R.E.M. CALL IT A DAY (UPDATED WITH BAND MEMBERS' COMMENTS)
I've seen them so many times that I've lost count. I still remember the first time, back in the early 80's, playing a small college show. When I tried to get tickets from my nearest Ticketmaster outlet, the old lady running the ticket machine swore to me that there wasn't a band called R.E.M. and that I really meant REO Speedwagon. I declined. At the show, they were playing a bunch of new songs that would become Fables of the Reconstruction. Stipe performed the entire show under dim lights with his back to the stage. Contrast that to shows in the 2000's where the entire stage was a blaze of lights and colors and Stipe moved around like an indie rock Mick Jagger.
Since this is the end, here's one from the beginning... their first TV appearance on the old Letterman show, singing a song too new to have a name that ultimately became the classic "So. Central Rain".
