Unyielding

There are two kinds of Pearl Jam song: slow and fast. The former peek out from behind steely acoustics that highlight their American roots as well as lead singer/songwriter Eddie Vedder's associations with Neil Young. But it's their granite-hard rock music which stirs the natives. Pearl Jam might be perceived as grunge slacker moaners in a business-oriented world. On the basis of Thursday night's show (crackshot rock music unsullied by welcome-to-the-machine compromises) they're no more slackers than a hard-nut Marine corps. In a word: stunning.