As the fellow Maniacs probably have understood, when it comes to travelling I am quite a lazy person. I like to see places, but I don’t like spending hours on a plane, train or car… especially if I have to travel alone. So when some friend tells me that he travelled 500 Kms for attending to a concert in some distant place, I don’t feel much envy for him: in his place, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the show after such a long trip.

When all hopes were lost, R.E.M. surprised everyone this spring with the release of “Accelerate”, which sounded like the band had travelled 25 years back in time to recover their post-punk/garage/indie rock band origins. Eleven extremely short songs, mostly fast-paced and tight, raw and energetic. The critics raved and welcomed this new burst of energy from the “old timers”, sometimes even hinting that this was one of their best albums ever. In my opinion, it was a bit of an exaggeration: “Accelerate” sounds good and invigorating, but it’s little more than a rehash of the classic R.E.M. style. A competent rehash, written and played with unexpected enthusiasm, but not a masterpiece like “Automatic for the people”, “New adventures in Hi-Fi”, their debut “Murmur” or the underrated “Fables of the reconstruction”.

And the show goes on, at a frantic pace: only the choice of the very minor and little-known “Animal” seems completely out of place, while it’s a great pleasure to hear old gems like “Driver 8”… and even a little throwaway song like the recent “I’m gonna DJ” becomes a thumping and thunderous arena rocker when played live. At the middle of the show, while Peter Buck keeps being his usual impassible self and Mike Mills just smiles, Stipe starts getting a bit talkative: he chats with the audience, recalls funny anecdotes of the last time he came in Torino as a tourist, jokes on how tired the band is after such a tour and how coming to Italy has a nice relaxing effect on them (maybe thanks to the food and wine?). And then they start playing again with the same passion… “She just wants to be” ends with some very energetic electric guitar soloing, much better than in the studio version, and “The one I love” sets the audience on fire singing along with Stipe during the chorus. Not only that, but the members of the Italian fanclub start waving sheets of paper with the silhouette of a naked woman… a clear homage to Peter’s Rickenbacker 360 guitar that was recently stolen (and then luckily “found” again) after a concert in Helsinki. A very loved guitar, as Buck started playing it in 1982 on their debut album and never replaced it: very fitting that the homage from the audience was staged during “The one I love”!!!

Overall the concert was very satisfactory: sure, the acoustics of these sports arenas are never top notch and Michael Stipe’s voice sounded a bit distant during the louder songs, and I personally feel that the arrangements would have been more effective and clean if Buck had been the only guitar player, without the backing from an additional musician. Stipe did his best to make the show involving: perhaps his stage presence is not as commanding as some other lead singers, but no reason to complain.

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