What did I do this past weekend? Unlike most of those here in Athens I jumped the local ship of AthFest and headed to Atlanta to see R.E.M. Yes, it was completely worth it. I though The National was great (I had first seen them a few years back when they were on tour with The Walkmen) and Modest Mouse was surprisingly solid and confident in the huge shed of the Lakewood Amphitheater. Still, the whole night belonged to R.E.M. and it’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 22 years since my first R.E.M. show (Fox Theater/Atlanta, GA/November 24, 1986).
A particular thrill for me was seeing Johnny Marr and Peter Buck play guitar together during “Fall On Me” and “Mon On The Moon” (you can see about 15 second of the latter here.). There’s not a whole lot more to say except the night was really awesome and I stood and danced the whole time and completely retreated into blubbering fan-boy during several key moments (i.e. “Driver 8”, “Harborcoat” and “Auctioneer (Another Engine)”.)

This video was shot by someone at the very opening of the show. R.E.M. started with “These Day” and then went into “Living Well Is The Best Revenge”. The proof is here.