Wilco came on soon after. They came out with no fanfare; suddenly, five guys walked out on stage and started jamming, The crowd seemed to pay them little attention, but I thought their set rocked. I thought the crowd would be more into them, especially since this is their hometown! They played a 10 song, 45 minute set, with couple songs from Mermaid Avenue, a lot from Summer Teeth, and closed their set with a rocking version of Being There's "Misunderstood". At the side of the stage, I could see Mike Mills, Ken Stringfellow, and Scott McCaughey watching their set and grooving to the beat. :) I also saw Peter Buck walking out to listen to the set.

Then we waited as the stage was set for R.E.M. Three guys climbed high above us to man the awesome light display. Michael's lyric stand was set out directly in front of where we were sitting.

Finally, at 9 p.m., the lights went out, and R.E.M. took the stage! Here's the setlist:

Airport Man (Intro)
Lotus
What's the Frequency Kenneth?
Wake-Up Bomb
Electrolite
Suspicion
Pilgrimage
Daysleeper
The One I Love
Low Desert
The Apologist
Sweetness Follows
The Great Beyond
Losing My Religion
Find the River
At My Most Beautiful
Pop Song 89
Walk Unafraid
Man on the Moon

Encore:

Falls to Climb/Hope
Why Not Smile
Big Spender (almost)
Crush With Eyeliner
Tongue
Cuyahoga
ITEOTWAWKI (AIFF)

Ken, Joey, and Scott took the stage first, then Mike, Peter and Michael paraded out to the intro of Airportman. Michael was wearing grey pants jeans decorated with what appeared to be rhinestones and a tight, blue zip-up jacket. He also had a green t-shirt tied around his waist like an apron and wore blue eyeshadow and glitter. Mike was dressed in a snazzy and shiny black suit with red and white trim. Peter wore his usual black jacket and white shirt.

Michael stepped up to the microphone and gave us a quick, "Hi there." then launched right into a rocking block of Lotus, Kenneth, and Wake-Up Bomb. Michael demonstrated his goofy dancing, especially during Lotus, shaking and flailing his arms and legs. During Wake-Up Bomb, Michael gestured that he was getting hot, and preceded to striptease his sweatshirt, revealing a a blue and white short sleeve Hawaiian-like print shirt. At the end of the song, he stood with his arms outstretched dramatically. It was great to see the show open with so much intensity and energy. Wow! The crowd went wild as did I. I espeically enjoyed Wake Up Bomb, where Michael really showed off his T-Rex moves.

Electrolite. Michael prefaced this by asking if we felt beautiful. "YEAH!, " we answered. "Really?" YEAH! "Okay." I love this song and it was beautiful live.

Then they broke into an awesome version of Suspicion.

Pilgrimage. AHH! Good to hear such an old tune. It was one of they highlights of the show for me. Most of the audience didn't recognize the song, but I was surrounded by die-hard fans from the fan club who were as elated as I was!

Daysleeper. Michael introduced the song with a long story about how when they arrived at their hotel downtown Chicago, having slept four hours on the bus, he went to his room but his card key didn't work. So he went down to the lobby to get a new one. He was barefoot and was surrounded by all the businessman in suits. "If I was in another business, that's probably what I'd be wearing too" he said. Michael then preceded to say how the second verse of the song was inspired by a dream he had about a big bull and bear walking across the globe, "Clomp, clomp" and "pissing on countries along the way, like Mexico after NAFTA."

The One I Love. Drew a huge audience response as everyone sang along.

Low Desert. Michael introduced it as one of his favorite songs from one of his favorite albums that they perform once in a while.

The Apologist. Introduced the song as being about how a person in therapy who had to apologize to everyone he had been an a**hole to and how the process actually made him a bigger monster.

Sweetness Follows. Awesome, mesmorizing song live. While the rest of the band was still jamming at the end of the song, Michael walked off stage. He came back, holding and sipping from a red plastic cup, and let us know that he had to have a quick bathroom break and grab some wine, because "it's just one of those nights," He then commented how The World's luxury boxes up top looked like something from "Beyond Thunderdome" with Tina Turner. He told the people in the skyboxes, "Don't drop anything on anyone below you; I can see every one of you. You don't think I can, but I can."

The Great Beyond. Michael introduced this new song, explaining that it was written for the movie "Man on the Moon" about Andy Kaufman. He said people will probably realize how much Michael had been ripping off Andy Kaufman, "tearing pages out of his book." Great, catchy song.

Losing My Religion. Another crowd pleaser. Everyone sang along.

Find the River. My favorite R.E.M. song! I was so happy to hear they had started playing this song again on this tour, and went crazy when they included it in the setlist here in Chicago! They played a new intro so I almost didn't recognize the song at first. Absolutely beautiful. Wow. Another highlight of the show for me.

At My Most Beautiful. Michael asked us if we still felt beautiful. What a sweet song, especially with Mike's piano and harmonies.

Pop Song 89. A really energetic version. Michael danced like crazy, waving "hi" to the crowd, and got the crowd to wave back at him (me included).

Walk Unafraid. The intro to this song was really powerful. Michael sang two repetitions of the chorus a capella, accompanied only by the organ. One of my favorite songs from the new album.

Man on the Moon. Crowd went wild again. Michael was leaning into the audience, pushing his hand out during the "yeah, yeah yeah's" and did his best Elvis. The band left the stage with the crowd demanding more!

Michael came back out alone, sat down on a stool, and started strumming his two chords. He did a verse and a chorus from Falls to Climb, followed by a bit from Hope. Michael stumbled a bit through it, stopping now and then. But it was really sweet. :)

Mike came out and told Michael he did a great job, then accompanied Michael on a sweet version of Why Not Smile. At the song's end, Mike leaned his head back, and Michael gave him a kiss.

The rest of the band came out, and launched into a silly, spontaneous Hey Big Spender, with Michael singing the first verse and chorus a capella.

They broke immediately into a rockin' Crush With Eyeliner. Michael criss-crossed the stage and climbed on the speakers.

Tongue. Michael prefaced this song by saying "This song has tits." Um. Ok. He requested that the spotlight operator take the light off him, remarking as it became dark, "That's much better." Michael took off his shirt during this song, bearing his chest and sang a beautful falsetto.

Cuyahoga. Another oldie. I had recently really started to appreicate this song, and it was so awesome to hear live! Another highlight of the show for me.

Michael plugged a local charity and told us to check out their booth outside. He thanked us repeately for coming out to see them, then said that "this sounds very brown-nosey" and he may not be speaking for the whole band, but he wanted to thank XRT, who have played REM and supported them since Murmur. The crowd went crazy. Michael jumped back in mock horror, saying "Wow!" He got quite emotional about it so Mike ask him if he needed a tissue, and Michael just laughed. Michael then introduced the band. He introduced the back-up band, Ken Stringfellow "this man can drink more martennis than anyone I know," Joey Waronker, then "least and last" Scott McCaughy. "Thanks" said Scott. Then he introduced R.E.M. "This is Peter, I'm Michael, and this is Mike." I knew the night was coming to a close and what was coming next. They broke into a wild, frenzied 7-8 minute version of It's the End of the World... The audience yelled along the whole time. Michael handed his microphone to audience members in front row to sing/shout the chorus and Mike actually went into crowd still playing bass. What a sight to see. Everyone was going wild, all the stage lights were flashing, and Michael pointed the mic to the crowd as everyone simultaneously shout "Leonard Bernstein." Wow.

The song ended in an uproar. Peter and Mike kicked over the microphone stands. Michael lingered on the stage, waving goodbye to the crowd before leaving. What an AMAZING show!

Although I would have preferred to see them in a more intimate setting, being so close to hear the awesome mix of songs, see the band's every expression, and share in the band's enthusiasm overcame the poor venue and sound. Michael seemed especially chatty tonight and seemed to be having a wonderful time. It was so fun to watch him do his crazy dance moves, his little striptease, and his interaction with the crowd. Throughout the show he made eye contact with people in the crowd and returned their waves, smiles, and other gestures. After each song, he would rip off the lyric sheet from his stand, crumble it up, and throw it on the floor or towards the crowd. He pointed toward Mike and Peter after there solos, demanding the crowd cheer for them and also stood waiting for applause for himself. Mike was also really dynamic and interactive with the crowd . He seemed to have a huge smile on his face during the whole show and sing along with most of the songs. Peter showed little interaction but I loved watching him play and every once in a while he made some rock star jumps. They all seemed to be having a great time on stage. I felt like I had waited forever to see them in concert and was not disappointed. What an incredible show! What an amazing band! I can't wait to see them again!!!