Monday, July 18, 2005
REM in Hyde Park
Well, I finally got to see one of my all-time favourite bands :D
It's been a good year for that, really - after seeing Idlewild, Ben Folds, Tori Amos and now REM, I can't think of any still-functioning bands that I'm particularly desparate to see. The Pixies, perhaps?
Or maybe REM again, because they were bloody fantastic!
Ben, Lucy and I met up in central London in the early afternoon and slowly meandered our way over to Hyde Park, stopping for food & drink on the way. We got there just in time for Idlewild's support set, and quickly realised that things were far from perfect (and this is without even mentioning the prospect of Feeder as the second support act! ;). As with Radiohead in Oxford's South Park a few years ago, there was a "gold" area in front of the stage for special ticket-holders, with the majority of ticket-holders kept behind another barrier further back. But whereas the Radiohead "gold" area was fairly small and didn't really detract from the experience, the one at REM was huge! Even stood as far forward as you could in the "standard" area, you were still miles from the stage and could only just make out who was who. Very disappointing. Lucy said afterwards that she almost started crying near the start of the set, because the show was so good but we couldn't experience it properly. I knew what she meant, but we also agreed that after the first few songs we got over it and just enjoyed ourselves.
Mike Stipe was on excellent form, doing crazy dances and jumping about the set. And his voice was superb. So many live acts are spoiled by the realisation that the singer can't actually sing, but Stipe's voice sounded just as powerful and controlled as it does on record. The sound in general was pretty good for an outdoor gig, and combined with crazy graphics and edited camerawork on the big screens made for a riveting experience. The only thing letting the side down early-on (apart from our distance from the stage) was the audience, who just stood there and occasionally clapped along but weren't really getting into it. There were a lot of older (for music fans, anyway) people there, so maybe that explains it.
By the end, though, it was just getting better and better. The crowd had loosened up, and as the encore progressed it became clear that the band were in a celebratory and quite possibly alcohol-enhanced mood. It was the last night of a year-long global tour, after all! Stipe became even more energetic, sitting atop Mike Mills' piano during "Nightswimming" (which Mills had already messed up at the start!) and ending it by stamping his feet on the keys. Then there was a lot of end-of-tour speeches (though oddly no reflections on the recent bombings, given Stipe's outspokenness against the Iraq war) and a couple more songs before some extremely protracted goodbyes and Stipe being carried offstage by his bandmates. Rock n' roll.
The evening ended with a lovely walk back to Waterloo through the parks, past Big Ben and over the Thames. A happy day :)
Setlist: Bad Day; What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?; The One I Love; Drive; The Outsiders; Sitting Still; Wanderlust; Animal; Leaving New York; Everybody Hurts; Electron Blue; Me In Honey; Electrolite; So Fast So Numb; E-Bow The Letter (with Patti Smith); Final Straw; Orange Crush; Walk Unafraid; Losing My Religion
Encore 1: Imitation Of Life; The Great Beyond; Nightswimming
Encore 2: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine); I’m Gonna DJ; Man On The Moon
It's been a good year for that, really - after seeing Idlewild, Ben Folds, Tori Amos and now REM, I can't think of any still-functioning bands that I'm particularly desparate to see. The Pixies, perhaps?
Or maybe REM again, because they were bloody fantastic!
Ben, Lucy and I met up in central London in the early afternoon and slowly meandered our way over to Hyde Park, stopping for food & drink on the way. We got there just in time for Idlewild's support set, and quickly realised that things were far from perfect (and this is without even mentioning the prospect of Feeder as the second support act! ;). As with Radiohead in Oxford's South Park a few years ago, there was a "gold" area in front of the stage for special ticket-holders, with the majority of ticket-holders kept behind another barrier further back. But whereas the Radiohead "gold" area was fairly small and didn't really detract from the experience, the one at REM was huge! Even stood as far forward as you could in the "standard" area, you were still miles from the stage and could only just make out who was who. Very disappointing. Lucy said afterwards that she almost started crying near the start of the set, because the show was so good but we couldn't experience it properly. I knew what she meant, but we also agreed that after the first few songs we got over it and just enjoyed ourselves.
Mike Stipe was on excellent form, doing crazy dances and jumping about the set. And his voice was superb. So many live acts are spoiled by the realisation that the singer can't actually sing, but Stipe's voice sounded just as powerful and controlled as it does on record. The sound in general was pretty good for an outdoor gig, and combined with crazy graphics and edited camerawork on the big screens made for a riveting experience. The only thing letting the side down early-on (apart from our distance from the stage) was the audience, who just stood there and occasionally clapped along but weren't really getting into it. There were a lot of older (for music fans, anyway) people there, so maybe that explains it.
By the end, though, it was just getting better and better. The crowd had loosened up, and as the encore progressed it became clear that the band were in a celebratory and quite possibly alcohol-enhanced mood. It was the last night of a year-long global tour, after all! Stipe became even more energetic, sitting atop Mike Mills' piano during "Nightswimming" (which Mills had already messed up at the start!) and ending it by stamping his feet on the keys. Then there was a lot of end-of-tour speeches (though oddly no reflections on the recent bombings, given Stipe's outspokenness against the Iraq war) and a couple more songs before some extremely protracted goodbyes and Stipe being carried offstage by his bandmates. Rock n' roll.
The evening ended with a lovely walk back to Waterloo through the parks, past Big Ben and over the Thames. A happy day :)
Setlist: Bad Day; What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?; The One I Love; Drive; The Outsiders; Sitting Still; Wanderlust; Animal; Leaving New York; Everybody Hurts; Electron Blue; Me In Honey; Electrolite; So Fast So Numb; E-Bow The Letter (with Patti Smith); Final Straw; Orange Crush; Walk Unafraid; Losing My Religion
Encore 1: Imitation Of Life; The Great Beyond; Nightswimming
Encore 2: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine); I’m Gonna DJ; Man On The Moon
# posted by Pgd @ 1:31 pm 
