Word: bandness
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...than the instrumentation. Ned’s singing is stronger than his brother’s, but his soaring voice never stands in the center of the picture: three songs on their latest, Joji, extend seven minutes in length, and a lot of that time is spent with the band doing their best Grateful Dead...
...Than Before” has no words, but the guitar interplay strikes a conversation that’s consistently interesting, and the instrumental never gives in to any sort of conventional classic-rock structure. The banjos and harmonicas winding out “Green Sea” show the band at their most diverse, in a sparkling mélange that keeps on pushing forward after Oldham’s bit about a cheating lover...
Before the band took the stage, Scottish songstress Angela McCluskey opened at their Friday night FleetCenter show, a venue much more capacious and comfortable in the brisk autumn than their outdoor show last year at the Tweeter Center. McCluskey showed off her smooth and powerful voice on a handful of tracks from her debut CD Things We Do, and her band provided lush backing to her slightly raspy, occasionally soulful vocals. The performance set the stage for the rest of the night: behind the ethereal music and her slightly quirky vocals, the band rocked out, with her guitarist seeming even...
...while no one can escape the simple ware of age, R.E.M. still manages to do one thing with incredible energy, charisma, and ease: play a set of solid rock music. Though Michael Stipe took the stage in a conservative navy suit, he also sported a striking, blindfold-like band of blue eye shadow across his face. Whether the statement was spurred by fashion or politics is anyone’s guess, but in many ways, it proved irrelevant: Stipe performed the role of rock star to perfection, striking poses, affecting moves, getting up on speakers to let the audience touch...
Though Stipe’s face clearly showed the marks of age, he looked smart and alert, constantly taking in everything yet letting very little slip. The rest of the band took their cues from the frontman. They seemed to start off almost a little weary and subdued (leaving questions about the absence of Peter Buck’s signature guitar poses), but soon enough Buck himself was leaping in the air, and bassist Mike Mills was smiling beatifically beneath his ever-wilder hair...