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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > March > 13 > Entry
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.
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March 20, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this
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