REVIEW: REM by Stipe. The Marrs Bar.

THE American group, REM, disbanded in 2011, meaning an end to their live shows.

The Marrs Bar, Worcester received a leading tribute band, REM by Stipe on Friday April 26 and the club was packed.

The band dressed, played and even spoke in character and the musical performance was near perfect to the recorded songs.

An uncanny but very pleasant experience.

Old favourites like ‘Gardening at Night’, as well as the latest songs such as ‘Bad Day’ were played to dancers who moved like whirling dervishes.

I can imagine the audience in the US dancing to these songs when they first came out in the early 1980s.

They opened with ‘Losing my Religion’, from the 1991 album Out of Time.

It is an unusual song as the lead guitar line is played on a mandolin.

Other songs spanned all the albums from crunchy rock to acoustic ballads.

Singer Richard Southern said: “When you play the songs you get quite protective over them if people criticise the songs.

“They feel like they’re a part of you even though we’re just performing them.

“The songs even in the early days were so well written, each one feels like a masterpiece.”

Being a huge REM fan, seeing the songs played close up gave me a renewed appreciation for how well the songs were composed, the little nuances can only be seen my watching the musicians play.

Some people an be a bit snobbish with tribute bands, but having seen REM play just twice I would be happy to see a tribute band, particularly one as good at these guys play again.

To find out more about REM by Stipe, visit their website at: https://www.remtribute.co.uk/

Steven Collins.