Stove reheats

Hot Stove Cool Music
At: Paradise Rock Club, last night

By Sarah Rodman
Globe Staff

Still basking in the glow of the Red Sox 2007 World Series championship, the eighth-annual winter edition of the Hot Stove Cool Music benefit concert at the Paradise Sunday night kicked off 2008 with the same winning team attitude.

The epic, collegial five-hour show featured the potpourri of musicians sitting in on one another's sets resulting in a mess of good vibes, good music, good humor, and a little baseball talk, courtesy of event co-founder/ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons and part-time rocker/Sox general manager Theo Epstein. (The latter also graciously fielded non-baseball questions from the sold-out crowd, and for the record, on Sunday night, it was boxers.)

The Elan Trotman band got things off to a spirited start with extended instrumental funk and rock workouts of tunes like Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” Murder Capital of the World followed with a dose of power pop, including a take on T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy.”

Fluffy of hair and grungy of inclination, former Sox ace Bronson Arroyo showed off, appropriately, his excellent pitch and a willingness to experiment during his set of Fray and Pearl Jam covers with the aid of a string quartet.

Lori McKenna and her top-notch band injected a little twang into the proceedings and welcomed Kay Hanley, Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom, and others onto the stage for a soaring rendition of the Band’s “It Makes No Difference,” which was one of the night’s highlights.

A raucous set from Gammons’s Hot Stove All-Stars proved the most eclectic and electric treat of the evening, as a huge band, including J. Geils’Band keyboardist Seth Justman, Epstein on guitar, Red Sox front-of-house guy Zack Scott on harmonica, the True Loves horns, and the rhythm section from the Gentlemen Pete Caldes and Ed Valauskas all converging on stage.

Among the peaks was Gammons's scathing new rocker about the Mitchell Report, Paul Barrere of Little Feat blazing through that band’s sprawling “Dixie Chicken,” and Janovitz contributing sizzling takes on Neil Young’s “Powderfinger” and the Stones’s “Happy” with guest tambourine player Tiffany Ortiz. (She reported that her hubby, David "Big Papi" Ortiz is recovering nicely from surgery.) And Mighty Mighty Bosstone mouthpiece Dicky Barrett fronted the crew for a run-through of Geils’s “Give it to Me.”

Boston Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck’s band, French Lick, dashed genially through good-time covers like “I Saw Her Standing There." Fresh off the “Hannah Montana” tour, Hanley sounded tough and true in her own set, which included the Letters to Cleo chestnut “Veda Very Shining.” Eli “Paperboy” Reed & the True Loves kept the energy going with their classic soul and blues routine.

Dear Leader capped the night in grandiose form with singer Aaron Perrino belting out intelligent rock anthems in his best high-dudgeon wail.

MC Mike O’Malley gets better and better at the difficult task of keeping the show flowing by interviewing the participants and serving as auctioneer during set breaks.

In addition to the stage auctions, which racked up more than $20,000, the Paradise Lounge was set up with silent-auction items, raffles, and opportunities for patrons to get their picture snapped with the 2007 World Series trophy. More than $200,000 was raised from the weekend festivities to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Epstein’s Foundation to be Named Later.