Live at the Olympia (R.E.M. album)

Live at The Olympia
Live album by R.E.M.
Released	October 27, 2009
Recorded	June 30 – July 5, 2007, Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	150:41
Language	English
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Jacknife Lee
R.E.M. chronology
Live from London (2008) Live at The Olympia (2009) R.E.M. Live from Austin, TX (2010)
R.E.M. live album chronology
Live from London (2008) Live at The Olympia (2009) R.E.M. Live from Austin, TX (2010)
R.E.M. video chronology
R.E.M. Live (2007) This Is Not a Show (2009) R.E.M. Live from Austin, TX (2010)
Reckoning Songs from The Olympia
Cover to the promotional EP released through the iTunes Store to promote Live at The Olympia

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	A−[3]
Mojo	[1]
Pitchfork Media	7.4/10[4]
Q	[1]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Slant Magazine	[6]
Uncut	[7]

The Olympia hosted R.E.M. for their live rehearsals

Live at The Olympia is a live album^[8] by American alternative rock band R.E.M.. It is a recording of five-night residency the band held at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin between June 30 and July 5, 2007, and released on October 27, 2009.^[9] In this series of "working rehearsals" all of the songs on Accelerate were debuted, with many of them still as works in progress.^[10] The album is a two-CD release, and contains a total of 39 songs. In addition, a DVD with a documentary entitled This Is Not a Show directed by Vincent Moon is included. A special edition box set containing the album on 4 LPs as well as the two CDs and the DVD is also available.

To promote the album, R.E.M.'s Dublin website had full streaming clips of "Driver 8", "I've Been High", and "Harborcoat", along with videos for "Living Well Is the Best Revenge" and clips from the Reckoning EP, while the video for "Drive" was made available on R.E.M.'s Myspace page. On October 22, 2009, National Public Radio streamed the entire album for free.^[11]

Reckoning Songs from The Olympia

A digital EP containing songs from the album, Reckoning Songs from The Olympia, was released on July 7, 2009, through the iTunes Store and other distributors. It contains "Harborcoat", "Letter Never Sent", "Second Guessing", and "Pretty Persuasion", songs found on the band's 1984 studio album Reckoning, hence the title.^[12]

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe, except where noted

Disc one

1. "Living Well Is the Best Revenge" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 4:07
2. "Second Guessing" (from Reckoning) – 2:58
3. "Letter Never Sent" (from Reckoning) – 3:51
4. "Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance" (Previously unreleased) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 4:11
5. "Disturbance at the Heron House" (from Document) – 3:41
6. "Mr. Richards" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 4:17
7. "Houston" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 1:54
8. "New Test Leper" (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi) – 5:26
9. "Cuyahoga" (from Lifes Rich Pageant) – 4:22
10. "Electrolite" (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi) – 4:03
11. "Man-Sized Wreath" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 3:09
12. "So. Central Rain" (from Reckoning) – 3:44
13. "On the Fly" (Previously unreleased) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 5:01
14. "Maps and Legends" (from Fables of the Reconstruction) – 3:10
15. "Sitting Still" (from Murmur) – 3:42
16. "Driver 8" (from Fables of the Reconstruction) – 3:44
17. "Horse to Water" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 2:45
18. "I'm Gonna DJ" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 2:16
19. "Circus Envy" (from Monster) – 4:27
20. "These Days" (from Lifes Rich Pageant) – 4:53

Disc two

1. "Drive" (from Automatic for the People) – 4:49
2. "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (from Fables of the Reconstruction) – 5:10
3. "Until the Day Is Done" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 4:07
4. "Accelerate" (from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 3:35
5. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" (from Fables of the Reconstruction) – 3:38
6. "Little America" (from Reckoning) – 3:11
7. "1,000,000" (from Chronic Town) – 3:28
8. "Disguised" (early version of "Supernatural Superserious" from Accelerate) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 3:20
9. "The Worst Joke Ever" (from Around the Sun) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 3:42
10. "Welcome to the Occupation" (from Document) – 2:47
11. "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) (from Chronic Town) – 4:09
12. "Harborcoat" (from Reckoning) – 4:16
13. "Wolves, Lower" (from Chronic Town) – 4:33
14. "I've Been High" (from Reveal) (Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 3:40
15. "Kohoutek" (from Fables of the Reconstruction) – 4:12
16. "West of the Fields" (from Murmur) (Jerry Ayers, Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 4:13
17. "Pretty Persuasion" (from Reckoning) – 4:23
18. "Romance" (from the Made in Heaven soundtrack; appears on Eponymous) – 3:31
19. "Gardening at Night" (from Chronic Town) – 4:16

Personnel

R.E.M.

• Peter Buck – guitar
• Mike Mills – bass guitar, background vocals, keyboards
• Michael Stipe – vocals, harmonica on "Harborcoat"

Additional musicians

• Scott McCaughey – guitar, keyboards, harmonica on "Driver 8", background vocals
• Bill Rieflin – drums

Chart positions

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13]	43
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14]	40
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders Alternative)[14]	17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15]	72
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[16]	59
French Albums (SNEP)[17]	157
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18]	53
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[19]	58
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20]	80
US Billboard 200[21]	95
US Modern Rock/Alternative Albums (Billboard)[21]	24
US Rock Albums (Billboard)[21]	39

References

1. "Critic Reviews for Live At The Olympia". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Live at the Olympia". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
3. Noel Murray (2009-11-03). "R.E.M.: Live at The Olympia". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
4. Matthew Perpetua (2009-10-29). "Album Reviews: R.E.M.: Live at the Olympia". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
5. Will Hermes (2009-10-13). "Live At The Olympia". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
6. Jonathan Keefe (2009-10-25). "R.E.M.: Live at the Olympia". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
7. Scoppa, Bud. "REM - Live At The Olympia". Uncut. Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
8. "R.E.M. releases for 2009". REMHQ.com. 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
9. "R.E.M. LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA OUT ON OCT. 27 - R.E.M.'s MySpace Blog". MySpace.com. 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
10. Cohen, Jonathan. "R.E.M. Prepares To 'Accelerate'". Billboard.com. January 2, 2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
11. Guy Raz (2009-10-22). "First Listen: R.E.M. Live At The Olympia". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
12. "July 7th Release for Reckoning Songs from The Olympia (Pre-Order Now)". REMHQ.com. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
13. "Austriancharts.at – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
14. "Ultratop.be – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
15. "Ultratop.be – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
17. "Lescharts.com – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
18. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
19. "Spanishcharts.com – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
20. "Swisscharts.com – R.E.M. – Live At The Olympia In Dublin - 39 Songs". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
21. Live at the Olympia - R.E.M.. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 21 November 2013.

External links

• Live at the Olympia (R.E.M. album) at Metacritic