Saturday, November 06, 2004
R.E.M.M.S.G.
11/4 - R.E.M. in New York. After another lovely 6.5 hour drive in the rain, we finally got to our friends' place in Farmingdale. (38 miles/2.5 hours from the Verrazano to Farmingdale - ugh.) We had exactly enough time to drop our bags and literally run for the train. Barely enough time for hellos, much less conversation. We met up with K- - my old college bud - at a bar in Penn Station. A few drinks....tasty dinner...a few more drinks (probably a mistake)...then it was upstairs to MSG for the show.
Our timing was perfect. We settled into our seats (about half-way back on the floor) and the lights were out in less that 5 minutes. Without warning they just jumped right into "It's The End Of The World As We Know It". Sweet. How perfect is that? After they finished the song, Stipe said "Thanks - Goodnight". Kidding, of course.
Incredibly different vibe form the DC show. Stipe didn't have much to say at all. Introducing "Cuyahoga" by announcing that it was "from Ohio" resulted in a large round of booing. Except for the young republicans behind us who were shouting "Get the fuck over it!" and "Suck It!" Nice.
Slightly different set from DC. We got "Welcome To The Occupation", "Get Up", "ITEOTWAWKI", "Sweetness Follows" and one or two others that weren't played in DC. They also dropped "Bad Day" from the set. Steve Wynn sat in at the end. By the end of the night, Stipe had his pants down (don't get too excited, he was wearing boxers). The Ernie puppet guy was there. In fact, the puppet made it to the stage. Stipe picked it up and played with it for a minute before throwing it behind him. I hope the owner gets it back.
The night ended with an unnecessary nightcap at The Peculier Pub and sleeping on the train back to Farmingdale. Spent yesterday morning catching up with our friends. Always a blast seeing them.
Came home yesterday so we could catch WSC at The Black Cat. That didn't happen though. We were beat from the quick trip and too much beer the night before. We're losing our drinking skills - haha.
No plans for tonight. We may just stay in. Tomorrow we're off to Pittsburgh for our last R.E.M. show. Hotels are scarce in downtown Pittsburgh. What's left is very expensive. We can either pay a fortune and stay within walking distance of the show, or stay a few miles out and save about $70. My guess is we'll end up paying too much money to stay downtown. What the hell - we deserve it. :-)
Our timing was perfect. We settled into our seats (about half-way back on the floor) and the lights were out in less that 5 minutes. Without warning they just jumped right into "It's The End Of The World As We Know It". Sweet. How perfect is that? After they finished the song, Stipe said "Thanks - Goodnight". Kidding, of course.
Incredibly different vibe form the DC show. Stipe didn't have much to say at all. Introducing "Cuyahoga" by announcing that it was "from Ohio" resulted in a large round of booing. Except for the young republicans behind us who were shouting "Get the fuck over it!" and "Suck It!" Nice.
Slightly different set from DC. We got "Welcome To The Occupation", "Get Up", "ITEOTWAWKI", "Sweetness Follows" and one or two others that weren't played in DC. They also dropped "Bad Day" from the set. Steve Wynn sat in at the end. By the end of the night, Stipe had his pants down (don't get too excited, he was wearing boxers). The Ernie puppet guy was there. In fact, the puppet made it to the stage. Stipe picked it up and played with it for a minute before throwing it behind him. I hope the owner gets it back.
The night ended with an unnecessary nightcap at The Peculier Pub and sleeping on the train back to Farmingdale. Spent yesterday morning catching up with our friends. Always a blast seeing them.
Came home yesterday so we could catch WSC at The Black Cat. That didn't happen though. We were beat from the quick trip and too much beer the night before. We're losing our drinking skills - haha.
No plans for tonight. We may just stay in. Tomorrow we're off to Pittsburgh for our last R.E.M. show. Hotels are scarce in downtown Pittsburgh. What's left is very expensive. We can either pay a fortune and stay within walking distance of the show, or stay a few miles out and save about $70. My guess is we'll end up paying too much money to stay downtown. What the hell - we deserve it. :-)
