R.E.M.’s doing that national tour with the National and Modest Mouse these days. And there has been a rather awesome development of late. We’ve highlighted some of the rarities spilling from the setlists, but none quite so rare as the mind-and-fret-meld presented by the recent rash of “Fall On Me”s with Johnny Marr on additional guitar duty. Just to put in some temporal perspective, the year in which “Fall On Me” was (barely) charting in the States (#94 in ’86), “Bigmouth Strikes Again” peaked at #26 in the UK. And now flashforward 22 years.
These “Fall On Me”s are fun for highlighting that interesting time-fold between R.E.M. and Modest Mouse: while Isaac Brock is being quoted in SPIN about the enduring influence of R.E.M., his guitarist is making a moment by treating showgoers to some iconic contemporaries in collaboration. They did in North Carolina last night, and as YouTubed above, at Chicago’s United Center on Friday night. You can expect some Buck/Marr photo spreads in the next issue of every music magazine ever. There are a few more dates before this is no longer a possibility…
06/13 – Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center
06/14 – Long Island, NY @ Jones Beach
06/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center
06/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre
Good luck, everybody. Here’s the Chicago night setlist (via remurmur.blogspot.com):
01 “Living Well’s the Best Revenge”
02 “These Days”
03 “Begin The Begin”
04 “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”
05 “Pilgrimage”
06 “Hollow Man”
06 “Animal”
08 “Man-Sized Wreath”
09 “Ignoreland”
10 “The Great Beyond”
11 “Accelerate”
12 “Houston”
13 “Electrolite”
14 “The One I Love”
15 “Final Straw”
16 “Find The River”
17 “Let Me In”
18 “Walk Unafraid”
19 “Orange Crush”
20 “Horse to Water”
21 “Bad Day”
22 “I’m Gonna DJ”
—-
23 “Supernatural Superserious”
24 “Pretty Persuasion”
25 “Losing My Religion”
26 “Fall On Me” (w/ Johnny Marr)
27 “Man On The Moon”
You Might Also Like
 Watch Johnny Marr On Portlandia |  Michael Stipe Plays Password With Muppets On Fallon |  Progress Report: Mike Mills (R.E.M.) |  R.E.M. – “A Month Of Saturdays” & “Hallejulah” |
 |
 |
What? No, “Everybody Hurts” or “It’s the end of the world”? Holy crap, I would want my money back.
Their ACL set was brutal. Both times they played older songs the crowd went nuts. Every other time they played songs from their latest CD. Not exactly the same reaction from the crowd to those songs.
When will they realize they are more like the Eagles and less like Radiohead (meaning that their best music is far behind them not in front of them).
jesus, man, could you change the channel? i had a rough night and hate the fuckin’ eagles, man.
I was at that show – and it was Stereogum’s fault. I had no plans to go, then I read your post on the rarities and somehow snagged 17th row seats from ticketmaster the week before.
There were two bottle-blond suburbanites sitting in front of us who had paid a shitload for their seats. After declaring that “Modest Mouse sucks”, they were very surprised that Johnny Marr was at the show to play this song, declaring “Who would have thought Johnny Marr would be here?” Yikes.
People there were *into* the new R.E.M. stuff — I was quite surprised at how many people seemed to know the whole album.
And the Eagles always sucked. I’d say someone like Paul McCartney or Bruce Springsteen is a better comparison.
fair enough. Bruce Springsteen is a much better comparison.
I saw them at Sasquatch, but I think that set is better. Find the river and fall on me were missed in washington state.
Even though Marr is “in” Modest Mouse, “Modest Mouse sucks” and “Who would have thought Johnny Marr would be here?” are still valid comments.
Almost every band’s best music is behind them including REM, The Eagles ,and Radiohead.
That doesn’t mean they should stop trying
If you don’t like REM’s new album then don’t go see them on this tour.
Going to REM just to hear Everybody Hurts is no different than going to see Radiohead to hear Creep
or the Eagles to hear Desperado
They should still play new songs,
That’s what they do.
“Almost every band’s best music is behind them”
You’re going to stick with this statement then? Don’t want to tinker with it just a tad?
I thought about how wrong it might be but I liked the way it sounded so I’m sticking with it.
I caught the tour in Berkeley, and I think it’s the best setlist I’ve heard in 10 years from these guys, predominantly because:
A) Accelerate is the best REM album since Monster (’95)
B) They barely play anything off the previous 3 albums, which had some good songs but some snoozers that tend to suck the life out of the joint
C) They kept the set thin on saddoes in the spirit of the new album.
If you want to see the classics, get a copy of Tourfilm. Else, I’ll take REM as a work in progress. … and I agree with the Springsteen analogy …
Thanks so much for using my video!! Its really an honor to be on stereogum..The big Johnny Marr/Modest Mouse fan for the win!!
Ps: support MM they are really great and unlike people things Johnny isn’t wasting his talent with them.. the Smiths are over..and have been ..move on
The National DJed after the Chicago show at a bar called the Burlington and they played some mighty tasty jams. good times indeed!
Very cool on the National DJing after the show. Can you recall a couple specific songs they played? I’ve been a big REM over the years but The National got me to the show. They didn’t disappoint. Thought they won over the crowd nicely. (To my ears, getting a bigger ovation than MM when Stipe thanked the openers.) I don’t understand Modest Mouse’s set. The crowd virtually hated them, indifference at best. Why they chose not to play “Missed the Boat” or “Float On” is beyond me. Brock’s vocals are off-putting enough for the uninitiated, why you’d skip the two songs that have actually gotten tons of airplay in Chicago is a head-scratcher. Unless they actually didn’t want to win over any new fans with this opening act gig. I like them, have their last three albums, but they put together and delivered a bad set.
REM, on the other hand, eclipse my expectations, and put on a very winning show, the best I’ve seen from them since the Document tour. They were so good –and I know they’re changing up the setlist a lot from show to show (reportedly rotating 75 songs!)– that I’ll probably try and catch them in Milwaukee if they hit it on the next U.S. leg.
Don’t miss this tour!
Man, I just remembered why I started listening to REM in the first place…awesome!
Dude, I was there! It was awesome.
I know Dude, I was theoretically speaking to the Stereogum masses. Any specifics songs you can recall on that National DJing stint? (I’m a National freak, gotta know everything.) TIAdance.
Great video! Thanks for putting it up Stereogum/TannerSis
What do people want Marr to do? Boomslang?
I’m happy (shiny, in fact) to see that Mike Mills stopped wearing those Nudie suits. I think his best dressed days are ahead of him.
Also, I think Reveal is a better album than Accelerate (proceed with caution) and Monster which was marred (pun intended) by bad production.
Is that Jerry Garcia playing next to Marr??!!
That would be Scott McCaughey, who is neither young nor fresh, but still very talented. He’s been playing with R.E.M. for 14 years. Jerry Garcia is dead. And presumably grateful.
Even though Marr is “in” Modest Mouse, “Modest Mouse sucks” and “Who would have thought Johnny Marr would be here?” are still valid comments.
I know, they do suck. All they did was release two of the best albums of the past two decades.
wait, there are people that dont like modest mouse??
Saw the Boston show two nights ago; after Mike Mills sang “Rockville” Johnny Marr played pretty much the rest of the encore with REM , including Fall on Me, Pretty Persuasion (which may have been an impromptu addition to the set list?) and Man on the Moon.
pic here:
Also–either Modest Mouse was having severe PA problems, or they just suck live. That is all.
I think Johnny Marr should quit MM and join REM.
Very cool on the National DJing after the show. Can you recall a couple specific songs they played? I’ve been a big REM over the years but The National got me to the show. They didn’t disappoint. Thought they won over the crowd nicely. (To my ears, getting a bigger ovation than MM when Stipe thanked the openers.) I don’t understand Modest Mouse’s set. The crowd virtually hated them, indifference at best. Why they chose not to play “Missed the Boat” or “Float On” is beyond me. Brock’s vocals are off-putting enough for the uninitiated, why you’d skip the two songs that have actually gotten tons of airplay in Chicago is a head-scratcher. Unless they actually didn’t want to win over any new fans with this opening act gig. I like them, have their last three albums, but they put together and delivered a bad set.
REM, on the other hand, eclipse my expectations, and put on a very winning show, the best I’ve seen from them since the Document tour. They were so good –and I know they’re changing up the setlist a lot from show to show (reportedly rotating 75 songs!)– that I’ll probably try and catch them in Milwaukee if they hit it on the next U.S. leg.
Don’t miss this tour!