R.E.M. - Chastain Park

(Broadcast)

31 August 1999 - Chastain Park - Atlanta, Georgia



R.E.M. instantly brought the crowd of roughly 6,000 people at Chastain Park to its feet Sunday night with the rocker ''Lotus'' from the band's latest album ''Up'' and kept fans on the edge of their seats all night long. On a stage bristling with Dada-esque candy-colored neon shapes, the threesome that is now R.E.M. -- lead singer Michael Stipe, bass player Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck -- played the crowd like a band of snake charmers, for two hours walking the line between infectious rock energy and a more moody darkness that typifies R.E.M.'s music at its finest. The concert began as dusk overcame the warm, late-August afternoon. Athens band Elf Power took the stage about 8 p.m. and warmed up the crowd with its Mardi Gras parade-like atmosphere. The funny hats, unusual instruments and unpredictable songs certainly gave the largely 30- and 40-something crowd a memorable performance. R.E.M. took the stage before 9 p.m., with Mills in his typical glittery rock-star garb, Stipe gyrating like a runway model in a wind tunnel and Buck in a frenzy on guitar, literally kicking up his heels. They were accompanied by the three musicians who have been present for all of this tour (and the making of ''Up'') -- Joey Waronker on drums, Scott McCaughey on guitar and Ken Stringfellow on keyboards. With six musicians and at least 30 pieces of large-scale neon, the stage was full and the mood aggressive as the band walked a tightrope of sorts. The show was the band's first before a hometown crowd since the departure of original drummer Bill Berry in 1997. The confusion created by that absence, apparent in earlier shows without Berry such as the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington, D.C., and the Bridge Concert in San Francisco, was gone. It was replaced by a heady mix of unpredictable moods and songs. The tour continues at Chastain tonight, and for those who aren't able to make it, Atlanta radio station 99X (WNNX-FM 99.7) will broadcast the performance live. Athens band Olivia Tremor Control opens. On opening night, the band was clearly happy to be in Atlanta. ''We got to sleep in our own beds and bathe in our own bathtubs,'' Stipe said after the band romped through ''What's the Frequency Kenneth?'' from the album ''Monster.'' He added that while these were good reasons to be home, he could think of several thousand better reasons why it was good to be back in Georgia, ''most of them right here,'' he said, indicating the crowd. As has been noted in the reviews of R.E.M.'s shows all over the world on this summer's tour, the band has been reaching way back in its catalog and mixing old songs with the new. It had the interesting effect of both pleasing the fans and underscoring the fact that Berry is no longer with the band. Sunday night's show included ''Pilgrimage'' from ''Murmur,'' ''Finest Worksong,'' ''It's the End of the World'' and ''The One I Love'' from ''Document,'' ''Cuyahoga'' from ''Life's Rich Pageant,'' ''Nightswimming'' from ''Automatic For the People,'' as well as super-hits like ''Losing My Religion'' from ''Out of Time'' and a wide assortment of songs from the latest albums ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' and ''Up.'' Midway through the show, after dedicating ''Find the River'' from ''Automatic For the People'' to ''our friend Bill,'' the crowd began chanting ''Bill, Bill, Bill'' and Berry himself came on stage, greeted with wild applause from the audience and exaggerated hugs from Mills, Stipe and Buck. After briefly acknowledging the crowd, Berry, seeming to be almost overcome, walked offstage. It was, as one fan commented, a ''Spinal Tap'' moment. After the excitement died down, Mills said, ''How the &*#$ do we play a song after that?'' The answer, said Stipe, was to dedicate the next song to ''our friend Bill.'' The crowd laughed and the band played ''At My Most Beautiful,'' one of the most genuinely sweet love songs the band has ever written, from ''Up.'' The band also unveiled a new song titled ''The Great Beyond'' that was written for an upcoming and, according to Stipe, ''brilliant'' film, directed by Milos Forman, about the life of 1970s comedian Andy Kaufman. ''I've been ripping off Andy Kaufman for years and years, and after this movie comes out, everyone's gonna know that 'Hey, that guy's been ripping him off,' '' Stipe admitted good-naturedly before launching into ''Man On the Moon'' from ''Automatic for the People,'' which also happens to be the name of the film. Other highlights included the band's first rendition of ''Nightswimmming'' from ''Automatic For the People'' during this tour and Stipe atop a stool strumming an acoustic guitar for a careful and emotive solo rendition of ''Hope'' from ''Up.'' The band dispensed with most of the charade of an encore, took a brief respite from the stage, and then played right up to the 11 p.m. music curfew. R.E.M. ended the show, appropriately, with ''It's The End of the World,'' from ''Document.'' Stipe walked the monitors at the edge of the stage like a tightrope and threw the microphone into the crowd for a bit, and the rest of the band played like madmen. The crowd was absolutely wild. It wasn't the old R.E.M. that many Athenians remember, but nevertheless, they rocked.

CD 1:
01 - Lotus
02 - What's The Frequency, Kenneth
03 - So Fast, So Numb
04 - Camera
05 - Fall On Me
06 - Suspicion
07 - Jesus - New Test Leper
08 - The One I Love
09 - Daysleeper
10 - Sweetness Follows
11 - The Great Beyond
12 - Begin The Begin
13 - Country Feedback

CD 2:
01 - At My Most Beautiful
02 - Star 69
03 - Losing My Religion
04 - Man On The Moon
05 - Walk Unafraid
06 - Encore Break
07 - Tuning
08 - Hope
09 - Why Not Smile
10 - Nightswimming
11 - Crush With Eyeliner
12 - Gardening At Night
13 - Tongue
14 - Stage Commentary
15 - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)


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