Remunited Videos

This was one of three album-closers included in the set -- it and "Electrolite" both got terrific receptions, while Accelerate's awful "I'm Gonna DJ" brought the main set to an awkward close. Other highlights included an excellent acoustic arrangement of "Let Me In," the Kurt Cobain memorial from Monster, and a version of "Fall on Me" with Johnny Marr of Modest Mouse (and late of the Smiths) during the encore. All in all, an incredible show and an experience I hope to be able to have again -- here's hoping their next good album and big tour isn't 12 years away. Author: aaronetc Keywords: chicago concert rem united center alt rock remunited Added: June 20, 2008

Even though I've been disappointed with so much of their material from the past decade, R.E.M. has long been on my list of bands to see if the opportunity came up. It finally did last Friday, and they had some pretty decent support on the bill in the National and Modest Mouse. The only problem is that big arena shows are no good for whipping out a camcorder and microphones, which meant I had to fall back on the old camera for this show. As a result, the sound is pretty good but the video largely stinks, especially from the opening sets before all of R.E.M.'s big lights came on. We got to the show just as the National began their set, and spent their first three songs wandering around and getting some really bad United Center food. Unfortunately, my two favorite songs of theirs, "Slow Show" and "Mistaken For Strangers," were in those three, but I like this one a lot too. They were really well received by the still-small crowd and got more applause than Modest Mouse did when Michael Stipe thanked them both near the end of the show. Author: aaronetc Keywords: chicago concert national united center alt rock remunited Added: June 19, 2008

I was looking forward to a rousing mid-show set from Modest Mouse, but something seemed off about them the whole time. Contra Muzzle of Bees, they sounded really thin to me, and even their newer, bigger arrangement stuff didn't fill up the arena the way it should have. I was also surprised at how much they didn't play from Good News -- not just hit single "Float On," which you'd think they'd play for an audience that probably doesn't know them for anything else, but also "The World at Large" and "Bury Me With It." Still, it left me curious what they could do in a smaller space, and the next time they come through to someplace like the Orpheum I may check them out. Author: aaronetc Keywords: chicago concert modest mouse united center alt rock remunited Added: June 19, 2008