R.E.M.:Live 1989:

Live at MZA Stadium, Tokyo, Japan, January 26, 1989

Sound: Very good audience

Time: Approx. 90 Minutes

Set List:

Pop Song 89, Exhuming McCarthy, These Days, Turn You Inside Out, Maps and Legends, Welcome to the Occupation, World Leader Pretend, Time After Time (AnnElise), Pretty Persuasion, Tired of Singing Trouble, I Believe, Get Up, Feeling Gravitys Pull, I Remember California, Disturbance at the Heron House, It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Just a Touch, Begin the Begin, Stand, Cuyahoga, Fall On Me, You Are the Everything, Harpers, Finest Worksong

Comments: First off, the sound on this show is excellent! It is also a looser and better performance than the following night, which was marred by an obnoxious audience. The playing here is great, and Maps and Legends returns in all its beauty, followed by great versions of Welcome to the Occupation, World Leader Pretend and Disturbance at the Heron House. Nice to see Time After Time in there, and Feeling Gravitys Pull is eerie and powerful. What a great start to the tour, to my ears.

Live at MZA Stadium, Tokyo, Japan, January 27, 1989

Sound: Good to very good audience

Time: Approx. 90 Minutes

Set List:

Pop Song 89, Exhuming McCarthy, Welcome to the Occupation, Orange Crush, The One I Love, Feeling Gravitys Pull, King of Birds, World Leader Pretend, Driver 8, Wolves,Lower, Finest Worksong, So. Central Rain, Begin the Begin, Get Up, It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Little America, Stand, These Days, Turn You Inside Out, You Are the Everything, Strange, Auctioneer (Another Engine), 11th Untitled Song

Comments: This was the 2nd show of the entire tour and the final show in Japan. The crowd was made up of enthusiastic Japanese fans and obnoxious American's who keep harassing the band. Michael and Mike get quite vicious towards the end, and justifiably so. The set is very good, and King of Birds is really pretty. Nice to see Little America in there, and a real nice mix of older and newer songs.

Live at the Forum, Inglewood, California, March 15, 1989

Sound: Excellent audience

Time: Approx. 2 1/2 Hours

Set List:

Pop Song 89, Exhuming McCarthy, Welcome to the Occupation, Turn You Inside Out, Pilgrimage, Orange Crush, Disturbance at the Heron House, Feeling Gravitys Pull, Time After Time (AnnElise), World Leader Pretend, Begin the Begin, Pretty Persuasion, Tired of Singing Trouble, I Believe, Crazy, Get Up, Auctioneer (Another Engine), It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Stand, Wolves,Lower, Fall On Me, You Are The Everything, Finest Worksong, King of Birds, See No Evil, Harpers, I Remember California, Strange, Perfect Circle, Afterhours

Comments: An excellent show and an excellent recording. Bill in particular plays harder than on any of the album tracks, with machine gun drumming, especially in Pop Song 89. The Green songs sound great onstage and the older material sounds fresh onstage too, although It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) has a rather lackluster vocal from Michael. Nice to see Wolves,Lower in the set and it sounds good and the ending encores are fun and end an overall excellent show.

Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, April 10, 1989

Sound: Very good audience

Time: Approx. 2 Hours

Set List:

Pop Song 89, Exhuming McCarthy, Welcome to the Occupation, Cuyahoga, Turn You Inside Out, Disturbance at the Heron House, Orange Crush, Sitting Still, Feeling Gravitys Pull, Time After Time (AnnElise), World Leader Pretend, Begin the Begin, Pretty Persuasion, Tired of Singing Trouble, I Believe, Get Up, Auctioneer (Another Engine), It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Stand, Fall On Me, You Are the Everything, Belong, See No Evil, Harpers, Swan Swan H, Summertime, Crazy, Perfect Circle, Afterhours

Comments: This is a really good show, and it rocks pretty hard! It follows the typical Green tour pattern, with Michael speaking less than he usually does from the stage. Exhuming McCarthy is a tight follow-up to a pummeling Pop Song 89, and Turn You Inside Out is a tough and cocky reading, which is one of the reasons I always love this song. Belong sounds a lot different than it would eventually develop into on Out of Time, and the encore section is pretty loose and great, with See No Evil rockin' out and Crazy being ethereal and beautiful.

Live at War Memorial Auditorium, Syracuse, New York, April 11, 1989

Sound: Very good audience

Time: Approx. 2 Hours

Set List:

Pop Song 89, Exhuming McCarthy, Welcome to the Occupation, Pilgrimage, Turn You Inside Out, Driver 8, Orange Crush, Sitting Still, Feeling Gravitys Pull, Cuyahoga, World Leader Pretend, Begin the Begin, Pretty Persuasion, Low, Stony River, Tired of Singing Trouble, I Believe, Get Up, Auctioneer (Another Engine), It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Stand, With a Girl Like You, Dark Globe, You Are the Everything, Finest Worksong, King of Birds, See No Evil, Harpers, Summertime, Crazy, Perfect Circle, Afterhours

Comments: A solid show in front of a *loud* and rapturous crowd that is annoying when they clap along to the songs in no semblance of the right time. The set list has quite a few songs from Murmurs; Pilgrimage is great, and Perfect Circle is gorgeous. The new Low makes an appearance and quite a few surprise covers make their way into the encores, most notably a great version of Crazy.

Live at Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut, September 13, 1989

Sound: Very good audience

Time: Approx. 2 1/2 Hours

Set List:

Stand, Exhuming McCarthy, The One I Love, So. Central Rain, Wolves,Lower, Turn You Inside Out, Belong, Orange Crush, Feeling Gravitys Pull, King of Birds, These Days, World Leader Pretend, I Believe, Pretty Persuasion, Get Up, Life and How to Live It, It's the End Of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Fall On Me, You Are the Everything, Begin the Begin, Crazy, Summertime, Finest Worksong, Perfect Circle, Afterhours

Comments: A very good concert, with the "stupidest song ever written", in Michael's words, as the unlikely opener. There is once again a nice mix of older and newer material, including Belong, which would be eventually released on Out of Time in 1991. Perfect Circle is really beautiful and is a great choice for the second to last song before the spoof Afterhours. Also, The One I Love rocks hard and the majority of the set is a nice balance between slower and faster paced material, making for an enjoyable concert.

Live at Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, November 13, 1989

Sound: Very good audience

Time: Approx. 2 1/2 Hours

Set List:

Radio Free Europe, Pilgrimage, Laughing, Talk About the Passion, Moral Kiosk, Perfect Circle, Catapult, Sitting Still, 9-9, Shaking Through, We Walk, West of the Fields, Pop Song 89, Get Up, You Are the Everything, Stand, World Leader Pretend, The Wrong Child, Orange Crush, Turn You Inside Out, Hairshirt, I Remember California, Untitled, get Up, Wild Thing, Fall On Me, Low, Finest Worksong

Comments:  This was the last show of the Green world tour and a very surprising and excellent show. The band played ALL of Murmur, and then played ALL of Green. The Green songs had not all been played live before, nor had most of the Murmur ones for quite some time. This gives the show an excellent feel, and all the songs sound real great. The rocked up encores are excellent too...what a treat!