A quick Spaghetti Western reflection of R.E.M's one month accelerated tour of America.
The Good: Playing with Johnny Marr in the Fall On Me encore / Playing Ignoreland / Circus Envy getting an airing. Micheal wearing a nice suit! And not too much strange make up / Did I mention Ignoreland ?/ Acoustic version of Let Me In (all those stars really do drip like butter). Modest Mouse!!
The Bad: Getting hit by lighting. Rain. Not playing Float On in your set list!!
The Ugly: The Cowboy Hats that Mike Mills wore! To much use of !! !
REM played a set in Atlanta for the finale of the North American leg of their world tour. #remtw
The concert was at the Lakewood Amphitheatre a place R.E.M. has never previously played at.
R.E.M.'s concert set list
1) These Days 2) Living Well Is the Best Revenge 3) So Fast, So Numb 4) What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? 5) Time After Time (Annelise) 6) Driver 8 7) Man Sized Wreath 8) Walk Unafraid 9) Hollow Man 10) Ignoreland 11) Houston 12) Electrolite 13) (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville 14) Auctioneer (Another Engine) 15) Harborcoat 16) The One I Love 17) I’ve Been High 18) Let Me In 19) Bad Day 20) Horse To Water 21) Orange Crush 22) I’m Gonna DJ
Encore
23) Supernatural Superserious 24) Losing My Religion 25) Pretty Persuasion 26) Nightswimming 27) Fall On Me (with Johnny Marr) 28) Man on the Moon (with Johnny Marr)
The sound check was Strange Currencies (twice, once without a vocal, So Fast So Numb, and Time after Time. You'll notice Strange Currencies was not played in the set - it might turn up later in the tour.
R.E.M. now take a short tour break and return to the long and winding road on July 2nd in Amsterdam at Westerpark.
What about this odd fellow - sitting down during Losing My Religion because he is sick of R.E.M. playing it every concert? I say having an attitude like that means you ruin the concert for yourself.
R.E.M. won the 2008 Flagpole Best Album Award for their latest album release, Accelerate on Thursday night, beating a trio of stellar local releases: the Drive-By-Trucker's "Brighter Than Creation's Dark," Elf Power's "In a Cave" and The Whigs "Mission Control."
Chris Bilheimer who is R.E.M.'s long term Art Director proudly accepted the award on behalf of the Mike Mills and co as they were playing a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
"The band wanted to be here tonight," said Chris Bilheimer, "but they booked Madison Square Garden and couldn't get their deposit back."
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge 2. These Days 3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 4. Bad Day 5. Drive 6. Hollow Man 7. Ignoreland 8. Man-Sized Wreath 9. Leaving New York 10. Disturbance At The Heron House 11. Houston 12. Electrolite 13. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville 14. Driver 8 15. Harborcoat 16. The One I Love 17. Until The Day Is Done 18. Let Me In 19. Horse To Water 20. Pretty Persuasion 21. Orange Crush 22. I'm Gonna DJ
R.E.M. Set List Encore:
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Losing My Religion 25. Begin The Begin 26. Fall On Me 27. Man On The Moon
R.E.M. CONCERT SET LIST PHILADELPHIA, PENNSLYVANIA
#remman
Here's R.E.M.s Philadelphia Concert Set List. Points from the show include the airing of Wolves, Lower and Depature from New Adventures in H iFi. Johnny Marr on played both Fall on Me and Man on the Moon - Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder dropped in to sing on Begin the Begin!
THis tour has been really noticable for R.E.M. mixing up the set list with old songs - Bertis Downs, R.E.M.'s manager, comments on it:
"It feels like the guys are enjoying this tour more than anything in recent memory, and the crowds haven't been this exuberant or joyful as far back as I can remember--the ACCELERATE material goes over great every night and the older and mid-period tunes the guys keep pulling out continue to delight and surprise everyone in the house--including importantly, the band themselves .
And with the wealth of catalog of R.E.M. songs over the years, it is no surprise that they can continually pull new/old things into the set list on a nightly basis--a half-dozen different songs have been the opener on a show this tour and so far they have included something not yet played on the tour. I am hoping they keep that up, and it is one reason I don't ever look at set lists before or during the shows--I like to be surprised too."
R.E.M.'s PHILADELPHIA, PENNSLYVANIA CONCERT SET LIST
1. These Days 2. Living Well Is the Best Revenge 3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 4. Wolves, Lower 5. Man-Sized Wreath 6. Turn You Inside-Out 7. Imitation Of Life 8. Staring Down The Barrel 9. Ignoreland 10. Bad Day 11. Hollow Man 12. The Great Beyond 13. Houston 14. Electrolite 15. Walk Unafraid 16. The One I Love 17. Find The River 18. Let Me In 19. Departure 20. Life And How To Live It 21. Orange Crush 22. I'm Gonna DJ
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Losing My Religion 25. Begin The Begin (w/ Eddie Vedder) 26. Fall On Me (w/ Johnny Marr) 27. Man On The Moon (w/ Johnny Marr)
More R.E.M. Set lists from this tour can be found here on REMURMUR
R.E.M. Concert Set List Jones Beach, New York #remjones
Have You Ever Seen The Rain...
1. So. Central Rain 2. These Days 3. Living Well Is the Best Revenge 4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 5. Man-Sized Wreath 6. 1,000,000 7. Ignoreland 8. Hollow Man 9. Welcome To The Occupation 10. Houston 11. Electrolite 12. Horse to Water 13. The One I Love 14. Let Me In 15. Bad Day 16. Orange Crush 17. I'm Gonna DJ 18. Supernatural Superserious 19. Losing My Religion 20. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) 21. Fall On Me 22. Man On The Moon
I think the band skipped the encore because of getting on late due to the rain - it normally would have started at Supernatural Superserious.
Bertis Downs, R.E.M.'s Manager / Legal Counsel had this to say:
The band went onstage at 10:15 tonight, almost an hour later than scheduled due to a pretty intense storm that rolled in off the water toward the end of Modest Mouse's set. Most of the crowd seems to have stayed around and there appears to be some topical improvisation in the setlist, at least so far. They opened with Have You Ever Seen The Rain? straight into S. Central Rain and now playing These Days . . .so we will hope the rain holds off and the show rocks on the way it has started.
R.E.M. concert set list from Boston, Massachusetts #remtweet 13 June 2008
R.E.M. did not play More than a Feeling... Micheal Stipe did give a message to Obama: "let's put our heads together and start a new country up." Which sounds like like a line from Cuyahuga ...
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge 2. Begin The Begin 3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 4. Circus Envy 5. Man-Sized Wreath 6. West Of The Fields 6. Ignoreland 8. Departure 9. Cuyahoga 10. Hollow Man 11. Driver 8 12. Houston 13. Electrolite 14. Maps And Legends 15. Horse to Water 16. The One I Love 17. I’ve Been High 18. Let Me In 19. Bad Day 20. Get Up 21. Orange Crush 22. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Losing My Religion 25. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville 26. Fall On Me 27. Pretty Persuasion 28. Man On The Moon
1. Finest Worksong 2. Living Well Is the Best Revenge 3. Bad Day 4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 5. Drive 6. Ignoreland 7. Man-Sized Wreath 8. Little America 9. Hollow Man 10. Walk Unafraid. 11. Houston 12. Electrolite 13. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville 14. Pop Song 89 15. Horse to Water 16. The One I Love 17. Driver 8 18. Until The Day Is Done 19. Let Me In 20. These Days 21. Orange Crush 22. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Losing My Religion 25. Mr. Richards 26. Fall On Me 27. Man On The Moon
Fall On Me/ Johnny Marr / Peter Buck / R.E.M./ Video #remdc
Here's an R.E.M. youtube video that feel's gravity's pull - REM and Johhny Marr Playing, Fall on Me at the Toronto Concert.
This song is a janglely arrpeggio guitar based song with classic R.E.M. harmonies and is seemingly their answer to Newton figuring out why an apple fell on his head. Or is it?
Micheal Stipe once described the song as being concerned about acid rain and its effects on the environment, hence the first line of the chorus, "Don't fall on me." Of course it has other things mixed into too - as you would expect from Stipe.
The Wikipedia for Fall on Me notes that is from R.E.M.'s fourth album, 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant. It was the first of two singles released from that LP. It peaked at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On the recent performance of Fall on Me and Johnny Marr's accompanyment Stereogum had this to say, "These "Fall On Me"s are fun for highlighting that interesting time-fold between R.E.M. and Modest Mouse: while Isaac Brock is being quoted in SPIN about the enduring influence of R.E.M., his guitarist is making a moment by treating showgoers to some iconic contemporaries in collaboration."
R.E.M. concert set list from Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, North Carolina
I could possibly have killed Bill Berry himself to see Find the River .... #remnc 10 June 2008
R.E.M.'s Set list Harborcoat Living Well's The Best Revenge Bad Day Whats the Frequency, Kenneth? 1,000,000 Man-Sized Wreath Welcome To The Occupation Accelerate 7 Chinese Brothers Hollow Man Imitation of Life Houston Electrolite Walk Unafraid The One I Love Final Straw Find The River Let Me In Horse To Water Auctioneer (Another Engine) Orange Crush I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
Supernatural Superserious Losing My Religion Pretty Persuasion Fall On Me (w/Johnny Marr) Sitting Still (w/Mitch Easter and Don Dixon) Man On The Moon
Furry Happy Monsters by R.E.M. and some friends from Sesame Street - This must be the funniest thing I have ever seen on You Tube... Its a self parody of Shiny Happy People from the Out of Time album with Peter Buck playing it on a Banjo and Mike Mills an upright bass!
And here's the original video of Shiny Happy People with Stipe wearing his silly cap...
The Muppet Wikia describes the song as being about monsters being 'happy, then sad, then happy again'. I say it's kinda happy, kinda shiny... Who knew there was a wikipedia for Muppets!?
In the original Shiny Happy People, the female lead was sung by Kate Pierson, one of the singers from The B52s. In this version the Kate character is played by Stephanie Abruzzo who is a long term puppeteer for Sesame Street.
Any way, here's the lyrics to Furry Happy Monsters
Ha Ha Ha Ha Furry happy monsters laughing (oh, that?s great!) (ha ha ha ha) Monsters having fun, Happy, happy See them jump and run. Happy, happy laughing all the while Cheerful cheerful Flashing a big smile That's a perfect sign That they're feeling fine
Something has gone wrong, (what are we gonna do?) Sighing, sighing. Faces have turned long, ( I am so sad!) Crying, crying. Hear them sob and whine, (oh oh oh) Tearful, tearful. That's a real good sign, That they're feeling glum. Sad, sad times have come.
Furry sobbing monsters feeling sad. Furry sobbing monsters feeling sad. (oh so it's sad) Furry sobbing monsters crying.
Come on monsters, you don't have to cry, (we don't) we can be happy! (all right!) (yeah!)
The R.E.M. touring machine accelerated to Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on Sunday as Stipey and Co's North American tour hits the demicentre mark with eight shows remaining on the stretch. The Tour will then head to Europe for a 40 date tour including visiting Belgium, Spain and France, where the socialists among them get really upset when the price of milk and R.E.M. tickets go up 1 franc.
Again Johnny Marr gets to play 'Fall on Me' during the encore. Ignoreland has become a staple. 7 Chinese Bros and Begin the Begin were the old school songs pulled out of the bag.
Photo: Micheal Stipe appears to be cloned during the Toronto concert.
Here's R.E.M.'s Toronto Set List
These Days Horse To Water WTFK Drive Man-Sized Wreath So Fast, So Numb Ignoreland Accelerate 7 Chinese Bros. Hollow Man Bad Day Houston Electrolite Living Well The One I Love Final Straw Until The Day Is Done Let Me In Begin The Begin Animal Orange Crush I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
Supernatural Superserious Losing My Religion Second Guessing Fall On Me (with Johnny Marr again) Man On The Moon
R.E.M. played a popular set at the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois.
Here's some pictures of the show and the REM set list. It was a notable gig for Johnny Marr played with the band on Fall On Me during the encore.
1. Living Well's the Best Revenge 2. These Days 3. Begin The Begin 4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 5. Pilgrimage 6. Hollow Man 6. Animal 8. Man-Sized Wreath 9. Ignoreland 10. The Great Beyond 11. Accelerate 12. Houston 13. Electrolite 14. The One I Love 15. Final Straw 16. Find The River 17. Let Me In 18. Walk Unafraid 19. Orange Crush 20. Horse to Water 21. Bad Day 22. I'm Gonna DJ
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Pretty Persuasion 25. Losing My Religion 26. Fall On Me (w/ Johnny Marr) 27. Man On The Moon
Pics from REMHQ
Sounds like the band is having a lot of fun on this tour. The fact they seem to be mixing up the set lists so much suggests this - as does this review comment
"Some of my favorite moments of the night were the slight mis-steps and impromptu moments. For instance, they did Great Beyond after introducing it as a song that didn’t go well when attempted at soundcheck. They killed it during the concert; so much so that when it was over, Mr. Stipe said something along the lines of, “That was so good, we should do it again.” Moments later, Mr. Buck began strumming the chords, and the band kicked back in for another chorus"
Here's a photo of the actual set list from R.E.M.'s St Paul concert. Note the band orginally intened to play drive, animal and imitation of life but instead chose to play Fall on Me with Johnny Marr from Modest Mouse (formerly more famous from english band The Smiths) playing along.
R.E.M. played a concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota
Here's R.E.M.'s concert set list
1. Living Well's the Best Revenge 2. These Days 3. Disturbance At The Heron House 4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 5. Hollow Man 6. Shaking Through 7. Man-Sized Wreath 8. West Of The Fields 9. Accelerate 10. Ignoreland 11. Star 69 12. Auctioneer 13. Houston 14. Electrolite 15. The One I Love 16. Final Straw 17. Sweetness Follows 18. Let Me In 19. Walk Unafraid 20. Horse to Water 21. Bad Day 22. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. Welcome to the Occupation 25. Losing My Religion 26. Fall On Me 27. Man On The Moon
All the Fans know by now that R.E.M. played a concert at Red Rocks in Colarado. But do they know it's the same venue at which U2 famously played in the rain and released the live album from that show called Under a Blood Red Sky.?
Here's the set list from the R.E.M. gig, for the U2 one, following the link or buy the album!
Cuyahoga and Feeling Gravity's Pull were the songs Peter Buck pulled out of the bag.
R.E.M.'s Red Rocks Set List
1. Living Well's the Best Revenge 2. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 3. Welcome to the Occupation 4. Ignoreland 5. Man-Sized Wreath 6. World Leader Pretend 7. Accelerate 8. Cuyahoga 9. Hollow Man 10. Walk Unafraid 11. Houston 12. Electrolite 13. The One I Love 14. Feeling Gravity's Pull 15. Departure 16. Final Straw 17. I've Been High 18. Let Me In 19. Horse to Water 20. Bad Day 21. Orange Crush 22. I'm Gonna DJ
23. Supernatural Superserious 24. These Days 25. Losing My Religion 26. Fall On Me 27. Man On The Moon
R.E.M. concert set list from from the Greek Theatre
Berkeley, CA
Second Night residency, June 1st, 2008
R.E.M. Set list These Days Living Well Is the Best Revenge Begin the Begin What's the Frequency, Kenneth Accelerate Ignoreland Drive Man-sized Wreath So. Central Rain Hollow Man Auctioneer Houston Electrolite Disturbance at the Heron House Final Straw I've Been High Let Me In Losing My Religion Bad Day Horse to Water Orange Crush Man on the Moon
encore
Supernatural Superserious Fall on Me Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) The One I Love Until the Day Is Done I'm Gonna DJ
Horse To Water Little America What’s The Frequency, Kenneth Ignoreland Accelerate Man-Sized Wreath Imitation of Life West of the Fields Hollow Man Wolves, Lower Walk Unafraid Houston Electrolite The One I Love Final Straw Find The River Let Me In Losing My Religion Living Well Is The Best Revenge Bad Day Orange Crush I’m Gonna DJ
Encore:
Supernatural Superserious Mr. Richards Driver 8 Life And How To Live It Man On The Moon
