check out the irish times review yesterday -
By bee - Posted on July 3rd, 2007
- It was spot on! delighted to have seen the band on sunday night, and looking forward to the record. hope they all enjoy their break in dubland!
- It was spot on! delighted to have seen the band on sunday night, and looking forward to the record. hope they all enjoy their break in dubland!
Although this is not a show the fans still love it
By REM
Tuesday July 03 2007
ON the second night of REM's 'Working Rehearsals' residency at the Olympia, singer Michael Stipe spends much of the evening reading half-finished lyrics from a laptop, occasionally fluffing his lines.
"This is what we get up to when you're not here," he jokes, explaining that REM, currently assembling a new album with Dublin producer Garrett Lee, booked the dates in order to road-test semi-completed songs in front of a live audience.
Just so nobody is under any illusions, a back projection declares: "This Is Not A Show."
Still, you don't get to be one of the biggest rock groups in the world without giving fans what they want. And so, as an "olive branch" to REM devotees, many of whom have crossed oceans to be here, the band judiciously sprinkle their set with oldies.
From 1992's 'Automatic For The People', they dust down 'Drive' - an obtuse alt.country dirge which still holds a place in the record books as the only number one in US chart history not to feature a chorus.
Reaching back to the early 80s, REM play 'Disturbance at the Heron House' and 'Second Guessing'. Brandishing a smudged print-out, Stipe reveals he had to scour the internet for some of his early lyrics: "It says here that the words are indistinct and that, a lot of the time Stipe doesn't know what he's singing about," he wisecracks.
Tonight, the core line-up of Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills is augmented by guitarist Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin.
McCaughey, in particular, is practically a fourth member of REM by now. Certainly, he plays a leading role in much of the new stuff, which finds REM pursuing an upbeat rock direction in the vein of the 1995 'Monster' LP.
Witnessing their idols so close at hand, some of the audience cannot resist a little playful heckling. For the most part, Stipe appears to enjoy the banter. By final curtain, the atmosphere in the room resembles an enormous love-in. You suspect REM will miss this sort of intimacy when they go back to bestriding enormo-domes and football stadia.
ED POWER