Two-CD set features 39 songs from band’s July 2007 five-night stand at Dublin’s Olympia Theater

Deluxe Edition Package will also feature live concert film shot by Vincent Moon

R.E.M. will release a brand-new double live album, entitled R.E.M. Live At The Olympia on October 26th, 2009 on Warner Bros. Records.

The two-CD set, produced by Jacknife Lee, features 39 songs that capture the best moments from the band’s “working rehearsals” at Dublin’s fabled Olympia club during which singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills tested out new songs for R.E.M.’s 2008 studio album Accelerate.

Live At The Olympia ventures back to July 2007 when R.E.M. set up camp at the venerable Olympia Theatre in Ireland’s capital city and tested new material over five nights before fired-up, capacity crowds comprised of fan-club members, friends, family, and fans from all over the world who were privy to R.E.M.’s so-called “experiment in terror,” as guitarist Peter Buck puts it. “We were just trying to do something we hadn’t done before,” Buck says, “which meant there was no relaxing during the set. Every second we were playing something we didn’t know all that well. Which was kind of good — there were all kinds of terror elements going on during that show.”

Live At The Olympia gives fans that were unable to attend the Irish shows a chance to hear different incarnations of the songs before they were recorded in their final Accelerate versions, such the singles “Man-Sized Wreath” and an early version of “Supernatural Superserious” under its original title “Disguised.”

As a bonus, the band has included two songs; “On The Fly” and “Staring Down The Barrel Of The Middle Distance,” that were only performed live and were not included on Accelerate. In addition, the package features many early R.E.M. favourites from the band’s albums Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, and Life’s Rich Pageant.

Live At The Olympia will be released in several configurations including a standard double CD, featuring 39 tracks and liner notes by author and music journalist Andy Gill, as well as a CD + DVD, which includes concert and backstage footage shot by noted French filmmakers Vincent Moon and Jeremiah. Moon, who has worked with Arcade Fire, The Shins, and The National, along with Jeremiah, shot all the footage that R.E.M. posted on its various websites connected to Accelerate last year.

Buy Music:

R.E.M. on amazon.com

R.E.M. on amazon.co.uk

The track-listing for R.E.M. Live At The Olympia is as follows:

Disc 1:
Living Well Is The Best Revenge / Second Guessing / Letter Never Sent / Staring Down The Barrel of the Middle Distance / Disturbance At The Heron House / Mr. Richards / New Test Leper / Cuyahoga / Electrolite / Man-Sized Wreath / So. Central Rain / On The Fly / Maps And Legends / Sitting Still / Driver 8 / Horse To Water / I’m Gonna DJ / Circus Envy / These Days

Disc 2:
Drive / Feeling Gravity’s Pull / Until The Day Is Done / Accelerate / Auctioneer / Little America / 1,000 / Disguised / Worst Joke Ever / Welcome To the Occupation / Carnival of Sorts / Harbor Coat / Wolves Lower / I’ve Been High / Kohoutek / West of the Fields / Pretty Persuasion / Romance / Gardening At Night

“Thrilling ‘live rehearsal’ shows. Mighty Riffs, a hit of mystical social conscience and a seam of humour” ***** Q

“Watching one of the world’s top bands rehearsing…being present as a fundamental change was made to one of their new songs. Top craic, indeed!” – The Independent

R.E.M. Dublin Official Website

R.E.M. Official Website

R.E.M. HQ on Twitter

Even six inches of snow couldn’t keep Rufus Wainwright from speaking at the Oxford Union yesterday afternoon.

In an amusing and informative hour long Q&A session he talked about his forthcoming opera Prima Donna, reminisced about Jeff Buckley, talked about making his next album with just piano and vocals. “I’m the opposite of Dylan, I’m going backwards, I’m going acoustic!” he joked, keeping the 200 plus crowd warm with laughter.

Rufus won’t be in sunny LA for the Grammy Awards this Sunday, where he has been nominated in the hotly contested ‘Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album’ category (for ‘Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall’).

Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Grammy’s will be a performance by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

Jason Mraz will also be in attendance. He’s been nominated in 3 categories: Song of the Year (for ‘I’m Yours’), Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Engineered Album.

His album ‘We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things’ is unstoppable at present and has just turned Gold and is still sitting in the Top Ten this week. His irresistible single “I’m Yours” is knocking on the door of the Top Ten and is currently No.11 in the chart.

Tickets for the summer leg of Madonna’s phenomenally successful ‘Sticky & Sweet Tour’ went on sale today in London and Manchester and sold out in minutes.

Madonna brings her acclaimed ‘Sticky & Sweet Tour’ to London’s 02 Arena July 4th, 2009 and Manchester’s MEN Arena July 7th.

Karima Francis is continuing to make waves this year, her infectious new single “Again”, out March 9, 2009, is the Radio 2 record of the week next week.

If you haven’t seen Karima she is playing London’s Barfly on Tuesday (Feb 10th). A must see gig and a chance to hear tracks from her forthcoming debut album ‘The Author’, out March 23rd. Details of her new UK tour in March will be announced next week.

We’re very excited about the new Lightning Seeds album in June, their first in ten years. Ian Broudie is back and has penned a disc full of wonderful new songs.

Early reaction to the Depeche Mode album ‘Sounds of the Universe’ is hugely positive. First single “Wrong” is a fine introduction and “Peace” seems to be a firm favourite. We can’t wait for the 02 show in May.

Will Young’s Question Time appearance raised more than eyebrows last night as it got the highest ratings for the last six years with 750,000 extra tuning in.

Vagabond played a short, tight set last week at Water Rats. They just keep getting better and better. Ladies down the front swooned over Irrepressible front man Alex Vargas, he really is one to watch.

Debut single “Sweat (Until The Morning)” sounds cracking live as does “I’ve Been Waiting” and “Don’t Wanna Run No More”. This guitar based six piece have an r&b pop sound like no one else.
We can’t wait for their debut album in May. Their producer Brian Higgins was in the audience on Tuesday.

Sara Cox has been bigging up Just Jack’s hot new single “Embers” out March 30th. She gave the track its first ever airplay and has been playing it ever since.

Just Jack releases his new album ‘All Night Cinema’ April 6th, with news of a tour to follow very soon.

The Fray release their eagerly anticipated self-titled new album on Monday (Feb 9th). On Tuesday (Feb 10th) they will showcase the album at a sold out show at the Scala.

Jersey Budd will support at Starsailor on Wednesday (Feb 11th) at The Luminaire.

Robyn Hitchcock has a busy week in-store. He kicks off his 11-date UK tour tomorrow (Feb 7th) in Glasgow, featuring a must see gig at London’s Union Chapel (Feb 12th). Next week he releases his stunning album ‘Goodnight Oslo’.

Miss this at your peril, R.E.M. re-release their seminal album ‘Murmur’ on Monday. The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition features that original landmark album re-mastered plus an additional disc with a previously unreleased concert recorded at Larry’s Hideaway in Toronto three months after Murmur’s April release.

Madonna arrived in London last night when her acclaimed ‘Sticky & Sweet’ tour triumphed at Wembley Stadium. 74,000 thrilled to new hits “Candy Shop”, “4 Minutes” and “Give It 2 Me” while old favourites like “Borderline”, “Like A Prayer” and “La Isla Bonita” were given exciting new twists. Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Fergie and Gwyneth Paltrow were among the worshippers. What a night!!

Sunday night’s 25th annual MTV Video Music Awards went down as one of the best ever, pulling in record ratings and introducing American television audiences to the inimitable Russell Brand – who won plaudits for a risqué, typically rock ‘n’ roll turn as host. According to Google Trends, “vma host” and “russell brand” were two of the top ten most searched-for phrases on the day of the awards.

Christina Aguilera provided the evening’s star turn with her scintillating performance of her spicy new single “Keeps Gettin’ Better” and a revved-up version of the classic “Genie In A Bottle” – both on the forthcoming hits collection “Keeps Gettin’ Better” due out this November.

If anyone finds a vintage Rickenbacker please call Peter Buck immediately!! This electric beauty was stolen after REM’s Helsinki show on Tuesday night. The guitar has been an instrumental part of REM’s arsenal since 1982. Any information that leads to finding the guitar will be generously rewarded – no questions asked. Email information to fanclub@remtour.com.

Will Young returns this weekend with “Changes”, the first single to be taken from his wonderful forthcoming album ‘Let It Go’. Both the Radio Edit and Chris Lake’s thumping remix are available digitally from Sunday 14th, with the physical single to follow on the 22nd. The remix has gone top 5 in the pop club charts.

Stereophonics have had a hectic North American tour so far. Last weekend they supported Oasis at Toronto’s V festival, Tuesday night they sold out Webster Hall in NYC where the cast of trendy hit show Gossip Girl including Chace Crawford were among those in attendance. Next week they conquer LA! Awesome new single “You’re My Star” hits the airwaves next week.

Martha Wainwright supports Goldfrapp at New York’s Radio City Music Hall tonight following in brother Rufus’ footsteps. He headlined the same venue earlier this year on his ‘Release The Stars’ tour. Catch Martha and her ace band on their 14 date UK tour next month.

Now that the VMA’s are over, MTV is readying itself for their European Music Awards which take place in Liverpool November 6th, 2008. Duffy has bagged 4 nominations while Madonna, REM, Christina Aguilera, Stereophonics and James Blunt have all been nominated.

Duffy has also been nominated for a MOBO Award – Best UK Female. What a glittering year she is having.

We can’t wait for the James Blunt tour to start next month with special guest Teddy Thompson.

Dave Edmunds joined the Stray Cats on stage at Brixton Academy Wednesday night for rocking renditions of “The Race Is On” and “Tear It Up”. This followed last week’s truly memorable showcase at the Gibson Guitar Rooms. His hits collection ‘The Many Sides of Dave Edmunds’ is out September 22nd, 2008.

And finally congratulations to Elbow for their Mercury Prize win. Nominated ‘Raising Sand’ duo Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were both on hand for the celebrations.

Some upcoming 2008 releases:

Sept 14th (Digital) / Sept 22nd (Physical)
WILL YOUNG- CHANGES (RCA LABEL GROUP)

September 15th
ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS- STICK WITH ME BABY (ROUNDER/UNIVERSAL)

September 22nd
GUILLEMOTS- KRISS KROSS / CLARION (POLYDOR)

October 6th
JOHN MELLENCAMP- MY SWEET LOVE (UNIVERSAL) DIGITAL ONLY

October 13th
PRIMAL SCREAM- UPTOWN (B-UNIQUE)

October 20th
JERSEY BUDD- SHE CAME BACK (THIS FEELING/BANDSTOCKS)

October 27th (Digital) / November 10th (Physical)
STEREOPHONICS- ‘YOU’RE MY STAR’ (V2)
AIMEE MANN- THIRTY ONE TODAY (SUPEREGO/ADA)

November 3rd
CHRISTINA AGUILERA- KEEPS GETTING’ BETTER (RCA LABEL GROUP)
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT- COMIN’ TONIGHT (DROWNED IN SOUND)

ALBUMS

September 22nd
DAVE EDMUNDS- THE MANY SIDES OF DAVE EDMUNDS – THE GREATEST HITS AND MORE – (UNIVERSAL)

September 29th
WILL YOUNG- LET IT GO (RCA LABEL GROUP)

October 13th
JOHN MELLENCAMP- LIFE LOVE DEATH AND FREEDOM (UNIVERSAL)

October (DATE TBC)
THE KINKS- PICTURE BOX (UNIVERSAL)

November 10th
IL DIVO- THE PROMISE (SYCO MUSIC)
CHRISTINA AGUILERA- KEEPS GETTING’ BETTER – A DECADE OF HITS (RCA LABEL GROUP)

November 17th
STEREOPHONICS- DECADE IN THE SUN: THE BEST OF STEREOPHONICS (V2)

Written by the Guillemots – Fyfe Dangerfield, Magrao, Aristazabal Hawkes and Greig Stewart – “Falling Out Of Reach” was co-produced by the band alongside their longstanding engineer Adam Noble (George Michael, U2 and Paul McCartney).

Blissfully romantic, “Falling Out Of Reach” is a rich string laden ode to the unrequited. Building into an unrestrained and utterly emotive chorus, the track epitomises the bands ability to write clever, honest and completely unique modern love songs.

The accompanying video features Sir Ian McKellen in what is without doubt one of the bands best videos to date.

Later this year the band embarks on a full UK tour before supporting R.E.M. on their August stadium tour.

Guillemots 2008 tour dates:

Dates could change! Go to Guillemots’ Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

May 2008

18th Norwich, UEA
19th Wolverhampton,
20th Lincoin, Engine Shed
22nd Liverpool, Liverpool Academy
23rd Glasgow, Barrowlands
24th Dundee, Fat Sams
26th Leeds, Metropolitan University
27th Newcastle, Newcastle University
29th Bristol, Bristol Academy
30th Southampton, Guildhall
31st Brighton, Dome

June 2008

2nd Coventry, Kasbah
3rd Nottingham, Rock City
4th London, Forum

July 2008

6th Tonbridge, Hop Farm

August 2008 (Supporting R.E.M.)

24th Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground
25th Cardiff, Millennium Stadium
27th Southampton, Rosebowl
30th Twickenham Stadium

Guillemots – Red on amazon.co.uk

Guillemots
Guillemots Myspace

Just before the release of their new studio LP ‘Accelerate’, REM announced they will play Apple Store on London’s Regent Street for a selection of lucky competition winners on Wednesday March 26th, 2008. This will follow what is sure to be one of the events of the year – REM’s highly anticipated headline performance at The Royal Albert Hall on Monday March 24th.

The ICA have put together a stellar day of REM related events in tribute to the band and their electrifying new album ‘Acclerate’. The day will consist of a pre-release playback of the new material, an exclusive screening of Vincent Moon’s R.E.M film Six Days, plus a Q&A with Vincent and Michael Stipe.

Monday March 24th, 2008
ICA REM DAY – beginning 11AM

Royal Albert Hall with Foals, The Duke Spirit, Robyn Hitchcock and John Paul Jones

Wednesday March 26th
Apple store, Regent Street

This UK visit follows a magnificent show at SXSW in Texas, where the band stole the show playing tracks from the new album ‘Accelerate’, as well as favourites from their back catalogue.

New album ‘Accelerate’ out March 31st, 2008 on Warners; 1st single “Supernatural Superserious” out now!

R.E.M Official Website

Just before the release of their eagerly anticipated new studio LP ‘Accelerate’, R.E.M. have announced four outdoor summer stadium shows for August 2008. Tickets go on sale Friday February 29th, 2008 at 9am.

One of the most successful and influential bands of all time, R.E.M. look set to make 2008 their year. These must see shows will be one of the events of the summer.

R.E.M. August 2008 UK tour dates:

w/ Guillemots

24th MANCHESTER, Lancashire Country Cricket Club
25th CARDIFF, Millennium Stadium
27th SOUTHAMPTON, Rosebowl
30th TWICKENHAM, Twickenham Stadium

Tickets go on sale Friday February 29th at 9am and are priced at £45 (may be subject to booking fee)

Cardiff, Southampton and Twickenham tickets available from Live Nation, and by telephone from 0844 576 5483 (cc 24 hrs)

Manchester tickets are available from GigsAndTours / TicketMaster – 24hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260

R.E.M – Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills will play their first ever show at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall on March 24th, 2008 featuring special guests Robyn Hitchcock, Foals, Duke Spirit. The sold out event comes before R.E.M’s UK festival appearances at Oxygen in Dublin (12th July) and T In The Park (13th July).

R.E.M will tour the US from May 23 to June 21 before embarking on a European tour starting July 2nd in Amsterdam.

‘Accelerate’ is released in the UK on March 31st on Warner Brothers. The first single “Supernatural Superserious” is available now digitally. Physical release to follow.

R.E.M. 2008 European Tour / Festival dates:

Dates could be added or changed! Go to R.E.M.’s Official Website for the latest tour dates and information

2nd July AMSTERDAM Westerpark
3rd July BELGIUM Werchter Festival
5th July SPAIN Bilbao Live ‘08 Festival
6th July SPAIN Doctor Loft 05.00 Festival, North Barcelona
8th July FRANCE Les Nuits de Fourviere Festival, Leon
9th July FRANCE Theatre de Verdure, Nice
12th July IRELAND Oxygen, Dublin
13th July UK T In The Park, Glasgow
15th July GERMANY Elbufer, Dresden
16th July GERMANY Waldbuhne, Berlin
18th July SWITZERLAND Locarno City Square, Moon & Stars
20th July ITALY Parco Santa Giuliana, Perugia
21st July ITALY Arena Verona
23rd July ITALY Mostra D’oltremare, Naples
24th July ITALY Villa Manin, Udine
26th July ITALY Arena, Milan
14th AUGUST AUSTRIA Frequency Festival, Salzburg
16th August HUNGARY Sziget Festival, Budapest
17th August CZECH Slavia Stadium, Prague
19th August GERMANY Ehrenhof, Stuttgart
20th August GERMANY Loreley, Rhine Area, Freilichtbuhme
22nd August GERMANY Wurzburg, Marienfest
24th August UK Manchester, LCCC
25th August UK Cardiff, Millennium Stadium
27th August UK Southampton, The Rose bowl
30th August UK Twickenham, Stadium
3rd September NORWAY Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo
4th September NORWAY Koengen Stadium, Bergen
6th September DENMARK Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
7th September SWEDEN Stockholm Stadium
9th September FINLAND Finnair Stadium, Helsinki

R.E.M. – Accelerate: Special Edition on amazon.co.uk

R.E.M. Official Website
Supernatural Superserious Website

The show takes place March 24th, 2008 and is scheduled to include special guests Robyn Hitchcock, Foals and Duke Spirit.

Tickets go on sale Friday February 15th, 2008 at 9am and are priced at 55 GBP/45 GBP/40 GBP/25 GBP (may be subject to booking fee).

Available from Live Nation and by telephone from 0844 576 5483 (cc 24 hrs).

Royal Albert Hall ticket phone line 0207 589 8212 (Limited tickets). Royal Albert Hall Official Website.

All profits will go to the ICA, a non-profit arts institute and registered charity. ICA Official Website.

Produced by Jacknife Lee and R.E.M., ‘Accelerate’ is released March 31st, 2008 on Warner Brothers.

The first single “Supernatural Superserious” is released February 11th digitally with a physical release to follow.

R.E.M. are also set to tour the US from May 23, 2008 to June 21 before embarking on a European tour starting July 2nd in Amsterdam.

UK dates will be announced shortly.

An official countdown for the album has already begun on Nighty Nights, which launched January 1st.

R.E.M. on Myspace
R.E.M. Official Website

R.E.M. is set to release their new studio album ‘Accelerate’ on March 31st, 2008 in the UK (US April 1). ‘Accelerate’ will be the band’s first LP since 2004’s ‘Around the Sun’, and is one of the most hotly anticipated albums of the year.

Recorded in Dublin, Vancouver and Athens with Grammy Award-winning Producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, Kasabian) it follows a 5-night residency at Dublin’s Olmypia Theatre, July 2007, where they roadtested the LP’s early demos.

R.E.M. will be playing this year’s SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas at Stubbs Bar-B-Q on March 12, 2008.

Stay tuned to the band’s website for their latest tour plans…

R.E.M. on Myspace
R.E.M. Official Website

On October 23, 2007 The Forms will release their self-titled follow-up to their well received debut ‘Icarus’. ‘The Forms’ was recorded over a 50-day period in Illinois with the legendary Steve Albini (Nirvana, the Pixies), who tested the New York act’s limits, as well as their sonics and sanity, in ways that most of us couldn’t even begin to imagine. What resulted is a disc that takes the band’s unique brand of post-hardcore to indescribable new levels. Fading in and out of each other like a series of dream sequences, The Forms evokes the classic Dischord roster such as Shudder To Think and Fugazi as much as it does underappreciated ’90s acts like Slowdive and the Dismemberment Plan.

The Forms have shared the stage with seemingly disparate acts such as The National, The Hold Steady, Minus The Bear, Death From Above 1979 and OK Go. Stereogum called 2003’s ‘Icarus’ a “breathtaking post-hardcore gem”, and gave The Forms their “highest endorsement”, while Pitchfork rated their debut as a solid 8.5.

“It’s good not having a boss coercing us to do appearances at T.G.I.F.,” singer Alex Tween explains when asked why the band decided to finance and self-release the album on their own. “With this album we wanted to create this sense that you’re visiting a place that exists after you leave.” The album will be released on The Forms’ own label, Threespheres, and distributed through the Rebel Group/ADA.

Check out the Forms’ contribution to Stereogum’s tribute to R.E.M.’s ‘Automatic For The People’ released October 2nd!

Download MP3: “Knowledge In Hand” off The Forms’ forthcoming self-titled album

The Forms’ New York show dates:

Friday, October 12, 2007 – Music Hall of Williamsburg, NY – w/the National, Marla Hansen
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 – White Rabbit – New York, NY – (CMJ Gothamist House Party)
Thursday, October 18, 2007 – Soundfix – Brooklyn, NY (CMJ)
Saturday, October 20, 2007 – Club Midway – New York, NY (CMJ)

Stay tuned for The Forms’ record release show and November tour dates!

For more information, please visit:

The Forms Official Website
The Forms on Myspace