Rock, Sox, and a hot time

Sunday night's Hot Stove, Cool Music benefit concert and auction was the best in the event's seven-year history.

Why? In addition to Kay Hanley, Bill Janovitz, and a who's who of local musicians that have brought Boston's signature indie rock to Hot Stove stages over the years, Sunday's lineup was expanded to include soul phenom Eli "Paperboy" Reed , Boston hip-hop collective 4Peace, garage rockers the Downbeat 5, power-pop maestros the Figgs, and the lush (and surprisingly hard-charging) sounds of the Pernice Brothers. At an event that clocks in at just under four hours, a little musical diversity goes a long way.

Reed, a 23-year-old Brookline singer and guitarist with a killer falsetto and real feel for old-school rhythm & blues, kicked off the concert with an irresistible, horn-stoked homage to mid-century soul. Punky speedballs courtesy of the Downbeat 5 and Hanley's evergreen, effervescent pop-rockers followed. But the packed crowd erupted when the excellent nine-piece rap group 4Peace took the stage. Here was something fresh, topical, potent, and exhilarating.

As one astute concertgoer commented, Teenage Fanclub wishes they sounded as great as classic pop hookmeisters the Pernice Brothers. And despite the seriously thinned audience for their late-show set, the Figgs oozed rock 'n' roll fervor.

ESPN baseball commentator and Hot Stove cofounder Peter Gammons was in rare form, performing for the first time after suffering a brain aneurysm last June. Chatting backstage, Janovitz jokingly attributed Gammons's show stopper set to steroids. Backed by the cream of Boston's rock scene plus Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and pitcher Lenny DiNardo, Gammons provided his own explanation during Jimmy Reed's "Take Out Some Insurance," the usually mild-mannered singer spitting the line "I'm healthier than ever, baby" with gusto and glee.

MC Mike O'Malley has settled into his annual role as a snarky-sweet host, ushering the crowd through the proceedings with amusing edge and impeccable timing. How many auctioneers would boost slow bidding for a Curt Schilling-signed electric guitar by vowing that "if we get the bid above $1,000, I'll stab Curt in his other ankle and he'll bleed on it." The instrument went for $3,000. Nearly $80,000 was raised for A Foundation to Be Named Later, and other charities that serve underprivileged youths.

The evening ended on a high note with what Figgs frontman Mike Gent correctly called "guitarmageddon." Seven (or nine, or eight, depending on who wandered onto the stage) ax-wielding musicians and athletes -- along with sundry drummers, bassists, and sax players -- blew through the English Beat's "Save It for Later" and Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From." A very good time for a very good cause.

Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com. For more on music, visit boston.com/ae/music/blog.