R.E.M. in Oslo!

And I was there. More importantly - Mike, Michael and Peter were there, without whom it wouldn't have been so much fun. And it was great! But first there was The Disciplines. Norwegian band with Ken Stringfellow added. They were playing as we entered and may have been good, but I wasn't really paying attention.

The Editors followed. Now, I might have gone to see The Editors even without R.E.M. - they've got some great songs - and a very cute drummer (Ed Lay) ...

(I digress, as usual...) As it were, I couldn't quite lose myself to (or in) their music, the fate of any support band, I suppose!

And then R.E.M. entered the stage... It was a grand night! I have no great zoom lens, but rather sharp elbows, so managed to be as close as 2 ft away from Michael (Stipe!) at one point... Their setlist, and a rather excellent review of the whole evening - provided you read Norwegian - can be found at Helene's blog, where you can also see snippets of songs. I recorded some too but have been too lazy busy to upload them so far.

A fabulous mix of new and old songs, an excited crowd (for Norwegians, ie. there were even hips moving) and a little banter in between songs ...

- "I know you hear this all the time, but you really are such a beautiful people!"

- "I heard you've got gay marriage over here, that's great! You get gay marriage, we get ... John McCain... We really, really, REALLY hate our government"

But we love you, R.E.M.! Can't wait till you get back next time!