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Rating: It's a football ritual, but it was all there to express the uncontainable joy of the 22,000 at the Verona Arena. The audience attending the R.E.M. concert starts a wave that sweeps through the amphitheater from side to side, and I am blissfully in the middle. Yes! The emotion is palpable as Michael Stipe's band plays songs from the new album "Accelerate," the first recorded in the studio since 2004, which the band is taking around the Peninsula with a series of dates culminating on September 26th and 27th, in Bologna and Turin. At the Verona leg, the Athens-based group is in splendid form, both artistically and in terms of image. Stipe, elegantly dressed in a black pinstripe suit, moves like a monkey on stage, making athletic jumps to reach the front rows and stands. Really, he can't be stopped, but how old is he? Behind him, a hyper-technological set with mega screens reflects the singer's image multiplied, posterized, and indeed accelerated. With his longtime companions Peter Buck and Mike Mills, the leader immediately draws applause by stringing a series of incredible hits: there's space for "Supernatural Superserious", one of the most played singles on the radio this spring, followed by gems of a past that few can boast. Among these are "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?", with people already starting to stomp their feet frantically, then "Begin The Begin", from "Monster," and "Bad Day". It's at this point that Buck, with the Gibson he now plays with his eyes closed, addresses the audience in the seating area with an unmistakable call: «You're at a rock concert, not at the opera, you can get up and dance if you like». The fans don't need to be told twice. There they are, jumping to their feet to the rhythm of "The One I Love" and "Imitation Of Life", milestone tracks of a repertoire worth at least four. But what a feeling it must be to force yourself to set aside songs that have made your history, and the history of rock, when setting the setlist?!? Stipe and company recall the beginnings of "Murmur" and the incredibly high melodic moments of "Drive", the pinnacle of the live act. The notes of "Find The River" gently settle on the lips and in the heart, performed with an organ section, a splendid closing track of "Automatic For The People". A stronger heartbeat, a leap forward brings us to "Man-sized Wreath", which sets the perfect climax to introduce "Orange Crush" and "Pretty Persuasion". Bill Rieflin's percussion leads the way for "It's The End Of The World", while one of the encores could only be "Losing My Religion". And here, even the most reluctant to move their legs gave in. A tinge of envy went to the fan club kids, who in the space usually reserved for the orchestra pit were able to embrace their hero, Michael, finally offering himself to the crowd. They embrace him. Me too, me too! Now, they await Northern Europe with passion.
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