That Time I Saw R.E.M.

And a band with an even shorter name

June 22, 1985—40 years ago today—was The Longest Day. I went to the Milton Keynes bowl with my friend Paul to see U2 and a bunch of other acts, of which I had varying degrees of awareness.

One of the bands was REM. They had just released Fables, although I didn’t know it at the time. Both Murmur and Reckoning had made the UK top 100 albums, but only just. Here’s the setlist.

I remember thinking, “That guitarist’s listened to The Byrds a lot.” I remember enjoying their set, but not being blown away. I think I liked it more than many of the other 49,999 audience members.

Billy Bragg connected very well with the audience. I remember his take on “Route 66”: “A13, Trunk Road to the Sea”. It rained, and U2 played The Beatles’ “Rain”.