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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > March > 13
Thursday, March 13, 2008
R.E.M. at “Austin City Limits”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Austin City Limits” producer Terry Lacona captured the mood best, as he welcomed the audience to a taping of a performance by R.E.M. “You do know how lucky you are to here?”
It’s remarkable that the Athens Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have never done the venerable PBS live music institution, but Thursday’s performance was the band’s debut on “Austin City Limits.”
The set that was taped on March 13 will kick off the show’s 34th season, and will air in late May, just as R.E.M. begins a world tour to coincide with new album “Accelerate” (out April 1).
The show drew heavily from “Accelerate,” much like their gig the night before at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q.
This audience was much smaller for this one, though. The black box theater that houses the “ACL” stage holds about 300 people. “That’s what the fire code says,” according to one of the show’s shiny, happy staffers.
Before the show, cameramen and security folks chatted amiably with the crowd. It’s that kind of atmosphere, and the staff seemed to love what they do. And who wouldn’t. They get to see things like Thursday’s terrific R.E.M. performance on a regular basis.
“I’d rather be outside in the sun,” frontman Michael Stipe said near the beginning of the hour-plus set. The audience members let him know with a roar that they were perfectly happy to stay in the windowless box as long as the band wanted to play.
The set might have been short on the band’s early classics, but it was further evidence that this is a band reinvigorated. There’s no denying that the guitar crush of new songs such as single “Supernatural Superserious” and “Hollow Man” is a big step back in the right direction, and the band plays them with conviction. The crowd loved those tunes, but “Fall on Me” - which Stipe introduced as “another one of our songs from 10,000 years ago” - was greeted with rapturous applause.
Though these guys have been doing this for about 27 years or so, they’re still gaining young fans. Toward the end of the taping, Stipe called a couple of youngsters out of the audience.
They said their names were Simon and Elliot, and both looked within shouting distance of 10 years of age. “Is this your first R.E.M. concert?” he asked the awestruck kids. It was. Then he asked what they thought of it: “You’re awesome” was the answer.
Spitzer’s ‘Kristen’ Has Atlanta Music Connection
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Though she may now be known to the country as “Kristen,” the pricey prostitute involved in New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s fall this week, the 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre is also an aspiring R&B singer — with a purported connection to our Motown of the South.
Atlanta-based producer Simon Illa (above) claims to have worked with Dupre, musically, and his publicist Jurena Cantrell issued this statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Ashley is a talented singer and songwriter. I respect her right to privacy and have no comment on her life.”
That’s it. Cantrell says Dupre’s lawyers have asked him not to discuss anything - including whether the woman known as “Kristen” came to Atlanta to record, when, for how long … nothing. (BUT the song playing on her MySpace page - before it was taken down today - is one of his productions, he says. That’s probably why Howard Stern and “Inside Edition” are on his trail, according to Illa’s reps.)
As for Illa - a relative unknown on the Atlanta scene as he just moved here six months ago - his bio says he “earned an East Coast Emmy nomination for his music for NBC’s ‘Tribute to 9/11’ in 2003 and was dubbed ‘Philadelphia’s Hottest Producer’ by Blender magazine in 2006’. It also says he has done tour production for R&B acts Vivian Green and Floetry.
Meanwhile, have you heard of Simon Illa (check out his myspace page)? Know his work? What about any other Atlanta MUSIC connection to Dupre?
Alicia Keys in Atlanta May 28
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eleven-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys has set a date with Atlanta: May 28 at Philips Arena. And tickets go on sale this Saturday at Ticketmaster outlets. CLICK HERE to purchase.
Keys (above) has Atlantan Ne-Yo and “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks on her As I Am tour, as Ne-Yo told us earlier. (“And I think it’ll be A LOT less hectic than the last one,” he added, referring to the R. Kelly tour he was on months ago, and left.)
Have you seen Keys or Ne-Yo live before? How would you rate them on stage? And are you planning to see them in May?
R.E.M. in Austin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite some gray and missing hair, R.E.M. looks young and hungry again. At a packed South by Southwest Music Fest show at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin Wednesday night, the guys proved that they still have a fire in their bellies.
Just before R.E.M., fellow Athenians Dead Confederate delivered another stunning set, their second of the day. They’re looking better every time. Frontman Hardy Morris, a rail-thin apparition whose face is frequently obscured by a curtain of hair, cuts through the thick bramble of guitars and keyboard with a powerful wail. The band rumbles like a rhythmic avalanche behind him. Someone behind me mumbled that they sounded like “Nirvana from the South.” Perhaps, but there’s so much more to it than that.
As Dead Confederate neared the end of their set, Morris joked to the crowd, “There’s another band after us, so don’t leave.”
Not a chance.
With little flash, but a huge roar from the crowd, R.E.M. took the stage after midnight.
The band’s upcoming album, “Accelerate,” took up a large portion of the set, but that didn’t seem to bother the partisans in the crowd. They greeted the new tracks with enthusiasm, though the biggest ovations were saved for old favorites and a few lesser known gems.
Early in the set, frontman Michael Stipe defused any possible disappointment among the crowd regarding the preponderance of new material. “If you don’t like one, go take a [bathroom] break or get yourself a beer,” he said with a grin. Stipe smiled through much of the show, and the whole band seemed in a playful, celebratory mood.
The new songs sound as strong on stage as they do on the upbeat “Accelerate” (being released April 1), but it was the memorable back catalog that really thrilled. On “Fall On Me,” the crowd lifted its arms up to the sky as instructed, and the chills that ran up our spines weren’t from the night wind that blew through the outdoor space.
We got stellar takes on “Drive,” “Man on the Moon,” “The Great Beyond” and, most surprising, “Auctioneer” and “Second Guessing.”
And was that an endorsement from the socially and politically active Stipe? “I know that Austin came out strong for Barack Obama, and I want to salute you for that,” he said.
But the music made the biggest statement, and on that front, R.E.M. looks ready to conquer the world again. Check out photos from the performance here.
