1 September 2003
Comcast Mainstage,
Bumbershoot 2003,
Seattle Center,
Seattle, WA
Neumann KM140s > Lunatec V2 > Sony TCD-D8
Disc One 57:24
01. Crowd Noise
02. Begin The Begin
03. Finest Worksong
04. Maps And Legends
05. Drive
06. Animal
07. Fall On Me
08. Bad Day
09. Daysleeper
10. Exhuming McCarthy
11. Electrolite
12. New Test Leper
13. Nightswimming
Disc Two 63:02
01. The One I Love
02. At My Most Beautiful
03. I've Been High
04. Losing My Religion
05. She Just Wants To Be
06. Walk Unafraid
07. Man On The Moon
encore:
08. Everybody Hurts
09. Imitation Of Life
10. World Leader Pretend
11. Get Up
12. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Notes:
-With so many connections in Seattle, we get an especially chatty MS this night.
-Before Maps & Legends "We're R.E.M. and this is what we do".
-Before Drive MS says hello to PB the MM "What does this have to do with Seattle? [MS] It's a stuffed rhinoceros Mike. Even I know what that has to do with Seattle. [MM] Would you care to enlighten me? [MS] Uh...give me a minute".
-Before Animal, MS notes it's their 3rd date in North America and this is their biggest show since leaving Europe. He goes on to note the choice to play Seattle was unanimous and then moves into his right here, right now thing.
-Before Fall On Me MS explains he is wearing a lei given to him by "a young lady in the front row". He goes on to introduce the song "This is an old song but it's a song that we love a lot".
-After Bad Day MS notes that everybody on stage but he and MM are currently living in Seattle.
-Before Daysleeper MS "Peter says he lives here, he doesn't need a lei".
-Before Exhuming McCarthy MS figures out what day it is then has an exchange with some fans about their birthdays. He asks the fan to confirm the date then "I wouldn't say the 1963 part if I were you. That's ok, I've got three years on you and I'm fucking proud of it. This next song is a request. I wouldn't have done it otherwise but the guys talked me into it".
-Before Electrolite MS "This orange juice tastes really fucking weird. Can I just have a straight vodka? Anybody remember Jackie Gleason? Raise your wilted arm. Anybody remember Red Skelton? He was my hero until I was 7 years old. My cousin Becky said 'don't watch that, watch this' and she turned the channel and it was Sonny & Cher. I never looked back. Who would have thought that 23 years later I'd be a benefit show in Los Angeles and we would be doing a version of I Got You Babe as a joke to Bono, because you don't ever pronounce his name Bono [with the long O's] and I did this whole introduction 'this song goes out to a great man who's inspired many, who's music is brilliant and has been copied by myself and others, Mr. Bono [with the long o's]' And we started doing out little, puny version of I Got You Babe and guess who walked on stage from the right hand side? Fucking Cher walked on stage and sang a song with me! And I tell you what, we held hands at the end of it, it was really sweet [gag]'. He adds that the next three songs were written and recorded in Seattle.
-Before NTL MS tells his 'more yeahs in it then a Nirvana song' story then "In the great tradition of Lou Reed, Patti Smith it was our desire to write a song that had Jesus in the first line of it. This happens to be Peter Buck's favorite song that we've ever written". He goes on to explain that they don't play it often because "the meter is difficult for the people. It's even harder for the singer". After the song he asks if everyone looked at Mars recently.
-Before Nightswimming MS "Mr. Mills? For the second time in eight years? Let's do it". After the song he has an exchange with a fan about where they came from and the "Welcome to Seattle, it's a beautiful place. Avoid the Market".
-Before TOIL "It's Robbie Williams time". After the song "Have I mentioned the Seattle connection?" He then goes on to introduce MM "on piano yet again [MM] (?) old [MS] It'll never get old in my life don't worry about that. It is a piano right? [MM] It is. [MS] I never knew what was sitting behind that big wooden thing".
-LMR is sent out to Wilco and "Each and every one of you".
-IOL is introduced as "particularly brilliant" and has a different drum intro. After the song MS announces they'll be playing longer and that a lot of the original punk rockers of Seattle are on the sides of the stage. He names Hannah Wire as one who flew in for the show & notes some of them work for the band.
-Before WLP MS notes they've only done the song once (two nights ago) since 1989 and he flubbed a couplle lines, encouraging the crowd to sing loud to cover any mistakes and admitting he'll be using a lyric sheet.
Grade: A