REM- music really misses them

They love playing too much. I think they will be back at some point.

also, if you dig REM and miss them, here's a band for you to discover: The Watchmen. They are/were a band from Winnipeg. They also gained their following from endless touring cross canada (and australia) back and forth for years. Playing college campuses, dive bars, anywhere that would book them. they became pretty big in canada in the early 90's, but like REM, they didn't fit in well with any specific rock or alternative genre, so it wasn't easy to promote them.

I didn't make the connection between the two bands until recently when I heard the lead singer mention in an old article that he and the rest of the band were devestated to hear that REM were quitting, as they were huge fans and a big influence on their own band.

www.the-watchmen.com. they have some free music you can download off their media page. two studio songs, one full acoustic performance, and a full live performance of their album Stereo in Toronto at the Horseshoe.

2-feign-reluctance said:

: (

sorry Chris. did I open an old wound? LOL

red mos said:

Honestly, this is the last band on my bucket list. Would love to see them live.

Well, we'll all be lucky if something brings them all together for a public show that people actually know about ahead of time. A tour is probably too much to hope for, but a couple of shows (with Bill Berry as drummer) would be so so amazing! We can dream...

Meanwhile, those of you just catching onto them, check out "Tour Film" I think it's called, I'm pretty sure it's from the Document tour and it's great!

2004. Around the Sun tour. http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/rem/2004/centennial-concert-hall-winnipeg-mb-canada-43d6ab97.html

that was a cool read

still IMO its sad that it seems these guys are very unlikely ever to reform, they seem very comfortable in their decision and happy they made it. My selfish side always hoped they would come back. They clearly don't want or desire that, fair play really.

Someone posted cool "Those moments" thread about transformative moments during a show that just blow your mind, like when the music and the energy and your heart and soul all just explode at once. My concert where this happened over and over again for almost the entire show was an REM show, around this time, and this song was utmost in the main "moments"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lqQ4brvK4

Saw them around the time of "Reckoning". Stipe hung to the mic stand like it was a crutch and he looked very bedraggled but sounded great. For an encore they jammed with two guys from Gang of Four. Great show!

I was lucky enough to first see them in 1983, as well as every tour up until their demise. They always had a great fan club ticketing system, so I got to see them front row a few times. I almost delayed taking the CPA exam so that I could see them on the Monster tour, but instead, I just took 1/2 the exam so that I could still catch 2 shows.

JH6056 said:

JOEJOEJOE said:

I was lucky enough to first see them in 1983, as well as every tour up until their demise. They always had a great fan club ticketing system, so I got to see them front row a few times. I almost delayed taking the CPA exam so that I could see them on the Monster tour, but instead, I just took 1/2 the exam so that I could still catch 2 shows.

So did you become a CPA? Closest I came to that was when I rowed crew and rode up to Boston for the Head of the Charles race (which I wasn't in), then ditched my schoolmates and took a bus to Worcester to see them at the Centrum. It was a fantastic show and I never regretted it for a second. Matter of fact, most I rode back with were like "We shoulda gone to see REM with you..."

Yep, I became a CPA....still doing it to this day!