opinios

10:30pm. I knew I really should be going to bed but ... maybe I could just check my email ... nothing there ... oh well ... I'll just check the R.E.M. website now that I've dialed in... see if there's any news about the new album....

ATTENTION: AUSTRALIAN FAN CLUB MEMBERS
The R.E.M. Office has limited tickets available for R.E.M.'s promotional appearances in Sydney next Friday. If you're interested ring the R.E.M. office in Athens, Georgia to get an invite. This message will be removed once all tickets have gone.

"Interested".  That's one word for it...

I picked up the phone immediately to dial the number. Strange static-like noises on the phone - oh yeah, might want to hang up the modem first!

Try again. Engaged. Ringing out. What's going on? Do I have the international dial code right? What if all the tickets are gone? My thoughts were about as rational as the chorus to It's the End Of The World As We Know It, except twice as fast.

Thirty attempts later, an answer.

"Hello?" in an American accent.

"Yeah, hi. I'm just ringing about the R.E.M. concert tickets.".

"OK. I'll just put you through."

What does that mean? Does that mean they're not all gone? My mind is racing as it always will.

"Yeah hi. You're ringing about the R.E.M. tickets? Okay. Well there are two shows to choose from. The JJJ appearance or MMM with a meet-and-greet later in the afternoon. Which one suits you?".

Did he just say meet and greet ?

"MMM sounds good." "Okay then" and with that he rattled off the details of where and when. "Any questions?". "No, that sounds good." "Okay then. Enjoy. Bye." Click.

There I was. Home with the parents in the country, 600km away from Adelaide. Half a world away from Sydney and a week to get there. Stuff it, you only live once...

I think by now you've probably worked out I'm a BIG fan of R.E.M. Jellybean BOOM !!

One week later, after a ten hour bus ride and a two hour plane flight, I arrived in Sydney. I kept myself amused until about one in the afternoon searching for R.E.M. vinyl in second hand shops, but to no avail. Then it was off to the MMM studios.

Waiting in the foyer when four uniformed walkie-talkied security guards step out of the lift. Arrival was imminent. Tension building. Special R.E.M. MMM passes were handed out to the gathering crowd. Unfortunately the crowd was then shuttled off to another level before R.E.M. actually arrived. They had us sitting around for about 20 minutes before the announcement was made.

"Okay. The band are ready, time to go."

We caught the lift back down to another floor and then herded into the performance room. There was a small stage at the front of the room with three big yellow styrofoam letters at the front: R E M.

In total about fifty people were crammed into a rather small room. Far removed from my first R.E.M. experience in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre six years ago - this was up close and personal! Roadies carried out the final touches on stage. Mike Mills's keyboard straight in front of me, Michael Stipe's microphone about two metres away in the middle of the stage and Peter Buck's guitar on the far side.

Movement in the corridor... and then the lads casually strolled onto stage and took up their seats to the sound of Orange Crush. After a brief introduction by Andrew Denton and Mick Molloy they started off with I've Been High from the new album Reveal.

I'm left speechless when it comes to finding words to describe this performance. Beautiful. Astonishing. Amazing. To have Stipe sitting about a metre away singing, eyes closed, putting everything into his vocals, accompanied by Buck on acoustic guitar and Mills on keyboard is pretty much the ultimate R.E.M. experience.

After a brief comment by Stipe about the air conditioner cutting in during the third chorus of I've Been High, Buck launched into the opening riff of The One I Love. I was only expecting material from Reveal, so this was a pleasant surprise. It was a great version, notable for Stipe's gorgeously restrained call of "Fire..." and Mills backing vocals " �E It's coming down."

Apparently they only started playing it again after Peter Buck heard some buskers playing it somewhere and he thought to himself, "That's not such a bad song!" He even dropped the buskers some money!

The next song was Beat A Drum from Reveal, this performance being its first ever in public, or a "world exclusive" as Stipe put it. This is definitely one of my favorites from Reveal and it was great to hear it performed live.

Finally Buck reached for his trusty mandolin and they closed the set with Losing My Religion. If there is one song that they must be sick of playing it would have to be that one, yet they seemed to be enjoying themselves onstage. Stipe motioned for the audience to sing along and was rewarded with a word for word rendition!

Strangely enough Stipe had the words for Losing My Religion on a music stand in front of him. I don't know whether he actually needs them, but it made a great souvenir for the lucky audience member who scored it after the performance.

Denton tried to talk them into playing another song, only to be given an impromptu, albeit short, performance of You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC instead. Other requests for various R.E.M. favorites were rejected due to there just being the three of them. A request for Maps and Legends was responded to by a laughing Stipe:

"With a mandolin and an acoustic guitar? Honestly. Put yourself in my position."

Stipe finally suggested to Denton to ask for questions from the audience. "Do you like Sydney?", "When are you going to tour?", the usual.

After about five minutes of question time Denton wrapped up and the radio performance was over.

Unbelievably the guys hung around for about 15 minutes signing autographs (including my Driver 8 12" vinyl!), having photographs taken with people and chatting. All three seemed more than happy to hang around and talk. What a show! All expectations exceeded!

Next up was the Nova 969 performance on the other side of town. After jumping in a taxi and getting to Nova at the specified time we were told that the band were still doing sound check. Sound check? Looks like we were in for another performance rather than just a "meet and greet". Half an hour later we were told they were ready and everyone was shuffled into an even smaller room than the one at MMM.

Buck, Mills and Stipe wandered in soon after, cradling glasses of red wine. Comperes for the show were Merrick and Rosso, which made for a laugh.

The set opened up again with I've Been High. Can't complain though, it's a great song and it sounded just as good the second time around. The second song was introduced by Stipe as "a song we played on Letterman before it even had a name." This piece of trivia rang a bell. Surely not So. Central Rain, one of the most beautiful songs in the R.E.M. back catalogue?

The first few notes rung out and my suspicions were confirmed. I sat there mesmerised listening to Stipe sing:

"Did you never call ? I waited for your call, these rivers of suggestion are driving me away..."

and its signature call of

"I'm sorry..."

Better still I was rewarded with the lyric sheet afterwards and got to thank Stipe personally. The performance was very laid back with Merrick and Rosso providing some entertaining moments throughout the set. The guys in the band seemed to be enjoying themselves too, although sometimes Merrick and Rosso's special brand of Oz humour was lost on them!

Their next song was a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to a woman called Sue somewhere in the UK. Stipe introduced it with a story about how he had been at a restaurant once and the waiters had gathered around a table to sing happy birthday to one of the patrons. When they got to the person's name there was a resounding silence, the waiters hadn't bothered to check who they were actually singing happy birthday to!

This was followed by a cover of Happy Together by The Turtles. I wasn't familiar with the song but it sounded great and the band seemed to have fun playing it.

I plucked up the courage to ask Stipe whether he was a fan of Michael Moore's show "The Awful Truth", which screens on SBS, as I had heard that Moore directed the film clip for their next single All The Way To Reno. Indeed he was a fan and they had met for a few drinks after Moore did a talk in Athens, Georgia.

After question time the performance drew to a close and there was more autograph hunting and photo opportunities, with the band being really cool about it all.

Even though I'd seen R.E.M. play twice before, I was blown away by these two promotional performances. It was great to see them in such high spirits and sounding so good, especially after all the rumors of how close they came to breaking up during the making of the previous album, Up. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Sure they're only a rock and roll band, but in my opinion, one of the finest around! And lets face it, everyone needs an obsession or two to keep themselves occupied!

Lets hope the Big Day Out 2002 rumours are true - see you soon lads!

Photographs © 2001 David Zerk