R.E.M. plays two of the summer’s most highly-anticipated festivals this weekend with headlining slots at both Ireland’s Oxegen Festival Saturday and Scotland’s T In The Park Sunday. Both events expect massive crowds just shy of 100,000 each and feature stellar main and secondary stage lineups (click here for more details of R.E.M.’s tour) including such notables as The Verve, Amy Winehouse, Rage Against the Machine, Stereophonics, and Kings of Leon.
R.E.M.’s stop in Dublin on Saturday is a homecoming of sorts as it marks the band’s return to the scene of their now legendary five-night stint at the Olympia last summer where many of the tracks that evolved into their 14th studio album, ACCELERATE, were honed. During their stay in Ireland last year, the band also took in the Oxegen Festival as spectators following their working rehearsals, and it was the Irish festival which cemented R.E.M.’s plans to tour in 2008.
R.E.M. also has a rich history in Scotland, having performed gigs at Barrowland early in their career (1985, 1988) as well as consecutive concerts at Stirling Castle in 1999 (see A Stirling Performance) and most recently at Loch Lomond and Glasgow Green (2005). For a preview of T In The Park be sure to read this interview with Mike, who discusses the festival and the making of ACCELERATE with The Skinny. The Daily Record also has an article on R.E.M. online today…