The Outsiders Are Gathering A New Day Is Born (written in 2005)

Just a few hours after I got home from Bolton I got up to go & see R.E.M. with Chelse. This gig was at Nottingham Forest's ground. The first gig ever held there. After a disturbing visit to the Job Centre (I'm sure they think they're helping) I arrived at Chelses house. As ever it was simply a delight to see her face. After watching some tv (nice VH1 documentary about Brian Wilson) we left for the show.

A little over a week ago Chelse went through quite an upsetting operation & whilst fully on the road to recovery she was no where near 100%. I was determined to look after her & do my best to make sure she had a great evening. After arriving at the stadium we realised the first support band was Idlewild & so we hadn't missed The Zutons. We'd been especially looking forward to seeing them. There debut album 'Who Killed The Zutons' is exciting, consistently top drawer & a classic already. They played most of it & didn't disappoint. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for. The best band to come out of Liverpool since The Beatles? I can't think of a better one.

The weather was miserable & the seats not fantastic (so we moved to some empty ones that were) but the company perfect. R.E.M. started around 8.30pm. The sound was bouncing off the opposite wall but you could adjust to that imperfection. The sound is always gonna be crapper outdoors than indoors. The show & staging were fantastic (Coldplay put almost no effort into this side of proceedings) & the set blistering.

A third of the songs being from there excellent recent album 'Around The Sun', a third obvious hits & a third more obscure album tracks. They fit together well. The crowd sadly didn't seem to know a lot of the songs but at such a large venue, there'll always be those folk who just love 'Shiny Happy People' & 'Everybody Hurts'.

The band were first rate & despite the sound, weather & lacklustre crowd issues we both had a superb evening. The crowd actually booed when Michael Stipe announced that they were from the United States of America but promptly cheered at his introduction to 'The Final Straw' as a protest to the current administration. R.E.M. joined Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam & other artists at last years 'Vote For Change' tour. Sadly it appears it didn't do enough. 51 or 52% of the two thirds of Americans that voted, voted for George W Bush. Despite a few thousand uncounted votes in Ohio. Does anybody even remember how Bush came to power in 2000? I think it's great when artists get off the fence one way or another & make a stance, sometimes a potentially dangerous one financially, over what they truly believe.

"Some people say that you shouldn't mix music & politics or sport & politics or whatever, but, I think that's kinda bullshit." (Adam Clayton)

I saw R.E.M. in 1995 at Milton Keynes Bowl. That was in support of 'Monster' but they only played three songs from the previous studio album 'Automatic For The People'. Tonight ten years & three or four more albums later they play four. Automatic is a masterpiece & I didn't think when I set out that evening I'd get to hear 'Drive' & 'Nightswimming'. Speaking of Automatic the show ended with the crowd pleasing 'Man On The Moon'. The perfect tempo for many people to jump up & down in perfect unison.

We waited for the crowds to leave before we slowly made our way out. We then found our lift home easier than if God himself had sorted out the timing. R.E.M. are a world class act & so is the lady on my arm.

I love making new memories with Chelsea.