Before R.E.M. released their last album Accelerate, they took a one week residency at Dublin, Ireland’s historic Olympia Theatre. The new live CD will have 39 songs from these working rehearsals.
In addition to the new songs that appear on Accelerate, R.E.M. reached back in their catalog and played 29 songs from their early IRS years that were rarely if ever played live.
Guitarist Peter Buck compared the live rehearsals to an “experiment in terror.”
“We were just trying to do something we hadn’t done before,” said Buck, “which meant there was no relaxing during the set. Every second we were playing something we didn’t know all that well. Which was kind of good… there were all kinds of terror elements going on during that show.”
In support of the new Live album, R.E.M. has set up a new website featuring a full tracklisting, a video for “Driver 8” and a video for “Living Well is the Best Revenge.”
A special edition 2 CD + 1 DVD live show will also be available.
