Happy Birthday, R.E.M. First concert was 30 years ago tonight at a drunken birthday party for a friend.
Shit, I'm old. At least I'm not as old as R.E.M., but I remember them on the college station at the end of their 'college station' days.
I saw them in Germany circa '85 or so. Saw them again in DC around '87 or '88, with 10,000 Maniacs as the warm up act.
See, now I saw 10,000 Maniacs in our campus center when they returned home to Chatauqua County in early 1986.
I saw REM when they went "big" on the Green tour and about 10 years later. The frat boys had thankfully dropped off the radar the second time around.
Yep, saw that tour at the then Brendan Byrne Arena. Throwing Muses, I believe was the opening act. I just remember the big screen behind the stage flashing up "Don't Scream play Radio Free Europe" on it after the first song.
I actually saw them open for The Police in 83. Had no idea who they were and stupidly took advice of older siblings that "opening acts always suck" so I ignored them. I remember Buck manicly running around the stage and jumping and Stipe eliciting boos when he said "Hello. We are The Beatles" at the beginning of the set. I once saw a bootleg of the show out there, but no one was seeding it so I couldn't get it. Never seen it since. Saw them twice on the Green tour (sorry, I was one of those frat boys at the time) and was hooked. Have seen them every tour since. I know their studio output has been spotty, but their live shows still generally kick ass.
Started listening to R.E.M. in 1983, when a friend's older sister, who was home from school in Athens one weekend and forced to give her little brother and his friend a ride somewhere, had Murmur in her car's tape player. I first saw them live during the Fables of the Reconstruction tour and haven't missed a tour since.
Saw them in 1986 in Lincoln, NE on my 19th birthday. Old, am I. EDIT: I must confess I don't really follow them anymore, haven't for a very long time. Not a value judgement, just one of those things. But man, few albums can "take me back" the way Reckoning can.
That's the first concert I ever went to without parental units. My buddy Eric and I had a great time. I think we were 12.
Aside from the groundbreaking music, you could like REM even after they went "big" and still be considered cool. In contrast, look what happened to the Chili Peppers.
For the record, I didn't turn on them because they got popular. I liked "Document" better than "Fables" for one thing. And I still enjoyed some of their later hits. It was just that my listening interests changed a lot sometime around 1989 and I stopped paying attention to almost every band I'd been into around that time. As for the Chili Peppers--personally, I think they always sucked. Success just denied them the pretense of being "edgy".