I'm an REM fan (they are not a top ten band for me, but probably top 25, which as I am a giant music fan is NOT some sort of backhanded compliment at all) but I also remember a run of increasingly disappointing albums, because, again, as a fan and a music buyer i am also a bit of a completist -- there is a new REM album out, I'm getting it, automatic (for the people). So for me a reunion tour would be, as you say, them rolling through greatest hits that would have been great to see them play in Athens (Georgia, but also Ohio, where I did my PhD) in 1999, I'm almost certain that I would not even entertain going to see them in 2024. Though I have seen U2 several times this century, so who knows?
How sad does it make me that the correct analogy really is the Eagles? All good people saw them as utter fucking sellouts when they did the "Hell Freezes Over" tour, which, at least in my remembering, was the first of these tours to ask for $100 or more a ticket.
This is one of those cases where a few years' age difference really matters. I was in high school for the breakup of the Police, and had never seen them live, which made them easily the first reunion that I should've cared about. But even 17 (!) years ago, I remember thinking "what I want is to see the Police circa 1983, not the 2007 version."
I think I would feel the same about a R.E.M. reunion, but they're a funny band for me too. Through college and a good while beyond, there was no band that I cared about more. But I rarely revisit them. I don't replay their albums the way I do other bands I loved. I still think they're great songs - my tastes haven't changed that much. Maybe I played them so much that they're part of my musical foundation now, and thus I can't really feel nostalgic about them. So I guess it's apropos that they feel the same way and don't plan to reunite.
I liked some R.E.M. as a kid, but didn't really get into them until I was in high school - New Adventures in Hi-Fi was the first album I bought as a new release. That album was recorded during the Monster Tour, and then Bill quit the band the next year.
So when I first saw them on the Up Tour, they were already not the band they had been. Still, Up was a pretty good record. The next album, Reveal, was much more disappointing, and I stopped buying their new stuff after that. At that point they had firmly entered the late career stage of a once-great band, still putting out music and showing flashes of brilliance, but lacking what had made them special originally.
I still listen to them, having recently re-purchased several of their classic albums on vinyl, but I have zero desire for a reunion tour or album. I'm not even sure if I'll watch the YouTube clips of this latest performance. Their time has passed, and it's better to acknowledge that than try to fight against it.
I'm an REM fan (they are not a top ten band for me, but probably top 25, which as I am a giant music fan is NOT some sort of backhanded compliment at all) but I also remember a run of increasingly disappointing albums, because, again, as a fan and a music buyer i am also a bit of a completist -- there is a new REM album out, I'm getting it, automatic (for the people). So for me a reunion tour would be, as you say, them rolling through greatest hits that would have been great to see them play in Athens (Georgia, but also Ohio, where I did my PhD) in 1999, I'm almost certain that I would not even entertain going to see them in 2024. Though I have seen U2 several times this century, so who knows?
How sad does it make me that the correct analogy really is the Eagles? All good people saw them as utter fucking sellouts when they did the "Hell Freezes Over" tour, which, at least in my remembering, was the first of these tours to ask for $100 or more a ticket.
This is one of those cases where a few years' age difference really matters. I was in high school for the breakup of the Police, and had never seen them live, which made them easily the first reunion that I should've cared about. But even 17 (!) years ago, I remember thinking "what I want is to see the Police circa 1983, not the 2007 version."
I think I would feel the same about a R.E.M. reunion, but they're a funny band for me too. Through college and a good while beyond, there was no band that I cared about more. But I rarely revisit them. I don't replay their albums the way I do other bands I loved. I still think they're great songs - my tastes haven't changed that much. Maybe I played them so much that they're part of my musical foundation now, and thus I can't really feel nostalgic about them. So I guess it's apropos that they feel the same way and don't plan to reunite.
I saw REM in concert, and a lot of other bands.
Great band!
I liked some R.E.M. as a kid, but didn't really get into them until I was in high school - New Adventures in Hi-Fi was the first album I bought as a new release. That album was recorded during the Monster Tour, and then Bill quit the band the next year.
So when I first saw them on the Up Tour, they were already not the band they had been. Still, Up was a pretty good record. The next album, Reveal, was much more disappointing, and I stopped buying their new stuff after that. At that point they had firmly entered the late career stage of a once-great band, still putting out music and showing flashes of brilliance, but lacking what had made them special originally.
I still listen to them, having recently re-purchased several of their classic albums on vinyl, but I have zero desire for a reunion tour or album. I'm not even sure if I'll watch the YouTube clips of this latest performance. Their time has passed, and it's better to acknowledge that than try to fight against it.