R.E.M. - review by : Matt

Glastonbury Festival 1999

Friday 25th to Sunday 27th June 1999
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£83

Last updated: Wed 7th Aug 2013

Pyramid Stage, Friday 25th June

AMAZING!

Never has a performance touched, enlightened and overwhelmed me so much. All day long i had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of r.e.m on stage, and when they did.......my goodness!!!

The atmosphere was electric when mike mills strummed away the first cords of 'lotus', and the excitement grew and grew throughout the set.

Songs like 'crush with eyeliner' and 'finest worksong' proved the set to be an excelent blend of their old songs with ones from the new album 'up'.And the elegnace of 'everybody hurts' sillhouted against the full moon above the stage was beyond description.

And it wasn't just the songs that made this a great performance, it was also the involvement the band members had with the audience, forever scuttling to the crushed, hard-core fans at the barrrier, i even recall Stipe actually handing the microphone to the crowd at the end of a frantic 'it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine)', and then rushing back onstage microphoneless.

This band were a true class act, their 'down-to-earth' attitude (constantly thanking the audience for 'having them there'!!), the might and elegance of each tune and their inspiration (urging everyone to walk unafraid, before launhing into a song of the same name).

Afterwards the performance had left me shell-shocked, i was ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED.Never before, and probably never again, would a performance have such an inspiring affect on myself.