 After releasing what may prove to be their best album this decade, R.E.M. embarked on a short U.S. tour which hit Mansfield, MA on Friday. Despite the recent heatwave across the country by the time the doors opened the temperature was down to a comfortable 80 degrees with a nice breeze sweeping across the open-air Tweeter Center.
The three remaining members of R.E.M. entered from stage right, waving to the crowd and soaking up the applause. They were joined on stage by Bill Rieflin formerly of Ministry and currently filling the role of drummer for R.E.M. and long-time "5th member" of R.E.M. Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5.
The first obvious thing one notices about R.E.M. when they walk on stage is their dynamic. Mike Mills has seemingly gotten younger. He went from a wormy geek in the 80s to a glam-rockstar in the 90s and today. Michael Stipe went from the mysterious mumbler of the 80s and 90s to the outspoken lyric-writer and social activist. The backbone of the band is still the quiet workhorse Peter Buck. Although Buck only seems to make news when he's detained for drunken behavior, his jangly guitar writing has been the basis for much of the band's success. In fact it was Buck's insistence on not spending too much time rehearsing or writing for Accelerate which fans credit the album's success.
As Michael Stipe saunters to the middle of the stage, he raises his arms as though he was just named the victory in a heavy-weight bout. He looks over as Buck plugs in his guitar, and the band is off. First comes "Living Well is the Best Revenge" the opening track from Accelerate whose arpeggio riff and raw energy makes the listener recall the years of Document. When the songs finished the band didn't relish in applause long before jumping right into "Begin the Begin", the blazing Southern rock anthem from Lifes Rich Pageant. They followed the old with something a little newer, the arena rock opener from Monster "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?".
Then came for the first surprise of the night. R.E.M. whipped out the little played "Circus Envy". The song buried on the back end of Monster is a great gritty rock song with lots of energy and a fair amount of angst.
The set would prove to be filled with surprises by R.E.M. Michael Stipe said "this song was written in the French Quarters of New Orleans in 1982" before whipping into Murmur's closing track "West of the Fields". Michael told a quick story about his father's disappointment with the senior Bush's handling of the Contra before playing "Ignoreland" which has never been played live before this tour.
R.E.M. played "Departure" for only the second time this tour. "Departure" would prove to be the only song played from New Adventures in Hi-Fi, but a more than worthy addition to the high energy set. The band surprisingly played "Maps and Legends" which Michael prefaced by saying they hadn't played in three years, until Peter corrected him that they had played it once in the last three years.
The band blistered through 16 high energy songs before finally slowing down with an acoustic version of the Reveal track "I've Been High" and the newly worked acoustic version of Monster's "Let Me In". The band also whipped out Green's "Get Up" for only the second time this tour.
The show came to a close with a blistering rendition of Accelerate's closing track "I'm Gonna DJ". During the song Stipe accidental dropped the mic, which he would later admit is the first time he can remember dropping a mic on stage.
The band did not make the crowd wait long to grace them with an encore. They started by playing the lead single from Accelerate "Supernatural Superserious" and following it by playing the band's biggest hit "Losing my Religion". Then another little surprise, Mike Mills took over lead vocal duties for "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville".
Then the band brought out Johnny Marr. Johnny Marr, the long time guitarist for the Smith has joined Modest Mouse who opened for R.E.M., has been joining R.E.M. onstage for much of this tour. Marr's joined the band for "Fall on Me" and "Pretty Persuasion" which Michael Stipe prefaced by saying "this song is about growing up queer in the 80s". The night came to a close with the band, still with Johnny Marr, doing the Andy Kaufman tribute song "Man on the Moon".
After a little over two hours worth of music, it's hard to believe that three men in their late 40s and early 50s can still rock this hard. The band never seemed to even break a sweat despite playing one of their most high energy sets in years. R.E.M. may end up being the Rolling Stones of their generation, because even after all these years they are still one of the best live acts in the world.
MP3: R.E.M. "Let Me In (acoustic)" recorded live in CA on 06.01.2008
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