Burn Bright Through The Night

R.E.M. @ Madison Square Garden, October 4th 2003

Finest Worksong / What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? / Driver 8 / Drive / Animal / Fall On Me / Daysleeper / Bad Day / The One I Love / World Leader Pretend / (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville [Mike Mills lead vocal] / The Great Beyond / Country Feedback / Losing My Religion / Find The River / She Just Wants To Be / Walk Unafraid / Man On The Moon // Life And How To Live It / NYC [Stipe solo on guitar, cover of the Interpol song] / Nightswimming / Final Straw / Imitation Of Life / Gardening At Night / It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Wow!

I definitely got my money’s worth last night. R.E.M. were really on, especially Michael Stipe, who had a very strong night on vocals. I say this mostly because if you’ve heard enough R.E.M. live shows, there are definitely a lot of shows where he struggles a bit. I didn’t get all of my requests, but I was extremely happy with what was played, and I enjoyed getting a lot of songs I wasn’t quite expecting, like “Driver 8,” “World Leader Pretend,” and “Gardening At Night.” “Drive” came off much better live in its Automatic For The People arrangement than I would have imagined, and though it’s never been particularly high on my list of favorites, I had a lot of fun with “Fall On Me.” “Animal” was a real revelation live – I’d heard some live versions of this one, but last night was the first time it really clicked with me.

“Country Feedback” was a very special surprise for me – I knew that it was frequently played on this tour, but I never really thought I’d get to see it, nor did I really think much about it in terms of songs that I wanted to see. It just hit me all at once when it came on that this was exactly the most perfect R.E.M. for me to hear this week. For most of this past week, its lyrics were my life.

Now, the big highlight of this show for me was “Life And How To Live It.” Oh my fucking God! It was just… perfect. I didn’t think I’d ever get to see this one, and it was better than I could have imagined. It was just a million times better than the album version; twice as fast and just amazingly, beautifully JOYCORE. I swear to God, it must have been four of the most joyful minutes I’ve ever experienced at a concert. The only thing in recent memory that comes close was seeing the New Pornographers perform “The Laws Have Changed” at the Bowery Ballroom. It was as though the song was mainlining government-grade Joycore while everyone on stage had just downed a half a bottle of Stoli Donut each, and the band were performing it on a stage in the Cotton Candy & Trampolines car of the Joycore Express, next stop ecstacy! It was just perfect. I’d do anything to get a recording of this. Please. Someone out there, help me!

Other notes: “Drive” was dedicated to Al Franken, who requested it (though they play it every night), presumably because of the “Bush whacked” lyric. Michael’s solo rendition of Interpol’s “NYC” was really quite beautiful. He sang it very well, but only performed the “New York cares” and “turn on the bright lights…” parts of the song. Remember, Michael can barely play the guitar, so it was great to just get as much of the song as we could get before he gave up. Michael clearly loves New York City, and said so over and over, and related a few anecdotes about New York for the crowd. “Rockville” was dedicated to June Carter Cash. According to Michael, “World Leader Pretend” was the most requested song of the night, followed by “Find The River.” “Gardening At Night” was a request of Sparklehorse, who opened up the show. Michael sang a little bit of a Patti Smith song just before “World Leader Pretend,” but I’m not sure which one. For what it’s worth, this was the only show from this year to not include “Everybody Hurts.”