Rem + Joseph Arthur

There's something odd in the air at the Forum di Assago: even though the concert has been sold out for months, no cloud of cigarette smoke hangs over the arena... For better or worse, the first effects of the anti-smoking law.

A little after 8pm, a solitary Michael Stipe appears on stage amid the predictable ovation, announcing that it's a happy and sad night at once: happy because the show will be opened by Joseph Arthur, sad because it will be the last night of the tour on which the Akron songwriter accompanies R.E.M..

Buoyed by such a warm introduction, Joseph Arthur walks on stage in jeans and a dark jacket and hugs Stipe, basking in the applause of the Athens band's fans.

From the moment silence falls over the Forum and Arthur picks up his guitar, a performance of dazzling intensity begins.

The seductive "Echo Park", taken from the new album "Our Shadows Will Remain" (not yet released in Europe), and the biting "History", from the masterpiece "Come To Where I'm From", are given a bare, essential arrangement, yet they rise up with magnetic force. Then Joseph, as he usually does in his shows, starts recording vocal parts, guitar loops and assorted beats on the spot, which he then uses as backing for his own songs: the effect is of standing before a full-fledged band, as the songs stretch out into distorted electric improvisations, as in the coda of the unreleased "She Paints Me Gold".

Joseph Arthur reaches the emotional peak with "All Of Our Hands", a bonus track available only on the artist's official website, which is completely rewritten on stage, transformed from a mournful litany into a sharp, furious, Dylan-esque invective.

For "In The Sun," the American songwriter's most famous song, performed here in a slowed-down, poignant version, Peter Buck backs Joseph with e-bow guitar lines, joined by R.E.M.'s touring drummer Bill Rieflin. The latter stays on stage for the following "Can't Exist" and "You've Been Loved," which closes the set on a note of soft sweetness with his falsetto.

A brief pause, and then R.E.M. appear in full, riding the driving notes of "Finest Worksong." Michael Stipe, dressed in a dark suit, light blue shirt and yellow tie, wearing a flat cap destined to fly into the crowd almost immediately, has a dark stripe painted around his eyes that makes him look like one of the "88 Crazies" from "Kill Bill." But the fans in the front rows are ready to give him a fitting welcome, each sporting a similar black mask on their face: the band's official website would later report that, at the sight of the scene, Michael struggled to get through the song without bursting out laughing... By the end of the show, one of the masks even ends up in Peter Buck's hands, who has some fun putting it on before literally scooping Stipe up in his arms to carry him off stage...

The opening is riveting, hurling us straight back into the glory days of the Eighties, with Michael Stipe launching into his unmistakable loose-limbed dance moves to the rhythm of "Finest Worksong" and "Begin The Begin." And it's immediately clear that, thankfully, the R.E.M. standing in front of us are not the three pale, blurred figures on the cover of their latest album, "Around The Sun," probably the weakest link in their entire discography, but the flesh-and-blood protagonists of one of the most solid and consistent careers in American rock of the last twenty years.

Even the songs from the new record, from "Boy In The Well" to "High Speed Train" to "Leaving New York," sound less flat and far more substantial live, while the band's classics follow one another relentlessly, redeeming the nostalgia-trip risk of a "greatest hits show" thanks to the Athens trio's evident sincerity. And when the gorgeously Byrds-like riff of "7 Chinese Brothers" resurfaces from the past, it's hard not to forgive even the predictability of certain choices in the setlist...

A sober, evocative lighting display made of slender colored tubes helps create a sunny, relaxed atmosphere, with the crowd -- multigenerational, as expected -- happily flicking on their lighters during "Everybody Hurts" and singing along to "Imitation Of Life," also warmly receiving the predictable political sermon on the Bush administration with which Stipe introduces "I Wanted To Be Wrong" and "Final Straw," complete with scrolling lyrics on the big screen above the stage.

The arrangements of the songs, by now thoroughly road-tested, hold few surprises, with the exception of "Walk Unafraid," which opens almost a cappella before giving way to a guitar with a firm, driving rhythm, and "Country Feedback," featuring a long, spine-tingling solo from Peter Buck, which Stipe listens to crouched on stage in a meditative pose.

When it comes to reckoning with the seemingly overwhelming weight of global hits like "Losing My Religion," the secret is probably not to take yourself too seriously: and when R.E.M. return to the stage for the encores, they do exactly that, giving themselves over to the sheer, unpretentious joy of rock 'n' roll with "Permanent Vacation," one of the first songs a young Michael Stipe ever wrote, and with the then-unreleased "I'm Gonna DJ," both featuring an enthusiastic Joseph Arthur on guitar.

For the final farewell, which doesn't even spare a peace flag thrown onto the stage by the crowd, "Man On The Moon" takes the place of "It's The End Of The World": since in Italy someone might think of Ligabue, perhaps it's just as well...

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