Re: Patti with R.E.M. tonight at London's Hyde Park (July 16th, 2005)

[Andrew F Wilson <andrewfwilson>]

REM
Hyde Park, London 
by Adam Sweeting
The Guardian, Monday, 18 July 2005

Postponed from the previous Saturday because of the London bombings,
this end- of-tour performance from REM managed to be both valedictory
and celebratory. They had some assistance from another perfect summer
day and an enthusiastic crowd who were au fait with most of Michael
Stipe's lyrics, but the band are currently hitting new peaks as a live
act.

Twenty-five years into REM's career, the planets of the band's
universe seem to have slid into an especially harmonious alignment.
The additional musicians - Ken Stringfellow on keyboards, Scott
McCaughey on guitars and drummer Bill Rieflin - have settled in so
comfortably that this feels like the authentic REM version 2.

That sense of completeness is enhanced by a scintillating
lights-and-video show, which interweaves live video feeds of the
performance with pre-recorded footage, while every song arrives in
colour coordinated packaging. Icy blue tones flagged up Electron Blue,
Walk Unafraid shimmered in fluorescent green, and Orange Crush
glaringly reflected the colour of its title. Among many show-stopping
visual moments was one where Stipe stood at the foot of one of the
towering video screens, a tiny marionette silhouetted against huge
images of the crowd watching itself watching the singer.

In a little over two hours, they revisited most of their historical
phases. It was back to the debut album with Sitting Still, on through
their bestselling period with Losing My Religion and Drive, and up to
date with a cluster of songs from Around the Sun. Stipe's singing was
at its most evocative in Leaving New York and Everybody Hurts, and his
frontman's gyrations at their most uninhibited during The End of the
World As We Know It.

During E-bow the Letter, Stipe had a belated opportunity to duet with
Patti Smith, having missed her recent Meltdown festival. Sadly,
Horses-style abandon was not on the agenda, and Smith confined herself
to intoning a sombre mantra over the band's sustained drone. Delirium
did finally break out at the end of the show, with Stipe raving about
"the end of the tour as we know it" as Mike Mills and Peter Buck
carried him offstage. Not too old to rock'n'roll, apparently.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1530501,00.html?