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R.E.M. rev up until everybody hurts

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R.E.M.

Convention and Exhibition Centre

One night only

R.E.M. transformed a subdued but packed Sunday crowd, peppered with soggy rugby shirts, into a pulsing mass that felt like a sweaty festival by its magnificent end.

The band, which emerged 25 years ago as a post-punk, edgy outfit before rising to the title of 'The Greatest Band in the World' in the early 1990s, came on stage like an unknown outfit. Maybe it was just a sign that this is the sixth month of an exhausting world tour. They appeared suddenly under an astounding light display and stormed through three of their edgier hits.

Enigmatic frontman Michael Stipe - dressed in a suit and red tie, with a blue stripe painted across his eyes like a comic robber - mumbled a humble 'thanks' after the third song. He paid tribute to the audience and R.E.M.'s only gig in Southeast Asia on this tour by reaching back to Seven Chinese Buddhists.

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