Pearl Jam played its only U.S. arena show of 2012 on Sunday night (September 30th) at the relatively small Adams Center in Missoula, Montana. According to Billboard.com, the gig was a fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester, who is locked in a tight re-election battle. The band's 29-set song featured a number of politically-tinged cover tunes, with frontman Eddie Vedder voicing support for Tester while making jabs at Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

• Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, a native of Montana and childhood friend of Tester, brought the band to Missoula to perform.
• Ament said at a pre-show gathering, "Some people have said that maybe a rock band and politics shouldn't meet . . . (But) I grew up with Jon and I can vouch for how much he cares for Montana, how much he cares for the country. I couldn't be prouder to be up here with the band."
• Vedder remarked on the importance of voting during the show and threw a jab at Romney by saying, "The candidate on the other side talks as if 47 percent of people are living off the country, taking welfare and living on food stamps. The person that said that has never had the thrill or terror of walking on the tightrope without a net . . . only maybe one percent can relate to him."
• Among the cover tunes that the band played were the Clash's "Know Your Rights," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" and Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World."

SIDE NOTES
Jeff Ament spoke with Billboard about Pearl Jam's next studio album, saying, "There's so much stuff. It's Ed's gig to shape those things into songs and work on the lyrics. He's really thoughtful and meticulous about that. So it's going to depend on what his biorhythms are and what he gravitates toward. There's probably 15 songs that are fairly close to finished. There's another 15 that are in other forms. I don't think any of us really know what the record is yet."

DID YOU KNOW?

• Pearl Jam just announced that it will play at Lollapalooza Chile and Lollapalooza Brazil next spring.
• Jeff Ament will tour the U.S. this fall with his new side band, RNDM, who have an album called Acts due out October 30th.
• Vedder will begin a rescheduled U.S. solo tour on October 31st in Las Vegas and will stay on the road through early December.

Read more at Loudwire and Rolling Stone