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SXSW scene: R.E.M ‘Austin City Limits’ taping
Who would have thought the hottest ticket in town during South By Southwest wouldn’t have much of anything to do with SXSW?
“You know how lucky you are to be here, right?” “Austin City Limits” producer Terry Lickona asked the crowd at R.E.M.’s taping Thursday afternoon.
The studio audience, pretty much all of whom knew somebody on the inside, whooped appreciatively. It was a chance to see the band that was like Wednesday night’s premiere showcase but in an intimate venue (“I can’t believe I’m 15 feet away from Michael Stipe,” one fan said) with primo sound and nobody’s badge blowing in the wind and whacking you in the face.
The set list, however, was similar to Wednesday’s Stubb’s show — long on material from their upcoming album, “Accelerate,” which, based on the selections they played Thursday, is going to be a powerhouse. Vocalist Stipe introduced “Houston” as an updating of Jimmy Webb’s “Galveston” and “Electrolyte” as “a valentine to the 20th century.” And unlike a lot of SXSW venues, where sound is mixed on the fly and a lot of attendees seem more interested in yacking through even the quiet stuff, you could hear everything. For instance, the inexplicably cool lyrics to “I’m Gonna DJ:” “Death is pretty final/I’m collecting vinyl/I’m gonna DJ/At the end of the world.”
The new material has a certain winning buzz and grit that they haven’t quite gotten right for a good while, and it’s an improvement over the distressingly tepid live album/DVD from last year (which included “I’m Gonna DJ”). Guitarist Peter Buck enjoyed assistance from longtime pal Scott McCaughey, late of the Young Fresh Fellows, and looking none too young but reasonably fresh, and some of the new material is plainly if obliquely anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war. But even though Stipe never met a liberal cause he didn’t like, there was no bludgeoning.
What there was was stopping and starting. Stipe was chatty and laughed at himself for flubs that were all but undetectable. “I’m gonna make more mistakes like that but it’s going to be charming and make it more fun,” he said after a small goof on “Man Sized Wreath.” And they played another new one, “Supernatural Superserious,” twice because of another (also undetectable) slip.
There were sops to old fans. Most welcome was “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry). Stipe recalled, “The first time we performed this song on television in…1983? It didn’t have a name.” (Stipe didn’t name the program, but it was “Late Night With David Letterman”.) Other oldies: “Drive,” “Man on the Moon” (Stipe doing Andy Kaufman doing Elvis is still a gas), “Fall On Me” and, of course, “Losing My Religion,” the song they can’t get away with leaving off the set list even after they’ve long since put “Radio Free Europe” in a drawer and forgotten about it.
“I’m not going to keep you here,” Stipe said after “Fall On Me.” “I’m sure everyone is hungry and has to pee.”
But honestly, nobody wanted to be anywhere else Thursday afternoon. And nobody had a better time than two young boys named Simon and Eliot (sorry if I misspelled your name, Eliot), whom Stipe invited onstage toward the end.
“Is this your first time at a concert?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“What do you think?”
“You’re awesome!”
And so they were. If Simon and Eliot see a better show any time soon in their young lives, they’ll be lucky. And if anybody sees a better show at SXSW, it’ll be a miracle.
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Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: SXSW
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By Joe
March 13, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this
Inexplicably cool? Winning buzz? Distressingly tepid? Who sent his idiot to review R.E.M.? Turn in your brain-God knows you’re not using it.
By Laura
March 14, 2008 9:07 PM | Link to this
This show rocked. The new songs are great and REM at ACL was long overdue. Thanks for the Athens sound out here in TX. A transplanted SXSE girl.