levity

Today, for the first time in as long as I can remember (translate to: a few weeks), I had several moments of levity. The longest of these moments was the 4 hours surrounding and including tonight's REM concert.

Having been so busily burried in my own shit for the past several days/weeks, I had absolutely no mental build-up for this event. I simply showed up at 6:30 to meet my friends, grabbed a quick bite, walked to the Greek, sat down, listened to some bizarr-o opening act (which MT says was better than Sonic Youth), waited through the change of equiptment, and watched REM appear onstage and begin to play. Weird.

The Greek is very small relative to other venues in which I've seen them and our seats were fantastically good. I could throw tomatoes at Michael Stipe if I wanted to. I chose to do a lot of singing and clapping and dancing instead.

I've never realized how odd Michael Stipe's stage performance is until seeing it up close. He is a strange man. And he's become remarkably (and perhaps deservedly) narcissistic compared to his early days of hiding behind the microphone like a scared puppy. Okay, so I never saw him back then, but that's what I read. As usual, he appeared onstage with eye makeup. This time, a thick black super-hero style mask-type thing. Kindof like the blue stripe of the Best Of tour, but much thicker and black. He performed a lot of whip-its and got down on his knees more times than I can count. And there was a fair amount of standing stiffly and staring with great purpose into the crowd.

Peter and Mike were in typical, but slightly altered, form. Peter was sporting (as Spice reported) his new hairdo, which makes me think he's hit some new phase in his life. Mike was dressed down compared to usual, with jeans and a striped shirt. The nudie suits have apparently been put to rest. Has he hit a new phase in his life too?

I can't remember everything that was played, but here's what I can conjure from this somewhat handicapped brain of mine:

- Begin the Begin
- So Fast, So Numb
- Drive
- Leaving New York
- Final Straw
- Welcome to the Occupation
- I Wanted to Be Wrong
- Electrolyte
- Animal
- Bad Day
- Don't Go Back to Rockville
- The Outsiders
- The One I Love
- Losing My Religion
- Wanderlust
- Something from Life's Rich Pageant...I can't remember
- Walk Unafraid
- Life and How to Live It

- What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
- Cuyahoga
- Permanent Vacation
- Some new song that's not on an album
- Man on the Moon

They DID NOT end with It's the End of the World as We Know It. I was disappointed and the show felt unfinished.

In other news, MT stood for the ENTIRE concert and was spotted clapping and, on occassion, singing along with the music. He reports it to be a "very good REM experience...much better than the Monster Tour."