Thursday, June 19, 2008

I wish that I believed in fate

Contemplating my favorite R.E.M. songs on the train as I headed into the city for the show:

  • Belong
  • Cuyahoga
  • Voice of Harold
  • Electrolyte
  • Imitation of Life
  • Man on the Moon
  • The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

They were as good as ever, and "Electrolyte" and "Man on the Moon" made it onto the setlist. I found a new appreciation for "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville," too, with Mike Mills on lead vocals in a straw cowboy hat.

The National opened and gave us a great, high-energy set. I'm actually drawn more to their live performances than the scattered studio tracks I have or have heard so far. But I was struck by a line from "Mr. November," which was played "For Barack":

I wish that I believed in fate
I wish I didn't sleep so late.

That line was the best of the night, until maybe the one on the T-shirt I saw on the 11:42 train to Trenton heading home:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator

1 comment:

dgabriel said...

Should you wish to own that self-same t-shirt you can purchase it at threadless.com.