Last time I saw R.E.M was in Slane. Not a big R.EM fan but I like a lot of their stuff. At Slane Michael Stipe hardly talked to the crowd a few words here and there and probably introduced the next song and that was about it, last night he was full of chat and laughing and joking with audience.
This was my first time at a gig in the Olympia and I was surprised at how small and intimate a venue it is. It was fab. Before REM came on there was a support act who name eludes me now(Wasn't really that interested in them).
Before R.E.M came on the words "THIS IS NOT A SHOW" was projected on to the stage backdrop. R.E.M came on stage and Mike Mills announce that This is not a show and the crowd just laughed. Michael Stipe thank everyone for coming and explained why they were here playing the Olympia. They wanted to "get out of the studio and practice some new songs in front of a live crowd and where better to do it than the Olympia Theatre in Dublin" he also promise that "They will play 11 new songs but will play some old songs that they haven't played in 15-20 years live"
I didn't know any of the new songs that they played and worse I didn't even know any of the old songs they were old album tracks of their first few albums.
From the start they rocked. The new songs sound really really good live and were very rock orientated like old R.E.M. Michael Stipe had his laptop with his lyrics on it and some sheets paper with lyrics. While he was singing and performing he was writing down changes and adding notes to his lyrics. During the set Stipe would start talking about the older songs that they started to rediscover and the meaning of the lyrics behind them now and some songs that didn't have any meaning behind them.
Overall I have to say it was a great gig enjoyed by the crowd and the band seem to enjoy it to. I think it might have converted me to a fully pledged R.E.M fan
Click Here for Photos
3 comments:
Lucky you. Those are some great shots. The show that was not a show sounds like a pretty unique experience, I've been reading bits and pieces about the rehearsals here and there but little has been said (at least where I've been looking) about the new material so I am interested to hear that you think they rock, I wouldn't mind hearing what they had to say about the meaning of the lyrics of older material.
He was talking about the old songs and rediscovering them again and enjoying playing them live. One of the songs they played they only rehearsed that day once or twice and it was the first time playing it in twenty odd years. I will try and get the name of some of the old songs they played.
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