R.E.M. at Jones Beach

For all of you who are R.E.M. fans or appreciate that I am, this was quite an interesting concert. Jones Beach Theater on Long Island is an outdoor amphitheatre right on the water with no covered seating for concertgoers. So there were cloudy skies for the 2 opening acts, The National and Modest Mouse. During the set from Modest Mouse, there was a lot of lightning and then it got progressively louder and closer. The set ended with Mother Nature's fireworks hitting the top of the amphitheatre and sparks flying everywhere and a hurried announcement that there would be a rain delay for the safety of everyone. Go to your cars and listen for info on a local radio station. So Matt and Ben went and grabbed us the lovely rain ponchos that you see us in and we made a mad, very wet dash back to the car. We waited it out and went back when they started playing in the rain at 10:10 pm. My favorite song of the night was the stripped down, acoustic version of "Let Me In" from the Monster Album. Very nice! Bad Day was also a great one and a song that I like and the video is great (another you can catch on You Tube). Despite the downpour, it was still a lot of fun and it did stop raining during the very last song, "Man on the Moon." Check out the videos at the bottom. Not the best but cool that I took them. There are other great ones at http://tour.remhq.com/tour-date/june-14th-long-island-ny There is a special rendition of "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" just for us dripping wet people right at the beginning. Michael Stipe came out and told us we looked like a bunch of garbage sacks and was just so funny through the whole thing. I have to say that Ben is a Modest Mouse fan and they were very good while they were able to play. We had a great time and it so reminded me of those road trips I took in college. I have to give a shout out to our friends that babysat our kids so that we could go. Thank you! An evening we will not soon forget!