R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National – Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA, 31/05/08

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Photos courtesy of R.E.M. Tour Site

It felt like the ’90s all over again during R.E.M.’s blistering performance at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre. Before his band packed in twenty-seven adrenaline-filled songs into a a two-hour time slot Michael Stipe’s jovial levity was palatable on stage. As he creeps towards middle age his introductions to songs like ‘What’s The Frequency Kenneth?’ as hailing from to “the year 1064,” as Stipe said. (Not quite, but they did play a song from their debut Chronic Town EP of 1982.). The breezy set connected the dots throughout their tenured career and skipped over their recent troubles (Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun, you know what you’ve done). Guitarist Peter Buck (he usually assembles the band’s setlists) did a fine job. They reached as far back as 1985′s Fables of Reconstruction for albums, seeing the band dusting off tracks like ‘Driver 8′ and ‘Life and How We Live It’ with plenty of bravado. They even had enough time to play rare live songs like ‘Find the River’ after only one rehearsal. Even in the band’s early material you can see the R.E.M. equation forming. Despite that equation now becoming stale after so many years, all the jangling guitars, arpeggio chords, almost caustic vocals, and bassist Mike Mills’ soaring backup vocals just felt right. Part of the charm of R.E.M.’s recent stab at relevance (the rock riff heavy Accelerate) is ostensibly the joy of watching your old favorite band retread over some of the highlights that made you fall for them in the first place. Sure that’s not the best scenario for them but within the guise of a their new album at least it isn’t boring. Sure, Accelerate isn’t the best rock record on the market but the nine songs they played were dispersed throughout the set in deft fashion. It felt like a reunion tour of sorts.

Though reunions are left for further down the road for R.E.M.’s openers they are building up quite a legacy for themselves. Brookyln’s The National opened the night with a electric set. After listening to their critical smash Boxer so many times I thought their live show might let me down or that Matt Berninger’s whiskey-soaked baritone would get lost in all the open space of the Greek Theatre. I was reassured from the outset as ‘Start A War”s tinkling acoustic intro burst into a building tumult of Bryan Devendorf’s piston precision at the drum set. It’s the perfect opener to lull any audience members into a safe place before a very stentorian live set that blasted your cochlea more than lulled you into something akin to a drunken stupor. The addition of a violin, trumpet and trombone on tracks like ‘Brainy’ and ‘Miskaken for Strangers’ brought more gravitas to Berninger’s soul searching lyrics. ‘Squalor Victoria”s played well of that constant drum beat. For a song that felt so enclosed and nocturnal on Boxer the band managed to play it up for the audience. Early songs (i.e. – Berninger’s screaming stage) like ‘Abel’ and ‘Baby We’ll Be Fine’ were perfect for the half-capacity crowd wating for Modest Mouse and R.E.M. Berninger’s vocal performance ranged from the former songs wild screams to the purring desolation on ‘Slow Show’ that sees him sing one of his most heartfelt choruses (“You know I dreamed about you for twenty-nine years. You know I dreamed about you. I missed you for twenty-nine years”). The blistering “Apartment Story” was one of the set’s highlights because of its quickened pace and riotous outre. To close a violin was shredded during ‘Mr. November’ and I definitely chided myself for not seeing these dudes earlier.

Modest Mouse came as more of the sold-out crowd trickled in. After seeing them play before a large audience before they seemed to pick some quizzical songs. Sorry folks, but ‘Wild Pack of Family Dogs’ seems more like a song that stands better within an album. It already felt like a left-field novelty item on The Moon & Antarctica. You could also hear the many grumbles at the end of their set when they didn’t play their smash hit ‘Float On.’ I couldn’t care less and they definitely seemed a tad tired on stage. Despite these problems Johnny Marr and Isacc Brock proved yet again as a strange and formidable pair. ‘Education”s guitar solo seared the audience and old songs like “Trailer Trash” got an strange layer of sheen from Marr’s playing. Marr played the best on tracks from We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. ‘Fire It Up’ is still boring but Marr was playful and the upright electric bass was sexy for ‘Education.’ The beginning of the set saw a dirty pump organ spit its venom over the crowd for ‘Satin in a Coffin.’ Isaac Brock’s banjo was loose and free over it all. They played the best during the first half of the set and then seemed to be on cruise control for the rest.

It was an interesting bill for sure. So glad concert promoters are finally becoming wise that if people are going to pay a lot for a concert we might as well see some good opening bands as well. R.E.M. kept the naysayers at bay by a hair’s breadth and it those rehearsals in Ireland must have helped because they sounded crisp and sharp. That’s probably due to the fact they’ve been playing some of these songs since the early ’90s. There were only a few surprises during the set. One was fairly quiet but felt appropriate sandwiched in between all the rock bravado. That would have to go to an intimate version of ’Let Me In,’ from 1993’s Monster. Its an unassuming song on the album but here it felt like a true return to the out-and-out emotion of R.E.M.’s early releases. The band gathered in a circle around a keyboard, played by (guitarist) Peter Buck, with (drummer) Bill Rieflin joining (bassist) Mike Mills and Scott McCaughey on guitars, as Stipe poured his soul into the mic with his back to audience. It felt like a perfect summation of what the band is doing now. R.E.M. will continue to do what they love no matter if we’re listening or not. Thankfully we still keep tabs on them even if they falter. You can’t forget an old friend.

Setlists -

The National

1) Start A War
2) Brainy
3) Slow Show
4) Mistaken For Strangers
5) Abel
6) Squalor Victoria
7) Apartment Story
8) Baby We’ll Be Fine
9) Fake Empire
10) Mr. November
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Modest Mouse

1) Black Cadillacs
2) Satin in a Coffin
3) Dance Hall
4) The View
5) Fire It Up
6) Trailer Trash
7) Education
8) Trucker’s Atlas
9) Wild Pack of Family Dogs
10) Dashboard
11) Spitting Venom
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R.E.M.

1) Horse to Water
2) Little America
3) What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
4) Ignoreland
5) Accelerate
6) Man-Sized Wreath
7) Imitation of Life
8) West of the Fields
9) Hollow Man
10) Wolves, Lower
11) Walk Unafraid
12) Houston
13) Electrolite
14) The One I Love
15) Final Straw
16) Find the River
17) Let Me In
18) Losing My Religion
19) Living Well’s the Best Revenge
20. Bad Day
21) Orange Crush
22) I’m Gonna DJ
Encore:
23) Supernatural Superserious
24) Mr. Richards
25) Driver 8
26) Life and How to Live It
27) Man on the Moon