R.E.M.: Tourfilm
The concert film of R.E.M.’s first world arena tour is a deliberately low-tech affair. A group of filmmakers took Super 8 and 16mm cameras and a mixture of color and black and white film to the final shows of the Green tour in 1990. Longtime band associate Jim McKay then edited the footage together to produce Tourfilm, a 17-song film that creates its own unique atmosphere rather than try to exactly duplicate the concert experience. Frequent use of slow- or sped-up-motion, double exposures, cuts between color and black and white, and the incorporation of the somewhat abstract filmed images displayed on the huge screen behind the band give the film a dream-like tone which actually enhanced my enjoyment of the music.
The approach meshes well with the stage setup of the Green tour. With only Peter Holsapple as additional musical support, there was a lot of empty space on the stage along with Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, and the frequent wide long shots often make the band seem dwarfed by their surroundings. There’s no shortage of close-ups to bridge the distance, however, and the sound mix by Green producer Scott Litt and Mills does a nice job of preserving the immediacy and energy of a live show. The setlist draws mainly from the band’s mid-to-late-80s output, particularly Lifes Rich Pageant, Document and Green, with one song each from Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction and snippets from Reckoning and “Belong”, a song that would eventually appear on Out of Time. It’s a good mix of material from the time before “Losing My Religion” and “Man on the Moon” were major hits and “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” was the designated set-closer.
My favorite stretch of the film occurs toward the end, with “Fall on Me”, “You Are the Everything” and “Begin the Begin”. “You Are the Everything” is one of the rare songs that’s almost entirely in color, which gives the performance an extra touch of warmth. It’s a beautiful song, and the live version is great, with Berry playing bass and Mills on accordion - the only occasion in this film where Mills isn’t on bass. An interesting aspect of this song is that Stipe spends most of it with his back turned to the audience. Whether that’s a sign he still wasn’t hugely comfortable opening up as the band’s front man, or just a quirk of staging, I don’t know. “Begin the Begin” is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs, and Berry’s drums give this live version tremendous energy. The two songs back to back are a study in contrasts, but that just serves to demonstrate the band’s range.
Other standouts include “World Leader Pretend”, “Perfect Circle”, and “King of Birds”. I’m not usually fond of that last one, but it fits very well with this set and this film. The whole thing is quite worthwhile, a great look at the band just as they were on the cusp of their greatest popularity.
