RALEIGH (REM Fans Website) - The moment was unexpected, just as most of Friday night's
R.E.M. show seemed to be. Michael Stipe leapt for joy three times as the rest of the band swirled in a mixture of chaos and reassembling at 10:45 p.m.
For the first time since 1997, original drummer Bill Berry walked toward the drums, pulled off his green jacket and sat behind the kit with the band again. After suffering from a brain aneurysm in 1995, Berry left the band and the music business for good in 1997. Until Friday night.
It was a historic moment for the band as it cranked out the old obscure 1983 outtake "Permanent Vacation," with Berry pounding away during the show's encore.
The crowd at Walnut Creek erupted. R.E.M. had hit a pinnacle for an already amazing night. Concerts in Raleigh and Chapel Hill have always been something of a homecoming for the Athens, Ga., band that defined its own style in the early 1980s. The band played its first show outside of Athens at the former Carrboro club The Station and recorded its first three releases in North Carolina.
So it was no surprise that the band might have saved something special for Friday night's show. It was the second-to-last show of the tour, with the last stop Saturday in Atlanta.
As drizzling rain fell for most of the evening, the band took to the stage with power but also a calm sense of purpose. It was like visiting family on Sunday. A homecoming.
Opening with "Finest Worksong," R.E.M. and Stipe moved through new and old songs. Surprises abounded. Hints as well.
While introducing "Animal," Stipe dedicated the song to "Mr. William T. Berry," only adding to the hopes of those up front who had noticed the drummer at stage left. Some of the best surprises came with "Disturbance at the Heron House," "So. Central Rain," and an impromptu restart of "The One I Love." The band stopped a couple of notes in. Stipe said: "Lights down, ready, go," as the band started over.
During the show, Stipe talked about the band's history in North Carolina. "We played Chapel Hill, Carrboro and finally got the big time - Greensboro," Stipe said, smirking. Fans got plenty of older classics ("Driver 8" and "Life and How To Live It") and some of the band's best newer stuff.
Of the 25 songs, R.E.M. played five songs from the 1992 classic "Automatic For The People," new songs such as "Bad Day" in which Stipe faked a phone call to Dick Cheney, and songs that are destined to become new concert favorites.
"Walk Unafraid" from the 1998 album "Up" and "She Just Wants To Be" from the most recent "Reveal" were among the best songs of the night.
"She Just Wants To Be" featured a jam at the end and sounded out of this world. The only slow part of the evening came with "World Leader Pretend" as the band sounded a little tired. The energy apparently came back quickly as the set burned toward the encore.
Following the song "Sweetness Follows," Stipe asked Berry to come on stage.
The band gathered around him as bassist Mike Mills kissed him on the cheek. "Is that guy a fox or what?" Stipe asked as Berry walked offstage. That moment alone would have been enough.
But then Stipe and company called him out again during the band's first hit, "Radio Free Europe." This time Berry sang backup vocals with Mills until the members finally coaxed him to the drum set.
The crowd nearly overtook the sound of the band during "Permanent Vacation," and Stipe finished the song standing on the drum riser. He applauded a smiling Berry.
Roughly 7,000 others joined him.
