64 year old male and big time music fan since I was around 12. First concerts in 1972 were Deep Purple/Uriah Heep opening, 2nd was Black Sabbath/Bang! opening and 3rd was Alice Cooper/Blue Oyster Cult opening.

First saw R.E.M. in 1980 at The Pier in Raleigh, NC. Pure luck, had no clue who they were but The Pier was where all the up and coming bands played and I was in town. Maybe 50 people were there. Maybe. Had moved from Chapel Hill to NYC in 1980 and saw them while leaning on the stage at their first appearance at The Ritz in 1981.

Used to be super avid R.E.M. collector and have bins of memorabilia but no way to really display it.

Have seen R.E.M. dozens of times over the years, usually in the Fan Club section.