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R.E.M. |
| This was supposed to be the better of the two Scottish
gigs, but hopefully that won't turn out to be the case as this was easily
the most disappointing REM gig out of the five I've seen to date. Principal reason for that had to be a sound dominated by the bass drum rendering much of the up tempo material murky to say the least. A relatively late arrival didn't help matters either, as we ended up further from the stage than we would have liked but in truth we had a decent enough view. An excellent opening salvo lost some of its impact due to the sound but by "High Speed Train", surely one of the worst song REM have ever recorded, boredom was being hinted at. Things improved with 'Leaving New York' and 'Everybody Hurts' but even an appearance by 'Me In Honey', one of few songs on 'Out of Time' I would unreservedly admit to liking, didn't lift things that much. The closing trilogoy of 'Orange Crush', the mighty 'Walk Unafraid' and 'Religion' lifted spirits sufficiently for the encore but maybe even half of the seven songs played didn't really catch fire. 'Country Feedback' and 'I've Been High' were perhaps the pick of the bunch although the unrecorded 'DJ' added some spirit. In the end, it was REM and it was OK but really that isn't good enough. With the advantages of a smaller venue over the upcoming Loch Lomond gig this should have been great. It wasn't for me. |
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