Oh my oh my, there is SOMETHING about Michael Stipe that sets my heart aflutter. We saw REM last night at the UC, and the show was really, really wonderful. Sam and I saw them three or four years ago and were left kinda cold, but last night was so much better it's like we saw two different bands. Michael Stipe was just ON. He had on this incredible suit, and his voice is seriously still very, very good for a 48 y.o. I feel like I can't use the word very enough, because it was just a very, very kind of night. For me, the highlight of the entire show was "Find the River" followed by a stripped-down acoustic version of "Let Me In." "Find the River" is definitely one of my very favorite REM songs, possibly in the top 10. Maybe even the top 5. (Although, choosing a favorite REM song is ever so hard, since they have 40 million albums out.) And I know my sister was so happy to hear "Let Me In," which is her very favorite REM song. (For those who don't know, it's the song Michael Stipe wrote for Kurt Cobain; it's on Monster.) And I can't deny that "Losing My Religion" is always good. There's one case of a single being well-worth the hype.
There was one other wonderful moment, at the end of the concert, when Stipe was talking about loving Chicago--and I think the crowd could see where this was going--when he was talking about the energy crackling around Chicago these days. He then thanked Chicago for Barack Obama, and put an Obama pin on his suit. He sounded so happy (and he even said, later, "I'm so fucking happy" referring to Obama's nomination as the Dem. candidate), and he seemed so sincere. The crowd went pretty fucking insane at that point (though I noted some non-cheerers around us; then again, the people in front of Sam and I didn't seem excited by ANYTHING that happened during the show. I wonder why they were even there?), and I yelled a bit, as did my sis. Sam, as you might have guessed, is kind of a non-yeller. Either way, it was kind of lovely. I enjoyed it.
One thing I WAS thinking about for much of the concert was the dearth of non-music-playing frontmen these days. Most lead singers strap on an instrument these days, and at least pretend to play. But the Michael Stipe-esque lead singer seems to be going the way of the music business. It seems it's no longer respectable to helm and band and NOT play something. Here's who I thought of: Mick Jagger (who's 90 million years old), Scott Weiland, Anthony Kiedis and Robert Plant. And two of those guys, like I said, are ancient. I guess there are some women who still front bands without playing, but the two I thought of off the top of my head, Delores O'Riordan and Jenny Lewis, strap on guitars and attempt to play, anyway. So I don't know, but I do know that watching Michael Stipe is mesmerizing, and I love it. He's magnetic. He's compelling.
(PS--REM, please give more songs to Rock Band. Thanks!)
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