R.E.M. DOWN, UNDER and OVER

“Am I singing in tune?” Michael Stipe’s query from the stage of the Perth Entertainment Centre, Western Australia, is steeped in misery. “I can’t hear my heart beating.”

It’s more than five years since REM have performed a full, electric concert, and it’s not going well. A god awful mix and opening night nerves are making for an ignominious debut for the 8,000-strong, hard-core crowd.

The band’s obvious lack of satisfaction with the performance is reflected in a low-energy delivery and in Stipe’s repeated disclaimer “you’re very generous” in response to the applause.

A burst of euphoria greeted the opening selection, ‘What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?’, but it died before the song was over. From there on, the stalwarts have remained more supportive than enthused as the set, unapologetically dominated by the new Monster LP, unfolds.

Stipe hardly talks to us, actually sings several songs with his back to the arena and favours a dejected crouch between songs. If only he could find the Fast Forward button.

But that was Friday. Friday the 13th, actually. So thank God for Saturday . . .

By dazzling contrast, REM’s second Perth show was a tour de force which went some way to justifying their standing as one of the most respected rock and roll bands on the planet. What a difference a day makes.

The 26-song, two-hour set was still determinedly focused on Monster, with secondary emphasis on Out Of Time and Automatic For The People; a couple from Green and just three songs taken from the band’s five formative years with the IRS label. But this time, it worked. Often magnificently.

Kicking off with ‘I Took Your Name’ and leading uncompromisingly into three more Monster tracks, the gremlin-free second date saw Peter Buck more prone to rockist, leaping-about behaviour, the whole band more enthused and Michael Stipe more inclined to wiggle his butt and chat. By the time Mike Mills took the mike for the seventh song, ‘Near Wild Heaven’, the gig was on the path to greatness.

‘I Don’t Sleep, I Dream’ was tagged for posterity by Stipe as “my favourite song” while ‘Fretless’, REM’s contribution to Wim Wenders’ 1991 film Until The End Of The World, was bizarrely preceded by the assurance that, “This is a cover of a song by New Order called ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’”!

Whatever that logic, it was amongst the highlights of the show, as was the spectacularly-lit ‘Tongue’ and the main set’s home stretch: ‘Star 69’, ‘Get Up’ and a completely ga-ga ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’.

Included on both nights was one new song, a slammer titled ‘Revolution’ with an overdriven guitar tone reminiscent of the Monster album. It was recorded during those sessions but not used on the LP.

The length of the lay-off (REM’s last proper concert was in Atlanta, Georgia, in November 1989) was highlighted by Stipe’s reliance on a prominent lectern holding typed song lyrics, discarded with varying degrees of grandiosity into the front rows at the end of each song.

“You may notice I’ve been reading the lyrics off these sheets of paper,” he declared during the encore. “Why? That’s a really stupid question,” he retorted to a voice from the void. “Take off your clothes and lie on the floor! I can’t fucking remember them, that’s why!”

Visually the shows were enhanced by a series of new, short films commissioned by the band and intermittently projected onto a white backdrop. Fish and close-ups of human flesh appeared to be recurring motifs but the film component is described by Stipe as “very unstructured” and matched randomly to the songs.

REM are touring Monster as a six-piece: guitar, bass and keyboard duties shared by Scott McCaughey from Seattle band Young Fresh Fellows, and guitar and occasional keyboards played by Los Angeles session musician Nathan December.

The 36-member entourage also includes producer Scott Litt, on board until the Sydney dates this week, and LA trio Grant Lee Buffalo, chosen by REM to open the first three months of the tour. Their seven-song set was absolutely stunning on both nights, drawing mainly on the Mighty Joe Moon album with an explosive theatricality which belies their humble set up of drums, pump organ and 12-string guitar.

Sydney’s Died Pretty are also on the bill throughout Australia and, despite a sparse early evening showing, turned in a spirited set taken largely from the Doughboy Hollow LP.

REM arrived in Perth six days before the show for intensive rehearsals at the 8,000-seat arena, and for guitarist Peter Buck and his fiancée to find a venue to be married on the day before the concert.

The Perth summer was the band’s stated reason for starting the sojourn in the most isolated capital city on the globe. They previously selected the remote, beach-lined Western Australian capital of 1.2 million to start their Green world tour in February 1989 in front of 1,200 people. This time out, they played to more than 15,000 over two nights.

Peter Buck married Stephanie, the mother of their twin daughters Zoe and Zelda, at a private ceremony in the leafy beach suburb of Cottesloe on January 12. Groomsmen were Buck’s band mates and REM manager Jefferson Holt, resplendent in multi-coloured tuxedoes. Other guests included band lawyer Bertis Downs, Scott and Anne Litt, and MTV New York news presenter Tabitha Soren, in Perth with a production crew to cover the opening concert, and to shoot an overview of the Perth music scene.

Grant Lee Buffalo were the house band for the reception, their set ranging from Burt Bacharach numbers to a seamless union of REM’s ‘The One I Love’ and ‘Low Rider’. REM also turned in a brief set which included a teasing introduction to the 1985 single ‘Driver 8’ and was reportedly highlighted by Stipe’s reading of ‘Wichita Lineman’.

The wedding effectively spoiled the possibility of a secret REM gig at East Perth’s Grosvenor Hotel. The rumour-mill nonetheless drew more than 2,000 hopefuls who queued until past midnight while seven high-profile Perth bands performed under suffocating conditions within.

Asked about the rumour later, Michael Stipe remarked non-commitally that “it happens a lot.”

Stipe and drummer Bill Berry showed considerable interest in Perth’s vibrant and varied independent music scene during their week-long residency. Along with Scott Litt and Scott McCaughey, they attended a Wednesday night bill at the Orient Hotel in Fremantle shared by Mountain Hope, Lamia and Yummy Fur.

Stipe and Berry later expressed their enthusiasm for the psycho-funk six-piece, Yummy Fur, in an interview taped for MTV USA. Stipe also went to The Loft nightclub after REM’s Friday night performance to catch a gig by high-impact local grunge quartet, Bucket. By day the singer favoured scouring Fremantle to indulge his hobbies of photography, shopping and drinking coffee.

For the record, REM are not the first band to foist their teething problems on Western Australians. U2 chose the Perth Entertainment Centre to launch their Love Comes To Town show with B.B. King in September 1989 and Paul McCartney opted to begin his New World Tour at an inner-city football stadium in February 1993. Pearl Jam will pull a similar stunt on March 6.