Your Eyes Are Burning Holes Through Me

And now the secret can be revealed: I saw Michael Stipe on Thursday. Thanks to a hot tip from Janet Jones, I knew where they were staying in Chapel Hill, so I "followed with interest" around the hotel until I spotted somebody...

The concert? It was pretty unique. While I've always been vaguely aware that R.E.M. are a band from the Southern part of the US, it only became clear last night: this was a homecoming concert. Their first gig outside of Georgia was the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill; Radio Free Europe was a Triangle hit, and so, last night, they were coming home.

Highlights included Michael Stipe's increasingly frantic dancing (it seems to be getting more Ian Curtis like with every performance), (and the teased-out strip which seemed to to impress the girls in our little group), discovering that I'm not the only person who loves 'Electrolite' (yay for New Adventures in Hi-Fi!), a spine-tingling version of 'Nightswimming', plus a six-song encore.

And then there were the words that I'd never expected to hear: "On drums, Mr. Bill Berry!" The crowd went wild, cheering him on at that point and when he came onstage to sing the harmonies on 'Radio Free Europe'. Then he climbed into the drum section. (At this point, I thought it might be a good idea to tell Laura exactly why everybody around her was excited 8-)) The original line-up of R.E.M. playing together again for the first time in years. Oh yes.

So, a great night. I also met another of Laura's friends yesterday, Stacie, plus one of her friends, Duane (the biggest R.E.M. fan I've ever met), and he brought one of his friends, Jennifer (it was like a Friendster chain, I suppose). And! Krispy! Kreme! Oh God. Laura kept on telling me how nice they were hot, but I never truly believed. I repent, and now worship at the altar of the glazing machine…

currently playing: R.E.M. — Little America
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