I snagged tickets to Travis in November. That should be fun. Not entirely REM adjacent except that Fran Healy and Michael are pals from living in Berlin. And I love Travis.
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Fran Healy’s a huge R.E.M. fan. I’m sure there’s a video or an interview out there somewhere where he talks about his favourite records. There’s an R.E.M. one in there. Can’t remember which.
He is indeed! So here’s a story:
Fran was in the Warner Bros Records office the same day I got the final master of Collapse Into Now. He was talking to one of our A&R guys that worked in the neighboring office. I texted Michael that Fran was there and I had just received CIN and if it’d be OK to play it for him.
So I went into the A&R office and told Fran that Michael wanted him to hear the new record. He came in, we listened and his quote: “Its like a warm loaf of bread. So good!”
We called Michael and had a moment. It was pretty great.
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Fran is one of the hands down nicest and most down to earth humans I’ve ever met. I’ve been a Travis fan since the Man Who era, and when they went on tour for The Boy With No Name, I met him in Detroit (and Nigel Godrich, talk about being starstruck) and every single one of that camp, band, crew, etc. was just absolutely stellar. I’m excited to have tickets to the Invisible Band show in New York in November as well.
Ethan, do you remember I think it was Q Magazine put out a special issue during the Reveal era I think all about REM and Fran had a blurb in that about meeting Michael for the first time - it’s a little fuzzy but I know he was in there so there is a firm REM/Travis connection in my mind.
Yeah, I remember that Q issue. I still have a copy and Fran did write in there about the band.
I’ll be going to the Travis show as well. Nice to see they have Ben Ottewell of Gomez as the opener.
Less than 4 weeks until I’ll be seeing Peter Buck and Luke Haines. It’s already been cancelled twice, and the dreaded Covid is on the rise again. I’m crossing fingers and toes, and searching for other body parts that I might be able to cross. Not found any yet…
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I bought tickets to the Indigo Girls yesterday. Front row. I am so stupidly excited.
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This morning, I grabbed tickets to the Interpol show here in Atlanta in September.
Crazy… Murmurs is back, Interpol is touring, etc. It’s as though 2002 is here again.
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Don’t know how adjacent Melissa Ethridge is to REM. I saw her once, back in the early-mid 90s. Bought the tickets on a whim a few weeks ago. Glad I did. She put on a great show. And when you have an artist that speaks to a marginalized population, watching them be their true selves and celebrate was really great to see. All around a lot of fun.
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I became a fan with her self-titled first album and saw her in Raleigh on the tour in support of Brave and Crazy. It was an eleventh hour decision to attend but in so doing I ended up with a front row seat. Del Amitri opened. I revisit those two albums every so often. What came after, not so much. I will say she and her band most definitely brought it in concert. The night ended with a cover of “Let’s Get it On.”
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She didn’t have an opener this time. And she played for a solid 2.5 hours.
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Very happy to see The National finally releasing some proper late summer/ early autumn shows for the US after the smattering of releases for festivals. I’ll be catching Milwaukee and Indianapolis and Pitchfork fest earlier on in the summer.
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Got my ticket to see Peter Buck next Wednesday 
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I’m travelling to the US for work over Easter. I’ve extended the trip a couple of days and will catch one of the 20th anniversary shows of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in NY.
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The first five photos are from the Boy Harsher concert here in Atlanta last night.
The next three are from the opening act, Twin Tribes.
The final is a bonus photo that I took while I was walking to the venue.
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Here is my schedule in Toronto this year.
March 31 - Nick Cave and Warren Ellis @ Massey Hall (reno is really great)
April 24 - DBT @ Danforth
May 6 - The Hold Steady @ Horseshoe Tavern
June 23 - Waxahatchee @ Danforth
August 28 - The War on Drugs @ Echo Beach
September 6 and 8 Pearl Jam - taking my daughter to the first one… super great. @ Hamilton and Toronto
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I saw ACTORS here in Atlanta on Thursday night. Amazing show from my favorite newer current band.
The low light setup in the club made iPhone photography quite a challenge.
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Hope to see some photos / footage from the Buck / Haines shows here soon