A killer live R.E.M. show from Hollywood, 2003

The induction of R.E.M. into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night got me all sentimental about just how deep my love flows for this band, which I have logged thousands of hours listening to since high school. Yet there are times when I still feel like I have only scratched the surface of their careers, knowing there are dozens of tunes from them that are so deserving of my love, but that I have not yet discovered. What a great predicament.

This is a fantastic soundboard-quality set from the Avalon in Hollywood, 2003. It was a two-disc promo distributed to radio stations, so now you can be as cool (and with ears as happy) as the big dogs. Features Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) and Scott McCaughey (Minus 5) as band additions for this set.

R.E.M. live in Hollywood
The Avalon, Oct 29 2003

Finest Worksong (what a way to start)
These Days (ooh yay! love this album)
The Wake-Up Bomb
So Fast, So Numb ("This is now, this is here, this is me, this is what I wanted you to see" -- one of my favorite driving & singing songs)
Exhuming McCarthy
Animal
Sweetness Follows ("live your life filled with joy and wonder"; introduced by Stipe as "a beautiful song from 1991" and it is indeed a masterpiece)
Bad Day
World Leader Pretend
Strange Currencies (a vastly underrated love song)
Losing My Religion (even after hearing this song so many times, don't you just feel happy at those opening notes?)
At My Most Beautiful (another vastly underrated love song; "I read bad poetry into your machine, I save your messages just to hear your voice")
She Just Wants To Be
Walk Unafraid (I loved Up)
Man On The Moon
Life And How To Live It
Welcome To The Occupation
Nightswimming (can't even talk about how flawless this one is)
Final Straw
Permanent Vacation (unreleased)
Imitation Of Life (fantastic last song choice)

The whole show: ZIP IT UP
(zip only re-upped 6/13/07, individual links are expired)

Regarding the induction last night, I got a few play-by-play emails from friends but I missed seeing it. Anxiously awaiting an mp3 of Vedder's duet with R.E.M. on Man On The Moon.

Man On The Moon - R.E.M. with Ed Vedder
Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction, March 12, 2007

God bless the Pearl-Jam-crazy Italians! [more mp3s]

ADDENDUM: In his heartfelt induction speech, Vedder said, "How do you explain the dialogue between Michael and the listener -- a dialogue that grew up and we grew up with it? Such wisdom in the feelings in these songs that -- I think they helped us find things that we knew were inside us, and I think they helped us find things that we didn’t know we had inside us. And I can say, there are things that I hold and feel [hand on heart] very deeply about inside here that Michael Stipe put in there himself. What’s really incredible about this is, is that while this is happening … this all happens without ever being able to understand a fucking word he is saying. . ."

Read the full transcription here