62 replies to this topic

[Silvy]

Well... I cried 4 times...
The first time in Rome.. when they arrived on the stage... It was the second time I saw an rem gig in 6 months, as I saw them for the first time in January on milan.. see them again was a dream becoming real.. and when I listened to the fist notes of I took your name... I took a look to marina and I started to cry!
The second time was in Rome again.. when they started Nightswimming.. be there... see the guys again... one of the most emotional songs.. see it with one of my best murmusian friends.. it has been fantasic.

The thirs time I cried for the Hyde Park gig I mess... the 16 july, in my home, when I had to be there... on my sofa watching perfect square... and I received the sms by E-botti who was telling me that they played E-Bow... what a sadness!!!!

But fortunately the week after I cried for the lucky ond for the happyness to had met mike and michael in milan!!

And you, have you ever cried for the guys?

[MaddeningLoops]

I've never cried but there's been a few glassy eyes...

When they played These Days at the Isle of Wight I was so ecstatic, it was the song I most wanted to hear in the whole world and they played it 3rd in the set - it was a manic four minutes and afterwards as I was attempting to calm down I did feel a little emotional about it. And then later that night during Nightswimming - I don't see how you can't have a tear in your eyes for that one.

And at Hyde Park in the encore Michael did the introductions after Imitation of Life, The Great Beyond and Nightswimming and I thought "oh that's a shame, straight into DJ and Man on the Moon, no more surprise songs" and then they launched headlong into It's the End of the World As We Know It. That was such a cool feeling.

Sometimes when I feel really blue I lie in bed in the absolute pitchest dark I can and play either Try Not to Breathe or Falls to Climb or Diminished really really loud on my iPod and that brings the odd tear too, because those are soul-warming songs when you're alone and no one else can be touched by them because all the music is flowing into your body.

I'm not really a crying sort of person, nor am I a robot.

[Pink Monster]

I've never cried but i was close to when they played Find the river at Balloch. I never expected them to play it, i felt so emotional.

ohh also when i 1st listened to I'll take the rain.

[Sweden]

fading down said:

Just the once when hubby was whispering the words of TOIL into my ear !!

Considering that's it's not by any means a love song, and im JMS's words "probably the most brutal lyric ever", I guess I would have too.
I hope you're not simply "another prop to occupy" your husband's time, hmm.....

/D

[OldManRay]

I certainly got a few tears in my eyes when Bill joined them for a couple of songs at the 2003 concert in Raleigh.  The band looked so happy and excited that he was playing with them again, however briefly.

[Pink Monster]

OldManRay said:

I certainly got a few tears in my eyes when Bill joined them for a couple of songs at the 2003 concert in Raleigh. The band looked so happy and excited that he was playing with them again, however briefly.

:) aw that would have been quite tear jerking. I think i would have been howling :p :D

[WaterHyacinth]

Nightswimming, Electrolite, World Leader Pretend, Falls To Climb... and probably a few others, all of these have caused me to go all glassy-eyed - actually Nightswimming once took it even further and I did shed a few tears, something that doesn't happen often with music, it can always move me, but not the point of making me cry, it has to be a really special occasion, and REM fits the bill, of course.

[grandpaboy]

Don't cry for me Michael Stipe, the truth is I never left you........

[Lois]

I cried this tour, but not over songs (nearly over everybody hurts in Cardiff - because I was thinking about all the grief, loss, worry and loneliness those hellraisers caused in London - not for myself)

I cried after the Cardiff and Hyde PArk gig - this time thoroughly selfish motives, because I enjoyed hoofing around to different gigs all year.  When it was nearly over and over - well I cried because I would have been quite happy to carry on, and on, and on!  Babyish, but so what!

[TraceyBHull]

When I first saw them play live in 1999 at the Manchester MEN arena, they played Everybody Hurts and Sweetness Follows, the latter Michael introduced as one of Peter's favourite songs, and I was surprised to find myself crying.

I also cried the second time I heard them play Everybody Hurts live at the Move Festival in 2003.

The odd thing is I wouldn't normally cry whilst listening to either song, but I would get a lump to my throat if I tried to sing one of them.   :confused:

[twistedkitemike]

Sweden said:

Considering that's it's not by any means a love song, and im JMS's words "probably the most brutal lyric ever", I guess I would have too.
I hope you're not simply "another prop to occupy" your husband's time, hmm.....

/D

At the same time, Stipe also said; "But I've always left myself pretty open to interpretation. It's probably better that they just think it's a love song at this point. I don't know". Stipe, more than any other lyricist, leaves himself consciously and deliberately open to interpretation.

I am 100% certain that the comment by Joanne's hubby was merely a way of trying to say to her, at a time when she has been taken through the emotional mill and ridden non-stop on the emotional roller-coaster, that he loved her. For someone like Joanne husband, the expression of one's feeling is not something that comes easy and this was at least a way of trying to show that he has some emotion there after all. He does care and he does love her.

Joanne is more than a prop to occupy her husband's mind; she is more like a prop to keep him standing and to help him navigate the unchartered waters of this life.

Interpretation. Stipe accepts it and gives people the option. I understand from Joanne's hubby that his intentions and words in a corner of a foreign field that is known as Werchter were honest and simple and he is delighted to understand from her original post (which it appears that she has deleted because she was so upset) that this is how she interpreted them.







Mike........................................................................................

[dan23]

This tour I cried both times I saw them.  The first show when they came out on stage, I guessed they would open with Begin the Begin, then I cried when the played World Leader Pretend.  At the second show I cried again when they played World Leader Pretend again.  It was awesome!

[Leilani]

I quiet often get emotional when I sing along to Leaving New York in my car.  I think it's a great love song.  I often replace the "New York"s with the name of the place I work.  I really love the place I work, but know I'll have to leave in the next year or so if I want to be progress in my careeer.  I think singing LNY would be a fitting song for my farewell speech - especially as I have a really really close friend who has worked there all his working life, and is often negative about my career aspirations - so I don't discuss them with him anymore.  Can you see where I'm coming from with this, or am I crazy?

[jasmin]

Silvy said:

Well... I cried 4 times...
The first time in Rome.. when they arrived on the stage... It was the second time I saw an rem gig in 6 months, as I saw them for the first time in January on milan.. see them again was a dream becoming real.. and when I listened to the fist notes of I took your name... I took a look to marina and I started to cry!
The second time was in Rome again.. when they started Nightswimming.. be there... see the guys again... one of the most emotional songs.. see it with one of my best murmusian friends.. it has been fantasic.

Dear Silvy... We have had the same tears !!!

[Silvy]

jasmin said:

Dear Silvy... We have had the same tears !!!

A great and emotional night.. with tears of happyness!!!!

[EnchantedEvelyn]

Yes, at Hammersmith Apollo in February, when they did "Sweetness Follows", because my previous visit to that venue had been twenty years before, when I went to my very first concert. My Dad came with me to London and left me outside, then he went off and did his own thing for the evening, meeting me afterwards so we could travel home together. He died last November, very unexpectedly and just over two years after my mother, so I was already feeling quite strange at being back in that venue - when the boys started "Sweetness Follows" I was completely wiped out. I still find that song difficult to listen to.

[CuyahogaGone]

I get very emotional when I listen to some of their songs in the privacy of my home but never really cry. I did literally burst into tears twice when I saw R.E.M. on stage :
In 1995 during the Monster Tour I saw them in the South of France and they played "Country Feedback" with Bill on bass, Mike on guitar and Peter on keyboards. Michael was turning his back to the crowd and facing the other 3. It was so intimate and powerful (and I love this song so much !) that my eyes started watering. Then they played "Strange Currencies" and enormous tears started rolling down my cheeks. The song expressed exactly what I was going through at that time. I couldn't stop crying and sobbing and at the same time there was this big smile on my face. It was a mix of happiness and distress... An unforgettable experience.
The second time was last november at Madison Square Garden, NYC, 2 days after election day and Bush's reelection. The atmosphere was really strange and sad on the stage and in the audience. It wasn't difficult to be in a crying mood. When they played "Final Straw" and Michael shouted "I do believe that I am not alone", emotion rose to a climax and the crowd went crazy. I started crying, just like everybody else in the audience... They didn't play "Everybody Hurts" that night and I'm actually glad (in a funny sort of way) they didn't even if it always gives me chills when I hear it live. Madison Square Garden would have become a pool of tears if they had. This song was far too appropriate... And I guess they would have had great difficulties not bursting into tears themselves if they had actually played it.

[-kawada-]

The first time I heard Find The River I cried for about half an hour. Listening to the song let loose alot of anxieties that had built up inside me, it was really cathartic. I never cry because of music but this was the exception.