R.E.M.
Earls Court, London - 22nd June 1999
Support: Stereolab
My third and final time seeing R.E.M.,and my second time with MrsRobster. The last time I saw them was when MrsRobster and I met. Since then all sorts of things had happened, including the birth of our first child. Although we didn't know for sure at this point, by the time this show came around, she was pregnant with our second.
This was the first of two consecutive nights for R.E.M. in this colossal space. It was the biggest indoor show either of us had ever been to. We managed to get ourselves fairly near the front so the sound and view were excellent.
Stereolab supported, but I can remember nothing about them now. A real shame as I have vague memories of thinking they were quite good.
R.E.M. were touring for the first time since Bill quit, and the latest record 'Up' was an odd one with all sorts of sounds you wouldn't have associated with R.E.M. previously. Of course, as it turned out, they were nothing short of brilliant, though I did feel slightly more detached from the band than previous times. Stipe, however, did have a bit of banter with crowd members which lent a hint of intimacy to proceedings despite the vast size of the venue.
They played Pilgrimage which absolutely delighted me. They also played Gardening At Night for the first time in 13 years, which also thrilled me! They played Driver 8 and Life And How To Live It. They also played quite a bit from the new album which I didn't think would work so well in the live setting, but damn! It worked! They didn't play Country Feedback, which would have made it perfect, but maybe that's being greedy. Besides, they did play it on night two, but not Gardening... so fair's fair.
It was a great show. R.E.M. had never let me down. Well, not live, at least. We all know what happened next - two appalling albums followed, which meant I disengaged with them for a few years before they briefly picked themselves up for their final two releases prior to breaking up. But this was my live farewell to a band who still mean more to me than any other band ever. It was a fond one.
A few days later, R.E.M. headlined Glastonbury. It was their first appearance at the festival,surprisingly. Here's some of that set.
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