R.E.M. — Live At The Olympia In Dublin

Live At The Olympia In Dublin

Warner

Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack)

11/13/2009 2:55pm

R.E.M.'s Live At The Olympia In Dublin is a bit of an experiment in the live CD/DVD concept. The band conducted five "live rehearsals" at Olympia and then used the recordings to create the 39 songs that span two audio discs and the accompanying DVD, This Is Not A Show.

The DVD's nothing special. Michael Stipe's stage banter is more extended and therefore more informative than in the clipped versions that accompany the audio tracks, but the black and white, dodge-and-burn aesthetic of director Vincent Moon (Miroir Noir) was probably chosen specifically to please photo fetishist Stipe and nobody else.

The real joy here comes with the ride in the wayback machine that is the two concert discs. The band dig far deeper into their catalogue than on 2007's R.E.M. Live album, playing almost their entire debut EP Chronic Town along with huge gobs of Fables Of The Reconstruction and multiple Reckoning, Life's Rich Pageant, Document and Murmur tracks.

As the deep album gems whiz by ("Disturbance At The Heron House" from Document, "Circus Envy" from Monster, "Kohoutek" from Fables) the greatness of Live At The Olympia In Dublin reveals itself not in this specific package of songs, but in the realization that, yeah, R.E.M. have made a ton of great music and rediscovering these long lost friends this way feels like finding $20 in the pocket of your jeans.