“Live At The Olympia” is the result of five shows that R.E.M. played in Dublin. Try-outs for what would become “Accelerate”, the band’s most defining album in years. So on one hand you will hear a lot of songs that would make that album being tested on a live audience, on the other hand this one finds the band reaching way the fuck back to when they were a Byrds-influenced college rock band out of Athens, Georgia. So that means that their most known songs aren’t represented here but I didn’t miss them for a second. Instead of “Everybody Hurts” we get “Cuyahoga” and instead of “Man On The Moon” and “Losing My Religion” we are treated to rocking versions of “So. Central Rain” and “Harborcoat”.
It’s hard to believe these guys have been around as long as they have and still can sound that vital, yet they have the back catalog and this release to prove it. Forget about that other live album they dropped in a not too distant past, this is the one you want to have if you want to know what R.E.M. sounds like in a live setting. And as if the two CDs aren’t enough yet, you also get an impressive live DVD in the process.
Score: 8.5 out of 10
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