The four years between new releases, the longest gap in the history of R.E.M., were filled with a live album and two greatest-hits collections, a sure sign of a band playing for time. But unlike its claustrophobic predecessors, Accelerate doesn't feel as though it spent too long in the oven.

The core trio of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills brought a renewed sense of purpose to the Mann Center on Wednesday night. Augmented by drummer Bill Rieflin and guitarist Scott McCaughey, they touched on nearly every album in their catalog (with the notable exception of Around the Sun) over the course of a two-hour set.

Even before the first song had begun, Stipe was champing at the bit, impatiently thumping his microphone while the musicians took their places. Accelerate's aggressive songs give vent to Stipe's political frustrations, sitting neatly alongside "Ignoreland" from 1992's Automatic for the People, played live on this tour for the first time.

But the new "Man-Sized Wreath" shows Stipe's sometimes-elusive lighter side; as he screamed "Wow!" between verses, the word flashed on the screens behind him in comic-book word-balloon style. The sung-spoken "I'm Gonna DJ" spoofs Stipe's penchant for apocalyptic tales, fantasizing about a heaven with a "kickin' playlist."

Slipping seamlessly through nearly three decades of existence, the band made a compelling case for staying on the scene, with a little help from their friends.

Johnny Marr, formerly with the Smiths, now with opening band Modest Mouse, lent shimmering guitar to "Fall on Me" and "Man on the Moon." For fans who've been following the tour's set lists, Marr's return was no surprise.

But the Mann's audience got an extra treat when Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder took the stage. (Pearl Jam was in the area to play the Susquehanna Bank Center last night and tonight.) Trading verses with Stipe on "Begin the Begin," Vedder's powerful roar drew new life from a 20-year-old song. But when he wasn't singing, Vedder was just another fan, dancing around the stage with a giddiness rarely seen at his own shows. If nothing else, the members of R.E.M. can go to their graves knowing they made Eddie Vedder smile.

Levity was in short supply earlier in the night. The National opened the show with a set drawn largely from last year's album, Boxer, on which moody, turbulent songs built to thrilling crescendos, although the incongruous daylight didn't help the mood.

Then with Marr and frontman Isaac Brock trading guitar riffs, Modest Mouse raised a mighty racket, but Brock's hoarse shouts came off as more petulant than righteous.

Although the National played to a scant early-evening audience and Modest Mouse to a steadily filling hall, the National's fans let out a noticeably louder yell when Stipe invoked both bands' names at the end of the night. Modest Mouse may be the bigger band in terms of hit singles and album sales, but the National's performance invoked a fervor that was deep as well as wide.