27 October 1986
Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada
support: The Feelies
Disc One: 70:54
01. These Days
02. After Hours
03. These Days
04. Harborcoat
05. West Of The Fields
06. Cuyahoga
07. Maps And Legends
08. The One I Love
09. Feeling Gravitys Pull
10. The Flowers Of Guatemala
11. I Believe - I Believe
12. Swan Swan H
13. 7 Chinese Bros.
14. Superman
15. Can't Get There From Here
16. Old Man Kensey
17. Pretty Persuasion
18.. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
19. Little America
Disc Two: 38:43
encore 1:
01. Fall On Me
02. Oddfellows Local 151
03. Radar Love - I Wanna Be Your Dog
04. Burning Hell
encore 2:
05. We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)-Singing Cage
06. The Counting Song
07. Sloop John B
encore 3:
08. Funtime
09. Just A Touch
10. So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
Timeline notes: Natalie Merchant guests on 'We Don't Need Another Hero', 'Singing Cage', 'The Counting Song' and 'Sloop John B'.
Notes:
-These Days is aborted causing MS to start in on Afterhours while the cause is addressed. After the song, he asks for a vote if they should start over. He then instructs them to imagine they had just walked out onstage & had not seen them for a year.
-Backup vocals in These Days are quite prominent
-MS before The One I Love "In the face of all adversity the greatest natural resource and the lowest common denominator shall shine through".
-MS tells another story of cannibalism, this time amongst people in West Virginia. Praphrading: Acheta lived in West Virginia, got shot, chopped up and was had for BBQ. MS goes on to imply that this is common in the south.
-Before Superman MM(?) "In the interest of diversity...or perhaps for general overall improvement...the Millses".
-Before Can't Get There From Here MS 'I'm going to put my coat on this one's a little difficult to do in the flesh. (Respending to distant shouted requests) I'm sorry I can't understand what you are saying it makes no sense to my ears. No this is miles above any of that, simply by the fact it is here and now, and that is mine. A little philosophy to take home with you. Strictly rhetorical, no need to comment. Whoa, that's not mine".
-After Can't Get There From Here, MS "Thank you eh?"
-Before Old Man Kensey, MS recites a bit of poetry, it ends with "thank you mother, thank you father, thank you jesus britches".
-Very brief Caroline story preceding Auctioneer.
-MS & PB out of sync at beginning of Little America
-Before Fall On Me, MS discusses the meaning of the song for a bit, "Originally it was about about a problem you have here...that's prbably mostly our fault. Before the song got recorded it got switched around alot and became a general opressed/opressor anthemsumming it up with: so you can apply the song however you want to. I have my own applications filed away."
-Before Radar Love, MS "For those of you able to maintain silence during the slower parts of the numbers, you're very patient and warm and probably very intelligent. As for the rest of you... Were trying to decide what to do and I'm supposed to... "
-For the last line of Thunderdome, MS "all we want is life beyond Reaganomics".
-MS & NM clown their way through Counting Song.
-Before So Central, MS "We can only do one more song , or it's going to cost us a thousand dollars for some reason that is beyond me right now". He goes on to dole out thank-yous and notes their soundman Bob, fell and broke his leg that day.
-First full show in Canada since the Barrymore's fiasco the previous year. Ottawa was not on the calendar...
Grade: A
-I received an upgrade that took this show from a D to an A
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R.E.M. - Massey Hall, Toronto - October 27, 1986
Sony D-6/Nacamichi CM-300 > Audience cassette master > Cassette > CDR > dBpowerAMP > WAV > FLAC Frontend > Flac files
Here’s another David Thomas recording, and I got my copy from him. It’s the best quality show I’ve heard from the Pageant tour. I’d give it an A-.
The show has an interesting start, with equipment and/or monitor problems derailing things seconds into the first song. Although this incident seems destined to launch the band into a show similar to the Toronto show the previous year, things do not get that exciting. The set is tight and well played, but they seem unable to bring it to the next level.
Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs guests during many of the encores, but I think the show falls apart when she appears, and her intrusive, off-key wailing on So. Central Rain ruins the song.
1. These Days
2. After Hours
3. These Days
4. Harborcoat
5. West Of The Fields
6. Cuyahoga
7. Maps And Legends
8. The One I Love
9. Feeling Gravitys Pull
10. The Flowers Of Guatemala
11. I Believe
12. Swan Swan H
13. Seven Chinese Brothers
14. Superman
15. Can't Get There From Here
16. Old Man Kensey
17. Pretty Persuasion
18. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
19. Little America
1. Fall On Me
2. Oddfellows Local 151
3. Radar Love / I Wanna Be Your Dog
4. Burning Hell
5. We Don't Need Another Hero / Singing Cage
6. The Counting Song
7. Sloop John B
8. Funtime
9. Just A Touch
10. So. Central Rain