Everybody Here...Comes From Somewhere

After months of waiting and my cat-like reflexes on the online fanclub ticket presale, it was R.E.M. week. I say R.E.M. "week" because there were multiple shows involved but also because for me, such an event carries several days of pre-and post- day excitement that stirs up 22 years of memories, about a dozen times seeing the boys live, and the various and sundry Athens shows/events/run-ins that still turn me rosy with nostalgic glee.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to use my pit - yes, that's front row - tickets to the Atlanta show due to a family event conflict, I opted to see both the Raleigh NC and Washington DC shows.

Tilley and I left Atlanta at 10ish on Tuesday and headed towards DC for some client meetings, stopping in Raleigh to meet up with some friends of a coworker. After a quick unload of a few items from the truck and then tucking Tilley into her travel crate in Laurie's apartment, we were off to the show.

The tickets - and my call to the venue - both said no cameras but I say when in doubt, try :). We were parked moderately close so I opted to do so and if needed head back to stash the camera in the car. Security was a snap though, they just verified that my camera wasn't video and in I went, with a Nikon sporting an 18-55 lens, a 70-300 lens....and a camera with only one bar of battery juice left.

S H I I I I I I I T !

As I was starting to think about how I could ration out about 20 pictures over 3 hours I had a eureka moment - I had stuck my battery charger in the front of my camelbak at the last second.

HalleleLUJAH.

I found an outlet, and charged her up again right there on the grounds. We made our way to our seats which were like 5th row but only one row behind an area for special needs guests, so we had a great view of the stage. There were two folks there with cerebral palsy, one of whom had a therapy dog (a golden) who slept through the entire show. Tilley was livid later saying how that dog clearly didn't appreciate having front row seats.

The National and Modest Mouse opened up, and were both quite good. I was probably a little antsy and didn't give them my full attention as I think I hadn't really done the math on the fact that a 6:30 start time is more like a 9:00 main act start time, and I had both an antsy corgi and another 4.5 hour drive in front of me.

At last the wait was over, and it was time.

The boys burst out on stage with Harborcoat, an old classic (and harbinger of others to come that nite) after which Stipe did his standard welcome....Good evening....and they continued to deliver with tons of old faves and amusing but brief commentary from Stipe, including almost after every song, "fuck, it's hot" - it was conservatively 105 in the ampitheatre and I was neither wearing a full suit nor dancing like a cat as he was. I made lots of friends in my row with some serious fans who gave me emails for my pics - always great to meet a fellow rabid fan.

Here's the set list in full:

RALEIGH, NC June 10 2008

1. Harborcoat (with the traditional Stipe "Good evening!" greeting)
2. Living Well
3. Bad Day (personal new fave that gives me flashbacks to seeing them the nite before the 2004 elections)
4. Kenneth (as in what's the frequency)
5. 1,000,000 ("Hey you people on the lawn, check this shit out") - I couldn't believe they played this fab gem
6. Man-Sized Wreath
7. Welcome To The Occupation
8. Accelerate
9. 7 Chinese Brothers
10. Hollow Man
11. Imitation of Life
12. Houston ("This is about the way the Bush administration F*d up the Katrina situation")
13. Electrolite ("This is a west-coast song")
14. Walk Unafraid (another personal new fave)
15. The One I Love
16. Final Straw
17. Find The River (this is my song. there were tears.)
18. Let Me In (Stipe's voice on this is beyond description)
19. Horse To Water
20. Auctioneer/Another Engine (again with the gems!!)
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

After the show and a moderate cluster*** of a wait to get out, I got back and traded my concertgoers for a corgi and we were on our way to DC. at 12:05. I debated my ability to pull it out and make it all the way but the truth was once I got to 95 I figured, why not.

So I put in my workout mix and on we went, arriving safely at about 4:15 am, just in time for some light chit chat with JoMarie in time to get up at 7 for some meetings. Am I too old for this? Apparently not.

Full (well admittedly, an edited set from the original several hundred I took) set of photos here on Picasa: Check 'em out!