REM in Dublin

I went to see REM in the Olympia last night. It was a pretty decent show - the last of their 'rehearsal' shows this week featuring mostly new songs and obscure old ones. None of the hits. Funny thing about them was that you couldn't really tell the new songs form the old ones. I don't think anyone could ever accuse REM of evolving. The template hasn't changed for 25 years. Essentially they've got 2 songs. The ones with the catchy chorus and Mike Mills harmonising in the background (those would also be known as the popular ones), and the other one which is mostly Peter Buck banging away on a Rickenbacker while Stipey shouts about The Man and generally makes a bit of a racket. Sometimes they can overlap a little but it mostly comes down to those two.

Still it was nice to see them and it was a good night out. As usual there were a lot of people talking through the whole thing. One guy behnd told his friend that 'going to see REM is a life experience - like going to a wedding'. No, I don't know what he meant either..

But perhaps the most exciting thing about the show was the ticket (above). Remember when concert tickets were differnet for every show? These people do. In the days before generic ticketmaster printouts. Also in the day before you were charged extra for the tickets being run through a laser printer. How come we were never charged for design and print costs of tickets 15 years ago but now that they're automatically printed there's a charge. Did someone say rip-off?