anybody who saw soem live shows in teh early and mid 80's could attest to how powerful, moody and exhillarating they were. You'd leave the show buzzing (and not because of hebs). Every show was different and had a different vibe.
I saw them on the same tour, and it was fantastic, the best show I saw them give. When I saw them the year before they were still kind of ragged and amateurish, afterward they were much more accomplished but didn't quite have the chemistry they did before. Often the best moment to see the band is their breakthrough moment like this, when they can really play but don't yet take that for granted.
This is my favorite REM song ,Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of REM and the Murmor album if you listen to it you will hear Simularity between Nirvana and REM.Im from Seattle and Nirvana was my first concert I went to.I lived there 8 years thanks this is the best version of this song on youtube with clarity and a great performance.P.S REM was playing on Kurt Cobains radio in his house when they found Kurt's body.Him and Michael Stipe were good friends to I hear.Thanks for putting this up! :)
Thank you so much for putting up this show- REM at their youthful best - but compare with Gardening at Night from the 2007 Hall of Fame performance, and Michael's smile about 2 minutes in when he sees someone in the audience - same song but a generation apart - both wonderful in their own way.
"We ankled up the garbage sound/but they were busy in the rows " I could barely understand the lyrics of this song when I heard it the first times. English is not my first language. But in any case it actually reminded me soundly of gardening at night, when I had to get through all these wet bushes, at night.
I fucking love this song. Killer channel man. I will continue to come back and work my way through what looks like an epic collection of rare bits and pieces. Great work!!
Thanks for posting this show...REM at the start...first few albums playing in front of 100s versus 1000s. What is the source of this? I have seen a lot of great vids from passiac...late 70s early 80s... Van Morrison, REM, Many others too... Were concerts filmed by the venue? Curious.
Isn't this song about growing/harvesting pot covertly at night? I just read it was about someone in the band having to pee and doing it on the side of the road thus; Gardening at Night. Why do all their songs have quadruple entendres? Regardless, I am so grateful they were part of my formative life.
This was when they mattered like a shot in the dark, before all the dumb idolatory that has ruined them since Document. Pure Athens noise and nonsense and a texture they've never recaptured.
So god told Michael Stipe if he continued to wear his hair like this then he would do something 'bout it. . . . I saw them on this the Reckoning tour @ the Hollywood Palladium. Stipe did entire show on a bar stool cuz a shark bit his leg. No second guitar player just the for of them. Mike Mills wore a James Dean t-shirt and they premiered Driver 8 that night. That show should have been recorded and released.
I saw them at the SF Warfield on the same tour. He sat on the stool the whole time for that one too, except he didn't say it was a shark just that he messed up his leg body surfing (I think a sprained ankle). I guess the shark makes a better story, LOL.
