(Warner Bros) Warner Bros. Records and R.E.M. have teamed up with theatrical distributor Cinema Purgatorio to present a series of sneak preview screenings of the band's concert documentary This Is Not A Show: Live at the Olympia in Dublin. The 60-minute film, which includes concert and backstage footage shot at the Irish capital's Olympia club by noted French filmmakers Vincent Moon and Jeremiah, will screen in movie theaters, rock clubs, college campuses, and other venues across the country throughout October and early November.
This Is Not A Show is the hour-long video portion of R.E.M. Live At the Olympiaa brand-new live CD+DVD that Warner Bros. Records will release on October 27th, 2009. The two-CD audio portion, produced by Jacknife Lee, features 39 songs that capture the best moments from the band's "working rehearsals" at the fabled Dublin venue 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 Olympia Theatre 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."
This Is Not A Show premiered in late September 2009 at the Sound Unseen festival in Minneapolis. Below are also screening dates confirmed so far:
Cambridge, Massachusetts: IFF Boston at the Brattle, October 14, 9:30pm
Atlanta, Georgia: The Plaza, October 16, 7:30pm
Asbury Park, New Jersey: The ShowRoom, October 18, 9pm
Boise, Idaho: The Egyptian, October 22
Columbus, Ohio: The Drexel, October 22, 8pm
New Haven, Connecticut: Criterion Cinemas, October 23
Tempe, Arizona: Madcap Theatres, October 23
Columbia, South Carolina: The Nickelodeon, October 23
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois: Savoy 16, October 23-24
Bloomington, Indiana: The Ryder, October 24
Montgomery, Alabama: The Capri Theatre, October 24, 9pm
New York, New York: Cinema Purgatorio at the Kraine Theatre, October 27
Los Angeles, California: Downtown Independent, October 27
Burlington, Vermont: UVM Davis Center, October 27, 8pm
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 941 Theater, November 1, 8pm
Dallas, Texas: Dallas Video Festival, November 5
Also:
In Athens, Georgia, R.E.M. has arranged an event at Hotel Indigo, October 26
In Seattle, Northwest Film Forum screens the film, October 23-25
Many more cities coming soon.
Don't see a date near you? Suggest a show.
Get a sneak peak at This Is Not A Show: Live At the Olympia here:
http://wbrvideo.tv/rem/REMV4_web.mov