R.E.M. Ups The Frequency At The E-Center

by Adam Greenberg

Although singer Michael Stipe declared the R.E.M. concert on Sunday, Sept. 5 the "hottest and muggiest" date of the tour, the band's performance was not dampened by the humid weather.

R.E.M. charged the stage at the BlockbusterSony Music Entertainment Centre in Camden, NJ, tearing into the rocker "Lotus," from their most recent album "Up." The crowd responded enthusiastically when they followed that song with the equally intense "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?," which was accompanied by choppy strobe lighting.

This one-two punch served as a confirmation that R.E.M. is still one of the best bands on the planet. A sense of uncertainty had surrounded the group's future prospects since the departure of drummer and founding member Bill Berry in 1997. Sluggish sales of their 1998 effort "Up" only strengthened doubt among the naysayers.

Preaching to the converted, R.E.M. still pushed themselves to the limit proving that they continue to remain artistically vital as we head into the next millennium.

Stipe, bassist Mike Mills, and guitarist Peter Buck were joined by three other musicians in order to round out their sound.

Explosions and massive props have never been part of the live R.E.M. experience, but they did create a visually exciting show with neon images hanging from above and around the band. A monkey, a camera and the male and female symbols were just some of the shapes that adorned

"Pilgrimage" from their first album. "Man on the Moon" and "Losing My Religion," two of their biggest hits, were accompanied by the audience, who sang every word.

Stipe introduced a new song called "The Great Beyond," which he explained was written lyrics.

"Great title, huh?" Stipe said. "The Great Beyond" played like an instant-classic, featuring the lyric "I'm pushing elephants up stairs."

The normally-elusive Stipe was quite talkative in between songs. He told one story about asked if the locals were proud to have their city featured in the film "The Sixth Sense,"which he said that he had seen twice. the stage. A huge "thank you" lit up at the end of the show.

Dedicating the song to someone's mother, the solemn "Sweetness Follows," a meditation on grief and loss, quieted the audience and was truly a beautiful moment.

Another highlight was when Peter Buck fired off the driving guitar-riff, enhanced by a wild sweeping effect, that opens "Finest Worksong," which stirred the crowd into a frenzy. Emerging from a brief intermission, Stipe took the stage alone for the encore. With an acoustic guitar in hand, he clumsily strummed his way through a rendition of "Hope" before Mike Mills took over the picking duties for "Why Not Smile?"Joined by the rest of the band, R.E.M. performed some more upbeat tunes, such as "Wake Up Bomb," before closing the show with "It's the End of the World As We Know It."

One of the souvenir shirts being sold at the E-Centre was printed with the slogan "R.E.M. at their Thunderous Best." For once, there was truth in advertising.

The band's set consisted mainly of their most recent work, along with select older songs, such as for the upcoming film-biography about comedian Andy Kaufman.

The film is titled "Man on the Moon," after the R.E.M. song that mentions Kaufman in the traveling through Philadelphia, looking for information on Edgar Allan Poe, who he somehow thought lived during the 1940s rather than the 1840s. Later, he

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The British quartet Spacehog opened the show, blasting through a brief set of their own brand of glam-rock. The crowd responded with polite enthusiasm, with the most cheers erupting when the band played its major hit single "In the Meantime."

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