R.E.M., June 18, Mann Center

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R.E.M., June 18, Mann Center

POSTED: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 6:02 PM

Filed Under: Music | Show Last Night

Photo | John Vettese

We are young despite the years.

Exclaimation points. Capital letters. Living life, this instant. Just a few overarching themes to chew on from R.E.M.'s spirited set at the Mann Center last night. I mean, bam, two songs in, there was the voiciferous new rocker "Living Well is the Best Revenge," echoed later by the dreamy swirly pallate of "Imitation of Life" and "Life and How To Live It." And then the pop art projections of lyrical interjections flickering behind the band - "WOW!" "NOW!" "YEAH!" That stuff crops up all over songs on Accelerate, the new record that everybody is calling a "return to form" for Athens, Ga. college rock royalty.

It's kind of a trite, meaningless phrase that gets chucked around by critics and rock nerds in lieu of saying "return to the sound of that one great album before our fickle asses got bored and decided the band now sucked." Usually it translates to a safe, unadventurous return to a banal, commercially viable earlier sound, the stuff the bigger audiences want to hear, moreso than the stuff that's interesting. Not so here.

Photo | John Vettese

Sure, cynics say (as Paste surpringly has) that the new record is a rote delivery of Life's Rich Pagent-era riffs, arpeggios, tempos and structures designed for pure marketability. That's a fair argument to be made. Hearing the band open with the classic "These Days" immediately followed by "Living Well" was a bit head-spinny.

But what makes the stuff from Accelerate different is that there seems to be no sense of going-through-the-motions about it. Calculated or not, commercially marketable sound or not, there's no denying the venom in Michael Stipe's delivery as he spits about manipluative mass media in "Man-Sized Wreath" or the distress he pours into the post-Katrina memorium "Houston." Or the pure exhuberence of the silly, celebratory closer "I'm Gonna D.J."

There's this sense of piss and vinegar and immediacy, like they're still the twentysomethings gigging and squatting in a old church in a southern college town. It's resolute defiance: we're not going to go quietly into the night just because a lot of folks found Around the Sun (or any album since original drummer Bill Berry left in '97) to be a snoozer.

Photo | John Vettese

So it goes with watching R.E.M. onstage last night. Openers Modest Mouse seemed tremendously uncomfortable in the vast amphitheater space and plodded their way through the set without much excitement (or apparent interest in their own performance); they seemed like they'd much rather be in a club. R.E.M., on the other hand, rocked the amphitheater like it was a club by dancing, jumping, leaping, smiling. Actually seeming as though they cared. Like they liked playing music. Like there was nowhere at that moment that they'd rather be.

It sure was nice of Jerry Garcia to rise from the grave and join R.E.M. on tour...oh no wait that's Scott McCaughey.

Photo | John Vettese

...who looks not unlike Mike Mills in this shot.

Photo | John Vettese

Eddie Vedder, in town for a couple Pearl Jam shows, made an impromptu appearance onstage to growl along to "Begin the Begin." Johnny Marr jammed along to "Fall on Me" and "Man on the Moon." Stipe and Mike Mills followed a riser out into the crowd, strutting for outstretched arms and laughing at one another. Peter Buck did splits in front of his amp, which was lined with toy dinosaurs.

That's flexible for 51!

Photo | John Vettese

And for however much listeners distance themselves from the cuts that don't sound like IRS Records outtakes, R.E.M. thankfully still embraces it's gentler, prettier, more esoteric side, including in the set "Walk Unafraid," "Find the River" and "Electrolite." They hit all eras of their career with equal aplomb, playing along with a wink and a grin. Is an affirmation, an energization. It's part of their life, and they're still living. Wow.

Photo | John Vettese

Ramon

Posted 2008-06-20 09:29:21

This is the best review of a concert I have read in a very long time. Even though I don't agree that this was as good a show as it seems, the sentiment exposed is wonderful and right on the money. This review should be in the Inquirer, not the one they published which sucked for its superficiality. Great job.

Posted by john vettese @ 6:02 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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