REM - This one goes out...

For my birthday Carol got me tickets to REM  and said, "You don't have to go with me if you don't want to" — which as any man with half a brain knows, falls into the same category as "Do I look fat in this?" There is only one answer, and if you don't know it, you're likely single. Or sleeping on the couch.

Anyway, I digress.

The point is, for many, many years, I was a big REM fan. For the last few years though, I'd found them kind of meandering, and their newer stuff just never stayed on the iPod for long -- if it made it there at all. Then Accelerate came out, and I thought, "Ooh, that's good stuff! REM with a sense of imperative!"

It would have ended there, just me listening to them and enjoying it. But the concert reignited all the reasons I love this band. Oh my, they were good. Aside from a surprisingly eclectic set list, they had the big drums (even without Bill Berry), great guitar, Stipe in fantastic, in fact astonishing, voice — and charming to boot. Check out this classic, made even more fun by the presence of guitarist Johnny Marr.





I've been digging out my old REM CDs to rip back into my iPod ever since.