REM

September 11, Tweed Center

Attention, bland rock bands of today: pay close attention to R.E.M. and their 20 years of experience. No, you can only look at them, don't touch; their career is something precious and out of reach for you musicians. Enjoy your platinum albums and adoring fans while you can. When you're cashing in on your one hit with a reunion package tour with your fellow one-hit wonders in twenty years, you'll finally understand the importance of creating good music.

Because that's just what the concert at the Tweeter Center was: an amazing night of good music. Age be damned, R.E.M. put on an energetic and mind-blowing show. The proof was in the writhing mass of swirling bodies and hoarse voices screaming the lyrics aloud. The band fed right off of this enthusiasm and ended their tour with an incredibly high-kicking, electrically charged show.

Sure, sneer at R.E.M. and their earnestness and politics and wussiness, but no arguments about this: the boys know how to make good music. Unlike other popular bands of the past and present (ahem, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Cranberries et al.), every one of R.E.M.'s albums has some redeeming quality. No synthpop or electronica experiments to be found! Even better, all of their earliest albums have withstood the test of time and sound fresh and new today.

What? No, no, no. R.E.M.'s tour was certainly not a nostalgia trip. Yes, they were raucous and rollicking during versions of early '80s classics "Radio Free Europe" and "Wolves, Lower," as well as passionate on mid-career faves like "Fall On Me" and "The One I Love." But because like wine the band has only grown sweeter and more potent with age, the oldies sounded as great as the new songs.

That's right, R.E.M. in 1998 released a delicate and complex album entitled Up. MTV, the radio and Billboard might not have acknowledged this fact, but Up is sophisticated, mellow and incredibly cohesive. So this album was naturally given star billing on this tour, with 10 out of 14 tracks performed. Showcasing their maturity and deft ability to combine moods, the song performances ranged from uplifting ("Walk Unafraid"), menacing ("The Apologist"), rocking ("Lotus"), quietly beautiful ("Why Not Smile") and wistful (the rarely played "Sad Professor").

Oh, and lest you think that in their old age R.E.M. may show signs of slowing down, think again. New song "The Great Beyond" from the upcoming Andy Kaufman movie Man On The Moon rang with sheer cinematic beauty and youthful optimism. Early '90s tracks like "Find The River" and "Sweetness Follows" were brooding, tear-inducing and gorgeous. And their positively manic and explosive finale of "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" had more energy than a bawitdaba and a nookie combined.

So, modern rock bands of today, I hope you all have been paying close attention to this concert and this band, because raw rock talent like R.E.M. comes around once in a millennium. They haven't resorted to exhortations of violence or kitschy and cutesy covers or amalgamations of genres to survive. Blink and you'll miss most rock music, but R.E.M. and their rapid eye movement have perfected the skill of slowing down to remember the past even while hurtling forward into the future.

--Annie Zaleski

Basment Jaxx

September 16, Axis

Two hours, an hour, half an hour before show time, we dialled the Axis number. With half hope, half fear, we asked, "Hey man, you know the Basement Jaxx gig tonight? Is it cancelled?" Half hope because it was storming like a teledrama outside. And half fear because, we miss them now, and we miss the big bright bloomin' future of all house music for good. Armand would never have forgiven us. Neither would Thomas Bangalter, Jon Carter, Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Ashley Beadle, Norman Jay or Phillippe Zdar. They've heard the boys, and they love them.