REM in concert - Columbia, MD June 11

Wednesday night's concert was fantastic. REM really rocked it--a lot of uptempo songs, michael stipe was very energetic. I had seen them back in high school on mosnter tour, and dr. wintermute had been waiting to see the, well, pretty much her whole life. She's been listening to them since their very early albums. a story that she can (now) laugh at is that in college, she was due to see them in tallahassee. a freak tornado ripped through town, and the only building that it hit was the civic center. several years ago, REM came back to atlanta, and it was the same night as one of my friend's wedding. suffice to say, this show was long-awaited. we lucked out with the weather, too. although it has been in the 100s in dc (no exaggeration), we had a really cool evening, and we found a spot on the lawn about half way up, center stage.

first, the opening acts: the national and modest mouse. modest mouse was really excellent. their singer is all over the place--very expressive, with a really unique vocal delivery. he sing / yells his way through every song. and having johnny mar (from the smiths) was great.

during the break, we listed the five songs that we had to hear. at the top of my list was 'the final worksong.'

REM comes out, and sure enough, final worksong is the opening number! it made my night. the entire set list is below (courtesy dr. wintermute). hightlights for me (besides final worksong) were an acoustic version of 'let me in' (very haunting), supernatural superserious, mr. richards, and ignoreland. and bringing johnny mar out for the encore was great. stipe seemed to really being a lot of fun--he danced a lot, had some good banter, and was ecstatically celebrated obama's nomination.

1. Finest Worksong (Document)

2. Living Well is the best Revenge (Accelerate)

3. Bad Day (In Time: Best of REM 1998-2003)

4. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? (Monster)

5. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? (Monster)

6. Drive (Automatic for the People)

7. Ignoreland (Automatic for the People)

7. Man-Sized Wreath (Accelerate) Little America (Reckoning)

8. Hollow Man (Accelerate)

9. 10. Walk Unafraid (Up)

10. Houston (Accelerate)

11. 12. Electrolite (In Time: Best of REM 1998-2003)

12. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville (Reckoning)

13. Pop Song 89 (Green)

14. Horse to Water (Accelerate)

15. The One I Love (Document)

16. Driver 8 (Fables of the Reconstruction)

17. Until the Day is Done (Accelerate)

18. Let Me In (Monster)

19. These Days (Life’s Rich Pageant)

20. Orange Crush (Green)

21. I’m Gonna DJ (Accelerate)

Encore 1: Supernatural Superserious (Accelerate)

Encore 2: Losing My Religion (Out of Time)

Encore 3: Mr. Richards (Accelerate)

Encore 4: Fall On Me (w/Johnny Marr) (Life’s Rich Pageant)

Encore 5: Man On The Moon (w/Johnny Marr) (Automatic for the People)