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RE.M.'s last college-rock 'Stand'
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By Brian A. Gnatt
Daily Music Editor
Sunday night's R.E.M. and Grant
Lee Buffalo concert at Crisler Arena
was a good one, no doubt. But for the
$45 ticket price, R.E.M. should have
been phenomenal, if not orgasmic.
There's a lot of things you can get for
$45, and whether the thrill of R.E.M.
is worth $45, that remains to be seen.
For $45, or even a nosebleeding
$27.50 (don't forget the additional $3
ficketbastard charge), a band should
play a good number, if not every song
its audience wants to hear. In R.E.M.'s
case, this definitely did not happen.
The band played the majority of their
latest release "Monster," while greatly
neglecting every other album in their
14 year recording career.
In fact, R.E.M. failed to play any
songs from the first half of their ca-
reer, and only played "The One I
Love," and "It's The End of the World
As We Know It" from their earlier
I.R.S. Records days. They managed
to pull two songs each from "Green"
and "Out of Time" including "Losing
My Religion" and "Country Feed-
back," but failed to play the hits
"Stand" and "Shiny Happy People"
among many others. They did man-
age to play a whole three songs trom
"Automatic For the People."
While everyone must understand
Sir Michael Stipe and the rest of the
band's terrible agony of having to
play old songs again and again, must
they be reminded of the fact that they
are being paid to do so? Since the
band never toured for "Out of Time"
and "Automatic," it is unfair to rob
fans of hearing the great material that
sold well enough to let R.E.M. play a
venue the size of Crisler or The Pal-
ace of Auburn Hills. They never toured
for these records, so excuses of"bore-
dom with the songs" seems a little
outlandish. Especially when they've
been playing this "Monster" horse
hockey for the past 10 months be-
tween hospital visits.
The fact is, after listening to R.E.M.
play through the majority of "Mon-
ster," you begin to realize that the
album isn't on par with the band's
earlier releases like "Life's Rich Pag-
eant," "Murmur" or even "Green."
The songs all sounded good, but the
fact that the band is too self-centered
to play the songs its audience wants to
hear is ridiculous.
Luckily however, the band did have
a number of good new tracks to share
with its almost-sold-out crowd. Even
with Stipe's comical eye make-up and
constant posing, he did manage to
keep the audience entertained for the
most part. But between the singer's
R.E.M.
Crisler Arena
October 22, 1995
posing, Peter Buck's waist-high
rock'n'roll kicks, and Mike Mill's
rhinestoned apparel, R.E.M. seems to
want to change their nerdy college-
rock image into something of the
Aerosmith, bad boy sort.
But despite the poor song selection
and other little annoyances, R.E.M.
did sound great throughout the two
hour set. From the opener "I Took
Your Name" to the awesome closing
with "End of the World," the band
kept the audience entertained for most
of the show, even if they couldn't
always keep them on their feet.
With highlights like "Man On the
Moon," with the crowd cheering to
Stipe's Elvis impersonation of the line
"hey baby," to "Pop Song 89," what
they played was done rather well.
Even "Everybody Hurts" and "Every-
body Hurts II (Strange Currencies)"
were good, as well as the cover of
Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." An-
other highlight was when graying
punker Patti Smith joined the band
for a slightly off-key version of "Let
Me In" and Smith's "Dancing Bare-
foot."
The impressive lights and film loops
playing throughout the show helped to
justify some of the high-priced tickets,
but as the evening went on, it was evi-
dent at least that Stipe, if no one else in
the band, was satisfied with their rock
star image. The whole evening was
probably best summed up as the band
walked off stage between sets, and a
roadie was waiting at the side to throw
a towel over Stipe's shoulders. That
towel symbolized college rock about as
much as $45 tickets.
Even though the girls in 'Now and Then' give good performances, it doesn't make up for the rest of the movie.
~Now and Thena': A chicklet'flick
Buffalo Tom: Best band you've never hear
Michael Stipe dances with the mic stand at Sunday night's concert.
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