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Tulum's Collection

R.E.M.   10/29/1985

Hammersmith Palais, London, England
Source CD1+CD2 (SBD source)+AUD Audio Tape (Feeling Gravitys Pull)>Audition 1.0>wav>flac
Media FLAC   24 discs
Notes Show notes: This was R.E.M.'s final European show of 1985, having spent a few weeks there in June/early July, and a further month in October. The band made its feelings known in interviews over the years that they thought they were wasting their time playing small venues to no one but US military personnel, and while that may have been slightly true on the mainland of the continent (but not really), in the UK their popularity was steadily growing. Yes, they were still on the fringes, they couldn't crack the top 40 and their songs weren't getting played on the radio (picking Wendell Gee as a single when the guitarist hates the song and refuses to play it live was a head scratching decision), but you don't get 2 shows at the Hammersmith in London if you can't sell them out. Still, after the high of playing Radio City Music Hall at the end of August, going back to predominately small clubs and indifferent audiences must have been demoralising, particularly when on such a long tour. Add to that a lack of record label support in Europe, and you have a frustrated band which wouldn't return for a full European tour until they switched to a new record label.

Here at the second London show the band puts on another stellar performance, though there does seem to be quite long pauses between songs at times, suggesting technical issues, or band meetings to decide what they were going to play next, or a combination of both. 6 songs from 'Murmur' are played, the same amount as the album they're on tour to promote which is quite unusual. Add in 3 unreleased at the time songs, and 2 covers to close the show, and you have what is an atypical setlist for the time, but typical of the band for 1985 and ignoring their setlist and playing what they feel like. Lots of chestnuts here, and Radio Free Europe with some different lyrics. A great show!

Torrent notes: This show was originally released on a CD bootleg titled 'These Days', which was always a weird title given that song wasn't written at the time. It claimed to be an unreleased radio broadcast, which was never confirmed. It did not contain the full show however, edited to fit on 1 CD. In the torrent era the show was subsequently made available with more tracks than originally available on the bootleg from the same source, but was still incomplete. Enter Dime user and R.E.M. recording hall of famer clumsiloe, who took that incomplete show, and assembled the complete show - Feeling Gravitys Pull and some talking and crowd noise between songs needed to be added in from an audience source, and then it became one again. It was part of the 20th anniversary series on Dime he contributed to in 2005, and now on the 35th(!) anniversary, it's time to give it another run on Dime. I gave it a once over through iZotope to try and make it sound a little bit nicer, but it didn't need much. It's one of the best quality shows available from 1985. Thank you to legends like clumsiloe for making our lives all the richer with wonderful recordings like this!
Tech Notes Eckythump October 2020 remaster: iZotope RX8 Advanced (azimuth adjustment) -> iZotope Ozone 9 (EQ adjustments) -> Audacity 2.4.2 (split tracks and export to FLAC Level 8) -> Foobar2000 1.6.1 (Files tagged)
Trades Allowed Yes
Owned by Tulum · Last Updated May 18, 2024