hello, i saw you, i know you, i knew you, i think i can remember your name

thirteen years ago i joined some friends for a last minute adventure.  the phone rang, yes the one on the wall, without caller id and with a cord, and through a slight slip of fate i found myself with an unexpected concert ticket waiting for me.  i begged and pleaded to be allowed to go - it was a school night, afterall, and it would be my first big concert.  i got the okay and the behave yourself, and a couple of hours later we hopped in a limo for a ride to the spectrum to see rem.  

rem, still with drummer bill berry, was touring in support of their "monster" album and the show rocked my socks.  the lights, the sounds, one great song after another and another... it has since been the standard that i hold all concert experiences up to.  topping a first concert, especially rem near the top of their game, is a tough thing to do.  a few acts have come close but i've always held that show, with its unreal rendition of "it's the end of the world..." as a finale, as my favorite.  

somewhere along the line rem lost it for me a bit.  the music slowed down and i didn't really want to.  each album since the departure of berry held a couple of decent songs, but nothing that really warranted going out and seeing them.  i wasn't let down, knowing i had that concert in my repertoire.  i just moved on from them for a while.  sometimes i missed them and threw either "green" or "automatic for the people" in the cd player, but really, i didn't listen to much rem.

so i was surprised earlier this year when news of a stunning SXSW performance hit the news just before the release of their new album.  i downloaded the music and enjoyed it - another "out of time" it wasn't, but it was loud and fast and promising.  i bought some tickets to last night's show in columbia, md after seeing an ad on the side of 95.  if nothing else, the evening held the promise of (a) modest mouse and (b) maybe one or two great, old rem songs.

i wasn't disappointed.  rotten and i secured a large piece of lawn real estate at the merriweather post pavilion and waited for the festivities to begin with some chicken, fries, and beer in hand.  the national, an act from brooklyn, ny, served as opener for the opener and got better with each song.  in retrospect, i'd rather their time had been given to modest mouse, who played a great, albeit short, set before rem came on for the better part of two hours of solid music.  

rem was just as i'd remembered them, just in a smaller venue and pushing 50.  stipe still bounced around the stage and his voice sounded fantastic.  mike mills and peter buck didn't disappoint, with mills singing "don't go back to rockville" and buck wooing me with his mandolin on "losing my religion".  other favorites included "fall on me", "orange crush", "pop song 89" - my favorite, and a couple from "automatic..." - "ignoreland" and "drive".  coupled with the contents of nearly the entire new album, it was a fast-paced show and i definitely wanted a little more at the end.

we've all come pretty far in thirteen years, i'm sure.  back then, basketball and school were my life.  i had been doing homework when my friend called me to invite me to the show, in fact.  all those big milestones that seemed so important, and were, in their own right, are behind me - learning to drive, voting for the first time, graduation, college, turning 21 - and i have so many great memories and good friends to show for it.  

isn't it great how music can propel us to different times in our lives like a time machine?  the lyrics come back effortlessly and i can't help but smile and sing.  it was a great time.

click here for a sampling of r.e.m.'s current live set (from SXSW 2008)