R.E.M. “Live at the Olympia” Review

R.E.M. are at their best on Live at the Olympia which will be released on October 27, 2009.  The album is comprised of a whopping 39 tracks and features “working rehearsals” recorded between June 30–July 5, 2007 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.

The compilation will be released as a two-disc CD set which will also include a DVD of the performance directed by Vincent Moon.

A lot of the songs were from their 2008 album, Accelerate, so those tracks were essentially debuted to fans during this live performance.  Of course, they weren’t the final versions of the songs so it’s interesting to listen, not only to how well they were performed live, but also to what they sounded like earlier in the creative process.

Michael Stipe is so talented and his ability to evoke emotion into his voice is so strong that I can almost envision what his facial expressions look like based on how he sounds.  Of course, there were light moments when he indulged in a quick chuckle during “Letter Never Sent” so I’m looking forward to seeing the DVD so I can see what it was that made him laugh. 

The band was also pretty interactive with the crowd which was pretty cool.  Again, after “Letter Never Sent” a woman yells out about how much she loves the way he does his “oh oh ohhhhs” which results in some pretty humorous banter. 

Fans and casual listeners alike will enjoy this great CD.  It’s definitely worth picking up!

image used with permission