In March, when R.E.M. announced their tour schedule, I had a decision to make. I had two options on where I could see their tour. Madison Square Garden or Jones Beach. Either one I was around to go to, it just was a matter of which. I chose Jones Beach for its outdoor location, its "road trip" status, and it would just be an all around adventure. Little did I know how much of an adventure it would be. So off we all went on the highway. Our musical diet consisted of listening to REM's newest album, "Accelerate",
Kate's The National mix that she made, more REM albums, and some Modest Mouse to round it out. Not only was I excited to see one of my favorite bands of all time, but Modest Mouse is one of my favorite bands as well, and the National I had heard nothing but good things about. So since we got there a little early, we spent a good amount of time at the beach. It was a lot of fun with clouds far off in the distance.
We got to the theater just as the National was starting. We were in the 3rd row of the top mezzanine level, so we were very far from the action, and the fact that it was too bright out for any video screens, didn't help any. The highlight of their set was Mr. November with the lead singer (don't know his name!) freaking out on his microphone across the large stage. It was unfortunate that there weren't a lot of people there to see their set. But those who were there were there for a great set.
Next was Modest Mouse, playing the song that I said in the car I really wanted to hear, "Bury Me With It". Their sound wasn't right for Jones Beach. Too much open air for their complicated, intricate sound. If you can tell from the picture, they have 2 drummers. Here's some videos from their set:WE'VE GOT EVERYTHING
DASHBOARD
So as their set was going on, you could see off in the distance clouds getting darker and darker. Here's my video during Doin' The Cockroach
Lightening kept flashing in the air, striking places around the theater, but mostly staying in the sky.
Here's where the story gets fun. Rain started to really come down during their set. People around us started to leave for shelter. It was pitch black out. We were staying in our seats because we wanted to see Modest Mouse. On stage the stage hands were moving monitors back, and putting plastic over gear. They started playing "Satin in a Coffin".
Right where the video ends here, the lyric "Are you dead or are you sleeping" comes up, and the lightening strikes the upper mezzanine, right next to us. The sound is deafening, and is louder then Modest Mouse themselves, which says a lot. It sounded like firecrackers going off. My hands covered my face, and still all i could see was a blinding white light, and red flashes. People had hit the deck from the explosion, and Modest Mouse gave a quick "thank you" (the extent of their banter to us), and ran off the stage. We bolted out of the theater and into the concourse area. Here's the scene from right after the lightening, and Modest Mouse stopping:
Here's the video I took as soon as we got into the concourse:
Taylor was terrified. We were told to either evacuate to our cars, or move to lower ground. We chose the latter.
This is Modest Mouse's bassist standing side stage, looking at the empty theater. No one knew what was going on. Word got around that someone got hit by lightening, and was hospitalized. The rain kept coming down, and the thunder claps were still very loud. We sat around watching the scene wondering whether the show would even resume. MSG was looking like a possibility for Thursday. So we wait for over an hour until finally they make an announcement that the show will continue in an hour, and we could go back to our seats in 30 minutes. Cheers erupted. Here is the picture from the top mezz after we were allowed back in.
From the stage:
It was still raining, and a lot of people had left, so we decided to move lower seats. They weren't checking tickets and moved down to above the orchestra, under an awning which would've cost us about $70 if we had bought them awhile ago. No more $25 seats, we're moving up in the world. So the show starts, and here's what happened:
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN (CCR COVER)/SOUTH CENTRAL RAIN
Great opener! With the rain still coming down hard, the Michael still spent most of his time getting wet with the rest of the crowd still assembled. He said we all looked like garbage bags, with everyone wearing their $5 jones beach plastic ponchos. But they kept trucking on in the pouring rain in their shortened set. They spent no time going from one song to the other, trying to fit in as many as possible. They didn't even leave the stage for an encore, and just kept going. During "Supernatural Superserious" into the brunt of the rain, getting poured on, but we were lower at least.
So during the encore they all have a band meeting and Michael says that he swore he would never play this song again, but due to tonight's circumstances they feel its necessary. They play "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", a song they haven't played since 2004, and not regularly since the 90's. I'd give you my video but all you hear is me freaking out and singing to every word, and that's not necessary. But here's a closer, better video.
I was freaking out. Later in the "encore", they played one of my all time favorite REM songs, "Fall on Me", but with Johnny Marr of Modest Mouse, um, I mean The Smiths. They closed out with Man on the Moon, successfully salvaging a rain-soaked night in Long Island. And to make it even funnier, as they were playing their last song, the rain started to stop, and eventually did when the concert ended. Here is the money shot at the end of the show:
Here's some more videos from the concert:
WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?
THE ONE I LOVE
SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS
LOSING MY RELIGION
MAN ON THE MOON
SETLIST:
Have You Ever Seen The Rain...
1. So. Central Rain
2. These Days
3. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
5. Man-Sized Wreath
6. 1,000,000
7. Ignoreland
8. Hollow Man
9. Welcome To The Occupation
10. Houston
11. Electrolite
12. Horse to Water
13. The One I Love
14. Let Me In
15. Bad Day
16. Orange Crush
17. I'm Gonna DJ
18. Supernatural Superserious
19. Losing My Religion
20. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
21. Fall On Me
22. Man On The Moon
Looking back on that experience, it was easily one of the greatest nights of my entire life, and the greatest night of my whole life. I don't know if any other concert can ever top the epic proportions of that night. For serious, R.E.M. made me lose my religion. Now after the fact, a few weeks later, searching stuff online, I came across a news article on the whole show, and the lightening storm. Turns out that Fox 5 used my youtube video in a new piece on TV! How wild! Check out the story and video here! http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6789486&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1 Click on the right side bar. Under videos, there's a tiny picture of the theater, click that and watch the piece. It features my footage a lot!
