MORRISON — Sometimes it’s necessary to remember that Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills are mere humans. The three men at the core of R.E.M. are not without their flaws, even though they’re still churning out rousing, important rock records nearly 30 years after first coming together in 1980.
Are they known for having some off nights? Sure. But their Tuesday night show at Red Rocks wasn’t one of them.
The Athens, Ga.-based rock band, was red-hot and on-point. Expressive and vital, the group played a career-spanning repertoire that reminded the sold-out crowd of its scope and influence.
But as strong as R.E.M. was, the concert revealed the vulnerabilities of Denver’s revered music venue.
Red Rocks is made out to be a mythical place. But the natural, outdoor amphitheatre has its bad nights. And Tuesday was one of them.
A light breeze scattered the band’s low end all over the place. For those sitting in the 60th row (or farther) — as many were because of the sellout — R.E.M. often sounded thin and lifeless. Up closer, it was only slightly better — until the end of the night, when Stipe and his buddies made peace with the light wind and the unsteady weather.
It was an incredibly interactive set for the band, fronted by a talky Stipe who was shouting out to the Internet site , presidential candidate Barack Obama and specific fans (“Hey, you in the white shirt!”) all night long. As politically charged and thoughtful as the set was, it came off as more of a celebratory conversation between a band and its fans than an impersonal rock show.
“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” came early and surprised a crowd that was braced to hear mostly new tunes from the excellent LP “Accelerate.” The guitars were as crisp as the brittle air, even if other parts of the sound were lost in the night sky. They dug even deeper for a delightful nugget from “Document,” “Welcome to the Occupation,” which was followed by “Ignoreland.”
It wasn’t long before they nailed a poignant “World Leader Pretend” and a take on “Accelerate” — a song that sounds right out of the band’s “Monster”-era heyday.
It was back to the ’80s with a faithful version of “Cuyahoga,” which expectedly turned into a singalong with 10,000 of the band’s biggest Colorado fans — at least the ones who paid upward of $70 and $80 to hear it play.
Sure, the band played a couple of mediocre tracks from the past decade, including the obnoxiously self-referential “Bad Day.” But most of Tuesday’s show was undeniable proof that R.E.M. is every bit as valid today as it was in the college rock boom of the late ’80s.
Some of Tuesday’s most exhilarating tracks were off the new record, including the explosive “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” the essential “Hollow Man,” the timely single “Supernatural Superserious” and the throwback ballad “Houston” — which is “about the disgrace of the Bush administration,” according to Stipe. He sang the song right after telling the capacity crowd that “Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States,” a reaction to the news that Obama had just reached the needed number of superdelgates to secure the Democratic nomination.
The encore was one of those that fans will always remember: The new “Supernatural Superserious” gave way to a furious “These Days” and an expected “Losing My Religion.” “Fall on Me” ignited the band and the crowd, and they left after the love-in that was “Man on the Moon.”
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
