Paul Weller has now been recording under his own name for 10 years, a longer time than he spent in either the Jam or the Style Council. Yet to much of his fan base, at least in the US, it’s all been downhill after that first band. Given his obvious classic-rock leanings and his love for long guitar solos, some feel he’s traded in the Jam for, well, the jam.

But his show at the Orpheum last Saturday, like his new Illumination (on Yep Roc), proved that Weller is really after something more timeless: he wants to make music that lifts the spirit, and he wants to maintain his toughness while doing it. All of which is just a fancy way of saying that he wants to make real soul music. The pre-set entertainment at the Orpheum (rare and great tracks by everyone from Toots & the Maytals to New Orleans soulman Robert Parker) was one give-away; Weller’s straight-up cover of Marvin Gaye’s "What’s Going On" was another. The latter — which drew loud applause on the line "War is not the answer" — sounded at least as timely now as it did in the ’70s. And once you realized that you weren’t going to hear your favorite Jam song (unless your favorite was one of the three he played: "That’s Entertainment," "In the Crowd," and "A Town Called Malice"), Weller’s own material did as well.

Those three Jam songs were three more than he’s done on most of his solo-era tours. And since he also did one Style Council song ("Long Hot Summer," one of that ill-conceived band’s few great numbers) and touched on all six of his solo studio albums, it was as close to a greatest-hits set as he’s come. Playing the same local venue that the Jam headlined on its last tour, he offered a more nuanced show than he has in the past. Shorter, melodic tunes filled the first two-thirds of the set, with Weller playing acoustic guitar and keyboards instead of his usual electric. Dabbling in techno and psychedelic pop, he at least proved he’s more versatile than he gets credit for being. Not until the show’s closing stretch did he pick up the electric and return to his characteristic sound — but those 20 minutes were so overwhelmingly good that the rest of the set felt like a preamble. Doing a soul strut ("Peacock Suit"), a wonderfully excessive wah-wah jam ("Foot of the Mountain"), and a couple of full-blown anthems ("Into Tomorrow" and "Town Called Malice"), Weller didn’t just put forth killer hooks and grooves: he also conveyed something you don’t hear a lot of these days, a little thing called optimism.