CONTRIBUTING REVIEWER
Although lead singer Michael Stipe claimed "to remember the days when R.E.M. was playing in the pizza parlors as a small band," the coliseum concert style just does not seem to fit the group.
R.E.M. has been hyped and blown up to such an extreme by MTV and corporate radio that one would naturally expect them to be a great, once-in-a-lifetime show. I could not have been more let down. The concert, at Greensboro Coliseum was, to say the least, mediocre.
Luscious Jackson got the evening off to a roaring start with a thirty-minute set of songs from their Natural Ingredients album. The all-female quartet from New York stirred up the audience with grooving dance tunes.
Unfortunately, by the time the crowd was getting into them, they left the stage.
R.E.M. then came on and opened with the poppy radio hit, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" The crowd erupted into a frenzy as Stipe solemnly stood before his microphone, wearing sunglasses and a dark blazer.
As the song wrapped up, Stipe sat down on the stage and it seemed that he was contemptuously observing the throngs of fans that were desperately reaching out to touch him.
After the initial euphoria wore off, the Athens, Ga.-based group embarked upon a 25 song set, which included "Crush With Eyeliner," "Drive," and "Pop Song 89." Although they played songs primarily from the last three albums which have been released since their last U.S. tour in 1989, they did not limit themselves just to those.
The typical R.E.M. sound of peppy guitar riffs and the unique vocals of Stipe pervaded the evening. Some of the songs seemed to flow naturally. Others, however, appeared to be forced.
It was as if the band did not especially want to be on stage playing yet another show.
Stipe unenthusiastically introduced the songs by nonchalantly stating, "here's another song." The lack of ardor in the concert was one of its major detractions.
Later in the show, they played "Strange Currencies," a slow, mellow song about being individualistic. Ironically, half of the audience whipped out their cigarette lighters and were waving them about. It was reminiscent of a mid-80s Eagle's concert.
The song itself was not bad, but the presentation of both this particular song and of the concert as a whole was over-dramatized and it skewed my entire perception of R.E.M.
R.E.M. is no longer the college music band it once was, and it shows. There is a noticeable difference between its newer albums such as Monster and Automatic for the People compared to its older stuff.
The more recent releases seem to be geared to appeal to the general public. The political messages behind their songs are not nearly as abrasive but are more user friendly.
R.E.M. has gone mainstream and the atmosphere of the concert proved it. The coliseum setting was extremely impersonal. It did not allow for the freedom to feel the music, unless you were one of the lucky few sitting in the first few rows.
Generally, I thought that most of the show was okay, but they did not do their music justice. As a fan of R.E.M. since middle school, I was awaiting this show with great anticipation. They did not live up to my idea of what R.E.M. would be like.
I was looking forward to an evening that would increase my admiration of the music that they have released, but the effect was entirely the opposite. Perhaps the show would have been better if it had been in a smaller location, but as it was, I was left wanting something more.