Pearl Jam: Benaroya Hall October 22 2003

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

The world does not lack for live Pearl Jam albums. The band have released nearly 100 "bootlegs"of their shows as just part of a career which has gone from being the most commercial outfit of Seattle's Class of 91 to a self-sustaining cottage industry. This double set is a semi-acoustic affair recorded at a benefit for YouthCare, with some album profits going to the charity.

This is a more balladeering Pearl Jam, with whooping affirmation from a hometown crowd. Which also means they can come out sounding not unlike R.E.M. with strident blues-rock guitar solos, especially on the likes of Down and Can't Keep (which Vedder devotes to "Elliott" Los Angeles singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, who took his own life). There's not much the casual Pearl Jam fan will find familiar. But it's a spirited affair, especially when it lets its hair down on covers of the Ramones' I Believe in Miracles and a placard-waving take on Dylan's Masters of War.

Label: BMG