In 1989 I was living in Munich and had tickets for R.E.M. at the Theaterfabrik. This was a small, old, factory building (max. cap. 1000) with an intense atmosphere. At this time I was the biggest fan I knew, having first seen them at the Marquee 4 or 5 years before. In fact, I was the only fan I knew. But there were obviously more of us out there, because a couple of weeks later they switched the venue to Circus Krone (cap. 3000). Still good, but not quite as intimate.
The day of the gig arrived, and it was cancelled, Bill Berry had been taken ill – Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. They rescheduled it quite quickly for 6 weeks later – right in the middle of my holiday in Portugal. Oh well, maybe next year.
However, they spent most of 1990 in the studio, and then in ’91 they released Out of Time, and dreams of ever seeing them in a small venue disappeared.
1992, ’93, and ’94 passed before finally they announced that in ’95 they would be playing… the Olympiahalle – a 15000 seater. I bit the bullet and bought tickets. 3 weeks before the gig Bill » Continue Reading.