Pearl Jam will pay tribute to rock history while continuing to write its own

IT HAS BEEN two years since Pearl Jam had a new album, and its latest effort is at least a year away. But Hampton Roads fans will be treated to precious unperformed picks when the rockers hit the stage Tuesday in Virginia Beach.

With no new album to support, Pearl Jam had intended to perform just two shows this summer: an appearance at Bonnaroo Music Festival on Saturday in Tennessee and a taping July 12 for a VH1 tribute to The Who. But when the band members - Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament - considered the logistics, they added a few more dates, including the concert at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater.

"When we were offered to play Bonnaroo, we decided it was going to take as much work to do one show as it does 10," McCready said in a telephone interview. "It's a lot to get all of our staging and stuff out there. We figured let's play some more shows, and we hadn't been to the East for a while. This is our opportunity to do that."

In 1991, Pearl Jam emerged as one of the hottest new rock acts from the Seattle grunge scene, which also included Nirvana and Soundgarden. "Ten," its debut album, featured the hits "Alive" and "Jeremy." The album eventually became a 12-times platinum seller. Pearl Jam's most recent album was self-titled and released in 2006.

The band is in the early stages of writing material for an album. It's brought Brendan O'Brien back into the fold as producer. He produced some of the its early works.

The band will not perform any of the new songs because they're not complete, McCready said, but fans will get to hear some unperformed works.

"We're going to play songs from our repertoire that we haven't played live. You'll hear some of the hits, like 'Alive,' but also some gems we haven't brought out before."

Pearl Jam also will road test some material from The Who in advance of the VH1 tribute. The band recorded "Love, Reign O'er Me" last year for a movie soundtrack and will likely perform the song, as well as "Baba O'Riley," in Virginia Beach.

"We'll want to get it as powerful as possible, and we'll do that at soundcheck and at some shows," McCready said.

Pearl Jam might also roar with some of its political and social activism. Vedder has become an outspoken critic of President Bush and his administration's foreign policies. "World Wide Suicide," from "Pearl Jam" (2006), and "Bu$hleager," found on "Riot Act" (2002), are strong in their criticism of Bush.

Vedder is known for pushing his anti-war platform between songs during concerts, and he is likely to make the most of performing in a military town Tuesday. At Thursday night's concert in Tampa, Fla., he ended a wish list with an engaging mantra of "Bring 'em home, bring 'em home."

But making music is what matters most to Pearl Jam. The band is eager to perform and pay homage to The Who, McCready said. He considers it to be one of the most influential bands in rock history.

"I think The Who was rock 'n' roll to me. You had Keith Moon, who was crazy and breaking stuff and partying. Then they had these monstrous, cinematic songs - "Won't Get Fooled Again" - that were rock 'n' roll at their most primal. The energy was something I could relate to, and the songs were just killer."

The St. Petersburg Times contributed to this report.

Jeff Maisey, (757) 222-3934, jmaisey@pilotonline.com