Hello!
Today I'm going to share with you just a few pictures and videos from last nights REMbrandt R.E.M. Tribute gig at The Allendale in Wimborne. Going a little beyond 'The Great Beyond', so to speak. The kind of interesting stuff that make good memories for us, but probably won't make it to our usual social media channels. The idea being to allow you to see a little more about how the band operates, what we do and the gear we use. It's not all standing in the corner, in a spotlight, y'know...
#1 Setlists
This was the setlist for the second half of last nights show. We tend to draw on R.E.M.'s 'MTV Unplugged' performances for the early part of the second set, with a lot of instrument swapping. James moves from bass to piano, Chris from guitar to bass, and I play the mandolin and acoustic guitar. We also take the opportunity to pull in a few covers with which R.E.M. have connections with or have performed live. R.E.M. were an incredibly diverse band stylistically, and it's great to do sets where we can pull all that together.
#2 One & A Half Drumkits
Last night was a bit of a first for our drummer Jeff. Venturing out from behind the kit to behind... well... a smaller kit, for just one song, 'Sweetness Follows'. It's his favourite R.E.M. track of all time. That said, this isn't a picture of Jeff, it's a picture of our singer, Andy. The lure of new toys to play with proved irresistible...
#3 Holy Sneakers
Jeff doesn't drum without his Batman sneakers. It's the law.
#4 I'm Feeling Super Sonic
The rear panel of Chris's immaculately stenciled and PAT tested Fender Super Sonic 22 amplifier. It may look like there's a lot of leads coming and going, but aside from connecting this combo amplifier to an additional speaker cabinet, Chris uses some of his effects pedals in a loop, rather than simply run into the front of the amplifier. We'll have a chat about why you might consider doing such a thing in the future, and what half of what I just said even means ;-). If you're thinking about buying a new amplifier, this is a particularly awesome model, but please note they don't generally come off the shelf with tiny, cuddly dinosaurs stuffed in the back...
#5 The Arsenal
Tonight, Matthew, I will mostly be using the Rickenbacker 360 or the Fender Pawn Shop Strat, with a soupcon of my trusty Takemine G Series acoustic and a cheap and battered mandolin...
#6 The Man Who Sold The World
You might have spotted this on the setlist earlier. We bend the rules a little bit sometimes for a tribute band, but after David Bowie's death, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills all performed many Bowie tracks in their post R.E.M. guises in his honour. It's also one of the standout tracks from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged album. Nirvana always cited R.E.M. as one of their biggest influences, and Kurt and Michael were friends. The R.E.M. track 'Let Me In' from the Monster LP, was actually about Kurt.
#7 Sweetness Follows
So James is at the piano, Chris is back on the electric, I've detuned my acoustic guitar and Jeff is behind his new, tiny drumkit, and here we go! A quick run in soundcheck before trying it out for real...
#8 Thank You & Goodnight
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