Saturday, 7 Jun 2008
Set: Living Well’s the Best Revenge/These Days/Begin The Begin/What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?/Pilgrimage/Hollow Man/Animal/Man-Sized Wreath/Ignoreland/The Great Beyond/Accelerate/Houston/Electrolite/The One I Love/Final Straw/Find The River/Let Me In/Walk Unafraid/Orange Crush/Horse to Water/Bad Day/I’m Gonna DJ
Encore: Supernatural Superserious/Pretty Persuasion/Losing My Religion/Fall On Me (w/ Johnny Marr)/Man On The Moon
Last night was a long time coming and brought my R.E.M. fandom full circle. My first CD purchase was Out of Time, initially for then radio smash “Losing My Religion,” later finding enjoyment throughout, and over the years, devouring everything the group put out, including the recently released Accelerate. I’m not an old school fan who’s roots and favorites date back to their earlier collection. I’ve got favorites from each of their early records, but I very much came to be an R.E.M. fan with my first purchase and solidified my love through their mid-era gems like Automatic For The People, Monster and New Adventures In Hi-Fi.
The nice long line of traffic leading into the city resulted in missing MoB favorites The National’s opening set, but we found our seats just in time to catch Modest Mouse for the first time. Having heard mixed reviews on their live set I was pleasantly surprised by the way they filled up the venue with their sound. The house lights came up, eventually went back down and the band I’d been following for seventeen years was right before me. A show of hands after a prompting from Michael Stipe revealed half of those in attendance were first timers, and for those that weren’t as familiar with their back catalog I’m sure the main set lagged with very few noticable “hits,” but for me it went above and beyond all these years of expectations.
Chicago got the tour debut of “The Great Beyond,” and following a few songs later were three songs on my short list of favorites/wishes for the evening “Electrolite,” “Find The River,” and “Let Me In.” By the time “I’m Gonna DJ” reared its head as the set closer, a song that ranks amongst one of my least favorites, I was having such a great evening that I ended up enjoying the hell out of it.
The encore united both old fans and new with their newest hit “Supernatural Superserious” and a Johnny Marr enhanced take on “Fall On Me.” The band ended the night, as appears to be standard with “Man On The Moon,” which was a good enough send off to the rest of the weekend. Over the course of the evening, R.E.M.’s music flooded me with memories that their music provided the musical soundtrack. Those memories, now forever glued to those songs, will always support my adoration for this band.
There were lots of people at the show last night, let me know what you thought! What did you think of The National and Modest Mouse? How did this show compare to other times catching R.E.M.? What were the musical highlights? Did you buy a $30 t-shirt? Which one?
Myspace: R.E.M.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I thought this show ranked #2 in my 6 times of seeing REM live,
Alpine in 89 being tops. I did not have a great seat, but the sound they put
out more than made up for the bad sight lines. I loved hearing These Days,
Find the River and Pretty Persuasion live again, as well as the strong new material. It was an excellent night for REM and all of us who enjoy their music.
I thought Modest Mouse was underwhelming,
but the National really sounded good in the big house that Jordan built!
June 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
The good… IGNORELAND (song of the night, by a mile), Find The River, I’m Gonna DJ, Let Me In and Horse to Water (the best of the new songs). Also, The National were very, very good.
The bad… For a band that can be so inventive, I do not understand why they continue to play The One I Love, Orange Crush and Losing My Religion. They need to be brave and challenge the public – this is what R.E.M. has always done with their records and they should do it more live. Modest Mouse was simply awful. For the life of me, I don’t see what people think is so great about that band.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I couldn’t help thinking during the concert, and now listening to the record, how much “Horse To Water” has a very Nirvana-like sound.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I was a bit disappointed by the acoustics for The National and Modest Mouse, but suspect that had more to do with my nosebleed seats and the UC itself (considering the National and Modest Mouse are two favorites of mine, though this was my first time at United Center). That aside, I especially enjoyed the National’s set (including “Slow Show” and “Fake Empire”) and was sorry for them that so few seats were filled by that point. As for REM: this was my first time seeing them in concert, and I was blown away by Stipe’s energy.
And, no, no $30 shirt for me.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Awesome show. Modest Mouse were extremely disappointing, but The National blew the doors off — there’s a reason they got a louder ovation at the end. I’d seen them in a smaller venue some years back and I was very impressed at how well they handled playing in such a huge arena. Good for them, I hope they gained some fans.
First timer for REM as well and Stipe too blew my girlfriend and I away. Would have liked to hear more hits, but what can ya do. My girlfriend bought a $30 shirt.. or $35, whatever it was. She got a black one.. don’t recall which. Not the one with tour dates though.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Amazing show. My husband and I had the order of the opening acts reversed. So we sat through the Modest Mouse show thinking it was the National and we were very disappointed (yes, we were first timers for both acts!). Now that I know we missed the National, I am a little sad. They’re one of our friends’ favorites and we were looking forward to it.
REM was amazing, awesome, (insert appropriate superlative here). The show was just what I would have wanted. Fewer “hits” and more of the obscure great music. Similar to the author I came to REM midstream, but I have come to love their earlier stuff. I was so happy that it wasn’t a “top 40″ hit concert. At one point some girl behind me said “are they ever going to play something I like?” I wanted to turn around and throttle her. Even though I didn’t know all of the songs they played, I enjoyed them immensely.
The acoustic version of Let Me In had to be one of the most moving parts of the concert. I had chills.
I did buy a shirt. The white one with the tour dates. So I’m a groupie, so what? This was definitely worth remembering.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I agree — Ignoreland was one of the major highlights of the night! These Days is a great 2nd song of the set…like it is a great second song on Life’s Rich Pageant. I love how we got three LRP songs. Yay for the accoustic “Let Me In”. I agree on the comment about why they still play “Losing My Religion” all the times. Maybe Peter just needs a reason to break out the Mandolin, and he doesn’t remember how to play “Half a World Away”. But they have to be tired of playing that. So they’ve retired “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” for the show closer apparently….but not Religion?
Of the four times I’ve seen them, this would rank #3. Last time around at United Center was better (Nightswimming!) and on the “Up” Tour at Merriweather Post Pavillion was probably one of my top 10 shows all-time. Michael looked like he was having fun and was really in to it, and that’s always fun to watch. Not sure what exactly Johnny Marr added to “Fall On Me” that we didn’t already have….but still it’s cool that he came out to play.
Due to Chicago traffic on the commute from Milwaukee, we came in during the middle of the Modest Mouse set as they were playing Fire It Up. Didn’t really care for anything they did the rest of their set. Would have loved to have seen The National again…
June 9th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Great review and comments from everyone. I too would like to see Losing My Religion retired but on several shows I’ve been too they have mentioned how overwhelmed they were by what a big hit it was, so I think they probably think it’s the one they have to do. And it’s probably what made them megastars. I joined on with Document and The One I Love so that is a gold standard for me but they got huge with Out of Time.
The band was awesome in Chicago and great to see them having so much fun. Was so cool to hear Ignoreland – have always loved it and nobody knows what I’m talking about.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Does anyone know where I can find a recording or video of the show for sale with The National and Modest Mouse, not just R.E.M.????
June 10th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
A couple takes on Friday night’s REM concert, history, etc.
I went to the rem show expecting very little indeed. I’d seen them on Life’s Rich Paegant tour (1986) at a hall in Kalamazoo that held maybe 4,000, and again on Green at Cobo in Detroit, and then finally at Allstate Arena on Monster. Each show was less compelling to me personally than the previous one, but . . . at least each of those shows had Bill Berry on drums. As a very big fan of their early output, it really bothered and still does bother me, that contrary to what Peter Buck said in more than one interview, they did not stop when it became “anything less than all four of us” and they did not stop in 2000 — two contingencies which Buck promised would be the death knell for the group. The problem with continuing on is that . . . if they had just stopped on Monster . . . they’d have had a 12 year span with all good, or at least, decent – records. No one gets down on the Beatles for a bullshit record later by Ringo or for that matter John. Similarly, no one would say “REM blows now” if Stipe had made any number of crap records on his own. In other words, I feel they have really squandered their place in the firmament, culture, music history, etc. That’s my main issue with the group. Unlike a lot of other people that grew up on r.e.m, and saw them pull the laboring oar seemingly creating college radio ex nihilo, I didn’t mind it when they reached a much larger audience. In fact, I was delighted that they hit the Top Ten with “The One I Love,” which is still a great song in my book. I didn’t mind it when they booted IRS and signed to Warner Bros. But I did mind it when they continued without Bill Berry. It isn’t just his peculiarities as a drummer (and backing vocalist) that they lost, it was also, presumably, his veto power on ideas, tunes, arrangements, etc, that he didn’t feel were up to snuff. Something happened with the band’s ability or inclination to self-edit, and I think it has something to do with Bill Berry’s departure. The sum is greater than the parts. A truism that is especially true when it comes to GREAT bands.
That said, they were quite good at the United Center. Here are some tunes they didn’t play, much to their credit: Everybody Hurts, It’s the End of the World as We Know It, Stand. To me, that’s almost as telling as what they did play: Pilgrimage, Fall On Me (with Johnny Marr doubling Buck’s rickenbacker arpeggios – very cool), Begin the Begin, several tunes off of Lifes Rich Paegant, in fact, The One I Love, and a bunch of other upbeat and rocking tunes from their heyday. Also, their new record has a lot of upbeat, old-style stuff that came across well. Mike Mills was a complete badass as usual, and Stipe was very effective. I was pleasantly surprised.