eddie Vedder has been giving a lot of props to his ukulele, saying that the tiny stringed instrument is the real star of his recent solo album. And in his performance last night at the Citi Performing Arts Center’s Wang Theatre, the Pearl Jam singer did begin with a batch of ukulele songs. But it became clear pretty quickly that the ukuleles, guitars, and mandolins were not the most important instruments on stage.

Bynes arrested Authorities say actress Amanda Bynes was arrested Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence after she grazed a sheriff's patrol car. The 26-year-old actress was arrested at about 3 a.m. in West Hollywood. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says that Bynes attempted to pass a patrol car making a right turn when she hit it. Deputies say there was paint damage to both cars, but no one was injured. (AP) Lauer OK with ‘Today' Matt Lauer is sticking with NBC's "Today," ending speculation that the top-rated show might have to face ABC's rising "Good Morning...

When they burst on the grunge scene in 1992, very few people would have imagined that more than 10 years later the Seattle band Pearl Jam would follow a model structured in many ways on the Grateful Dead. Pearl Jam has provided fans with recordings of countless electric performances and now, like the Dead's 1980 live acoustic release, "Reckoning," comes Pearl Jam's Benaroya Hall recording. In a similar fashion it showcases stripped down versions of familiar hits, B-sides and some choice covers.

American Masters 9 p.m., Channel 2 They're not almost famous. They're extremely famous, and in "Pearl Jam Twenty," director Cameron Crowe ("Jerry Maguire") pays them homage. The two-hour episode of "American Masters" looks at the seminal Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam - originally named Mookie Blaylock - two decades on, with never-before-seen footage of the band members when they were kids, recent band interviews, and lots of concert footage. Pictured: Eddie Vedder in "Pearl Jam Twenty.

Eddie Vedder's solo debut starts out strongly with the appropriately titled "Setting Forth," a jangly, rootsy spin on the music on which the Pearl Jam singer has built his career . . . and then suddenly it's over, barely a minute and a half after it began. That's the problem with "Into the Wild. " Even though the album's role as the soundtrack to Sean Penn's lost-in-the-wilderness film explains the songs' briefness - their job, first and foremost, is to complement the action on the screen - it's still frustrating to hear Vedder jettison interesting ideas almost as quickly as they come.

Bynes arrested Authorities say actress Amanda Bynes was arrested Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence after she grazed a sheriff's patrol car. The 26-year-old actress was arrested at about 3 a.m. in West Hollywood. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says that Bynes attempted to pass a patrol car making a right turn when she hit it. Deputies say there was paint damage to both cars, but no one was injured. (AP) Lauer OK with ‘Today' Matt Lauer is sticking with NBC's "Today," ending speculation that the top-rated show might have to face ABC's rising "Good Morning...

American Masters 9 p.m., Channel 2 They're not almost famous. They're extremely famous, and in "Pearl Jam Twenty," director Cameron Crowe ("Jerry Maguire") pays them homage. The two-hour episode of "American Masters" looks at the seminal Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam - originally named Mookie Blaylock - two decades on, with never-before-seen footage of the band members when they were kids, recent band interviews, and lots of concert footage. Pictured: Eddie Vedder in "Pearl Jam Twenty.

“We’ve got to work hard up here. We’ve got to make this show happen.’’ As mandates go, that’s a pretty great one for a rock concert, and Pearl Jam delivered in bulk on that early proclamation by frontman Eddie Vedder last night at the TD Garden. The Seattle rockers ground out a vigorous 2 1/2-hour performance that easily put another notch on their belt of strong Boston-area shows. That was no mean feat, given that Vedder noted this was the band’s 27th performance in Massachusetts.

Whether you're a fan or not, Pearl Jam deserves credit for one thing: Only a handful of artists play as long and as hard and compose their set lists as thoughtfully as the Seattle quintet. Thursday night's wide-ranging, often transporting 2 1/2-hour-plus show at TD Banknorth Garden was no exception. If every song didn't reach the heights of rock concert nirvana, at least Pearl Jam can't be accused of phoning it in, especially after the previous night's performance, which still had fans raving.

Pearl Jam has spent the last decade answering to powers higher than popular appeal, gloomily waging battles of conscience with Ticketmaster, the marketplace, and their own better judgment as musicians. But there's a real war going on, and the current state of global affairs trumps the band's aversion to convention. What the world needs now (among other things) is hard rock -- the lean, brawny stuff, scraped clean of ballast, arty oddities, and anti-careerist baggage. "Why swim the channel just to get this far?

EDDIE VEDDER With Glen Hansard At: Citi Performing Arts Center’s Wang Theatre, last night Eddie Vedder has been giving a lot of props to his ukulele, saying that the tiny stringed instrument is the real star of his recent solo album. And in his performance last night at the Citi Performing Arts Center’s Wang Theatre, the Pearl Jam singer did begin with a batch of ukulele songs. But it became clear pretty quickly that the ukuleles, guitars, and mandolins were not the most important instruments on stage.

“We’ve got to work hard up here. We’ve got to make this show happen.’’ As mandates go, that’s a pretty great one for a rock concert, and Pearl Jam delivered in bulk on that early proclamation by frontman Eddie Vedder last night at the TD Garden. The Seattle rockers ground out a vigorous 2 1/2-hour performance that easily put another notch on their belt of strong Boston-area shows. That was no mean feat, given that Vedder noted this was the band’s 27th performance in Massachusetts.

For what was ultimately a simple, uncluttered performance, there were certainly a fair amount of seemingly frivolous trappings during Eddie Vedder's performance last night at the Opera House. (He plays a second show tonight.) There were venue-appropriate fake Playbills (mostly covering Vedder-adjacent topics like "Into The Wild" and pet political issues), a tech crew incongruously dressed in lab coats and a series of backdrops that placed the Pearl Jam singer in such exotic locales as a tenement alleyway.

Eddie Vedder's solo debut starts out strongly with the appropriately titled "Setting Forth," a jangly, rootsy spin on the music on which the Pearl Jam singer has built his career . . . and then suddenly it's over, barely a minute and a half after it began. That's the problem with "Into the Wild. " Even though the album's role as the soundtrack to Sean Penn's lost-in-the-wilderness film explains the songs' briefness - their job, first and foremost, is to complement the action on the screen - it's still frustrating to hear Vedder jettison interesting ideas almost as quickly as they come.

Whether you're a fan or not, Pearl Jam deserves credit for one thing: Only a handful of artists play as long and as hard and compose their set lists as thoughtfully as the Seattle quintet. Thursday night's wide-ranging, often transporting 2 1/2-hour-plus show at TD Banknorth Garden was no exception. If every song didn't reach the heights of rock concert nirvana, at least Pearl Jam can't be accused of phoning it in, especially after the previous night's performance, which still had fans raving.

Pearl Jam has spent the last decade answering to powers higher than popular appeal, gloomily waging battles of conscience with Ticketmaster, the marketplace, and their own better judgment as musicians. But there's a real war going on, and the current state of global affairs trumps the band's aversion to convention. What the world needs now (among other things) is hard rock -- the lean, brawny stuff, scraped clean of ballast, arty oddities, and anti-careerist baggage. "Why swim the channel just to get this far?

For what was ultimately a simple, uncluttered performance, there were certainly a fair amount of seemingly frivolous trappings during Eddie Vedder's performance last night at the Opera House. (He plays a second show tonight.) There were venue-appropriate fake Playbills (mostly covering Vedder-adjacent topics like "Into The Wild" and pet political issues), a tech crew incongruously dressed in lab coats and a series of backdrops that placed the Pearl Jam singer in such exotic locales as a tenement alleyway.

The town was buzzing yesterday after the Boston Phoenix noticed that the Boston Courant noticed that Fenway Park had applied for a permit for some concerts in September. The Phoenix guessed that Pearl Jam might be the headliner, but our Fenway sources tell us that said permit is for the band we already told you will be playing Fenway Park this summer, Boston’s own Dropkick Murphys. That said, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has been to Fenway Park this summer. On Friday, just a few days after his solo gig at the Citi Wang Theatre, he was spotted watching the Sox from his pal Theo...

When they burst on the grunge scene in 1992, very few people would have imagined that more than 10 years later the Seattle band Pearl Jam would follow a model structured in many ways on the Grateful Dead. Pearl Jam has provided fans with recordings of countless electric performances and now, like the Dead's 1980 live acoustic release, "Reckoning," comes Pearl Jam's Benaroya Hall recording. In a similar fashion it showcases stripped down versions of familiar hits, B-sides and some choice covers.