R. E. M. - 1982-01-22 Greensboro, N.C. (sbd - upgrade)

Friday’s
Greensboro, N.C.
Jan. 22, 1982
  
soundboard recording (quality: EX; ‘File Under Kudzu’ boot CD rip, revised Jan. 2026)

LINEAGE: online download of flac files (File Under Kudzu bootleg CD rip) > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, re-tracking, removing dead spots, fades, tagging > flac NO EQ, COMPRESSION or DIGITAL FILTERING

ROB SEZ: As received, this was a startlingly clear and crisp recording, well suited to a knock-you-off-your-chair performance by R. E. M. The debut single was out and most of the Chronic Town debut EP had been recorded. This gig marks the live debut of Catapult (already sounding fully formed and nearly ready for the studio), and features a best-ever cover of Ghost Riders In the Sky, plus a one-off song with no title. If I were to rank best R. E. M. performances from the early 1980s, this would easily make my top 5. January 1982 found the band barnstorming its way through Georgia and N.C., with many more gigs and states to follow in the ensuing months. R. E. M. also played Friday's on Nov. 6, 1981.  

The only source I know for this performance is the bootleg CD File Under Kudzu, my starting point for this revision. If anyone offers awards for worthy bootlegs, this one should be nominated. Great choice of performance, extraordinary sound quality, and nice packaging (see image scans from Discogs in the download folder). I can't claim this is necessarily a sonic upgrade compared to other versions. In light of how amazing the performance and recording already were, I was looking for an excuse to share it. A light revision and re-tracking job is my justification, and I feel this is a better listening experience than previous versions. 

For context, here's Peter Buck from an interview by David Fricke in 1990 (from R. E. M. The Rolling Stone Files): 

“There was a place in Greensboro, North Carolina, called Friday’s. It was a pizza parlor, and the guy had bands play. It was an L-shaped room; you could see through the bar to the ovens, with the guy with the long stick with pizzas on it, and see us, too. He’d charge a dollar, we’d get 150 people in there, and we’d get the door. People would let us sleep on the floor. There were clubs like that in every city.”

FLAC

MP3@320

R. E. M. - 1984-10-06 St. Louis, MO (FM - McKenzie Tapes source)

Graham Chapel
Washington University

St. Louis, MO

Oct. 6, 1984

FM recording (courtesy of the McKenzie Tapes project) Sound quality: VG to VG+

  

LINEAGE: McKenzie Tapes recording (16-bit wave file) > Adobe Audition 2025 for de-noising, phase correction, and normalization > AIFF file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for track splits, 1 additional pass of NR, and EQ > FLAC

SAMPLE: West of the Fields (live 1984-10-06)

01 Harborcoat
02 West of the Fields

03 Kohoutek
04 Pilgrimage
05 7 Chinese Bros.
06 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) 
07 Hyena
08 (Don't Go Back to) Rockville
09 Barney Miller Theme - Chicken Train

10 Sitting Still
11 Letter Never Sent
12 Gardening at Night (fades in)
13 9-9 - Frogmore - Windout
14 Old Man Kensey
15 Pretty Persuasion
16 band exit - crowd - return to stage
17 Little America
18 Second Guessing
19 Paint It Black
20 In the Year 2525 (false start)
21 In the Year 2525
22 We Walk w. Behind Closed Doors
23 Femme Fatale
24 1,000,000

25 Moon River

This recording is missing the first song played as well as the final 5.

About this recording & performance:
I started with a diamond-in-the-rough lossless recording kindly provided by Tom G. from the McKenzie Tapes Project (learn more at themckenzietapes.com). The recording had no known lineage, but my ears heard a generated FM recording that suffered from multiple deficiencies. On a quality scale, I would have rated it a C-. After a couple of attempts at digital revision over the past 2 years, I’m finally happy with the result. It’s now a decent-sounding FM recording that merits an overall grade of B in my rating system, with just a few sections that dip slightly. In sum, this is quite listenable, even for fans who only want to hear higher quality recordings. Performance wise, this is one to savor: the band is on, and having fun — tight and confident this far into the tour, but loose enough to play requests (ex: a rousing version of the rarely-played Paint It Black). This is one of my favorite live recordings by the band in 1984.

FLAC

MP3@320

 

R. E. M. - 1981-09-23 Tyrone's O.C., Athens, GA (sbd - Bert13 revision)

Tyrone's O.C.
Athens, GA
Sept. 23, 1981

soundboard recording (quality: EX)

UPGRADE: Although this is not a substantial upgrade in sound quality compared to the older versions in circulation, this one features phase & speed correction. Overall, it's the best this recording has sounded. The performance is spectacular!

01 Just a Touch
02 Ages of You 
03 1,000,000
04 Get On Their Way

05 There She Goes Again

What the heck is Bill doing with that shoe??

06 Action

07 Wait*
08 Sitting Still
09 Permanent Vacation
10 Mystery to Me
11 White Tornado
12 I Can't Control Myself
13 Burning Down
14 Shaking Through
15 Laughing
16 Romance
17 Pretty Persuasion
18 That Beat
19 Stumble
20 Radio Free Europe
21 Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

22 The Lion Sleeps Tonight 
23 Skank
24 Gardening at Night

25 Windout

26 9-9 

soundcheck:
27 unknown instrumental
28 Sitting Still
29 1,000,000
30 The Lion Sleeps Tonight

    *On "Wait," Lynda Stipe and Cyndy Stipe sing backing vocals

 

FLAC

MP3@320

HUGE THANKS to Bert13 for the digital revision & permission to share

R. E. M. - Two Big Nights in Athens 1982 (sbd)

i & i

Athens, GA

Oct. 21-22, 1982

  

soundboard recordings (quality: VG+ from low-generation sources)

ROB SEZ: While pestering my secret source for more mid-1980s soundboard recordings, I thought I'd try a little detour with this early '80s twofer from my archive. I've always liked one of these two recordings. The Oct. 22 set sounded very good when I received it, so I left that one alone. But the Oct. 21 set never sounded very good -- almost as if someone took a decent-sounding, low-generation soundboard recording, then added a blunt-force, low-tech filter that muffled everything. So I did some work on it, and now it's just about the equal of the Oct. 22 show. As you'll see from the track listings, mostly different songs were preserved from what was likely a similar set played both nights. Between these two recordings, we get to hear 23 different songs, which make up most of the band's live repertoire from this era. I had fun doctoring up an old poster publicizing the band's 2-night stand at the i & i club, but on different dates than these. There was a ghastly image of the band defacing the original poster, so I replaced it with a rare photo. Please enjoy.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1982

     (revised 2025)

01 Moral Kiosk (fades in)

02 Catapult

03 After Hours - 1,000,000

04 West of the Fields

05 Radio Free Europe

06 White Tornado

07 Ages of You

08 We Walk

09 Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

10 So You Want to Be a Rock'n'Roll Star

11 Stumble - Skank

12 Neverland (fades out after a minute)

Friday, Oct. 22, 1982 

01 So You Want to Be a

     Rock'n'Roll Star 

02 Moral Kiosk

03 Pilgrimage

04 Shaking Through

05 Wolves, Lower

06 Laughing

07 Romance

08 Sitting Still

09 Pretty Persuasion

10 Catapult 

11 1,000,000

12 Gardening at Night

13 9-9 (fades out)

FLAC

 

MP3@320

  

R. E. M. - 1986-09-05 Pelham, AL (sbd - Buren Fowler master tape) UPGRADE

UPGRADE - soundboard master

  

Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

Pelham, AL

Sept. 5, 1986

 

soundboard recording (quality: EX, master tape transfer)

artwork, revised from original post, is included

  

AUDIO SAMPLE: Driver 8 - upgraded version

ROB SEZ: UPGRADE - MASTER TAPE SOURCE, REVISED. The source for this recording is Buren Fowler (R.I.P.), the band’s guitar tech and second guitarist for live performances in 1986 & 1987. (Michael introduces Buren briefly after Driver 8.) Before the show, Fowler gave the FOH sound guy a C-90 and asked him to record as much as would fit. Apparently, he held onto the tape as a keepsake of his time with R. E. M.  Later, Buren gave this and other live tapes to his friend, T. Patton Biddle (“Pat the Wiz”) for safe keeping. 

A friend of Pat's digitized the master tape, revised it with subtle-but-significant enhancements made with pro software, and kindly shared it with me. My debt of gratitude lies with Mr. Anonymous, Buren, and Pat — all behind-the-scenes heroes who played their part in the phenomenon that was R. E. M. As for the performance, you can feel the pent-up energy of the band, which hadn't played together for many months after completing Lifes Rich Pageant. After a week of tour rehearsals in Knoxville, TN, the guys obviously were ready to roll. The lucky fans in attendance witnessed the live debut of 9 songs, including 6 from the new album. This recording does not represent the entire performance: it's missing 6 songs played that night, including the first 4. You can hear 5 of the missing songs, in fairly good audience quality, in this recording.

  

FLAC

 

MP3@320

Stay tuned; more to come.

      

    

R. E. M. - 1987-11-05 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL (sbd - Buren Fowler master) - NEW

The Pavilion

The University of Illinois Chicago

Chicago, IL

Nov. 5, 1987

    

soundboard recording (quality: EX, a pristine recording)

   

  

SAMPLE: Auctioneer (Another Engine) live UIC '87

    

ROB SEZ:  For a good while, there was a rule of thumb in R. E. M. fan circles that went something like this: if you're looking for live soundboard recordings from 1986 and 1987, don't bother. Other than the live bonus disc released for the 25th anniversary of Document (and a rather odd benefit concert in January 1986), said the rule, there just aren't any soundboard recordings from 1986 or '87. Then, earlier this year—like musical manna—T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz) shared with me a good handful of soundboard recordings, a couple of which are pretty much perfect. Recently, I shared a soundboard recording from the 1986 Pageantry Tour launch on Sept. 5th in Pelham, AL. 

Can you tell I LOVE this photo?
Michael onstage, Charleston, WV October 1987
photo credit: grumpnet

This week, I'm sharing a pristine soundboard recording from the 1987 Work Tour. For my money, the performance and sound quality are second only to the Document anniversary bonus disc. Full credit to Pat and Buren Fowler, the band's guitar tech and supplemental guitarist for live performances in '86 and '87. Buren gave the FOH sound guy a 90-minute tape and asked him to record as much of the show as would fit on it. Pat then digitized the tape, and this is the fabulous result—even though it lacks 6 songs played that night. Later, Buren shared this and other tapes with Pat, who held onto them after Buren's death in 2014. 

Just one request: play this one LOUD! 

FLAC

   

MP3@320

    

R. E. M. - 1981-04-02 Augusta, GA (audience rec. - Pat the Wiz)

New York, New York (venue)

Augusta, GA

April 2, 1981

  

audience recording (quality: VG- from Pat the Wiz)

    

   

SETLIST (via REMTimeline)

     

set 1: Rave On (pre-recorded) / Burning Down / A Girl Like You / Get On Their Way / There She Goes Again / Pretty Persuasion / Body Count / Different Girl / Action / Narrator / Hey Hey Nadine

set 2: Radio Free Europe / Sitting Still / Dangerous Times / All the Right Friends (cuts out) / Little Girl (cuts in) / (Don't Go Back to) Rockville / Windout / Gardening at Night / Wait / Schéhérazade / Lisa Says / Mystery to Me / Gloria

set 3: C'mon Everybody (pre-recorded) / White Tornado / Just a Touch / I Can't Control Myself / 9-9 / Night Time / Pills / Nervous Breakdown / Baby I / Permanent Vacation (cuts out)

SAMPLE: White Tornado -> Just a Touch (live Augusta, GA 1981)

ROB SEZ: Here's an early days rarity for fanatics of the band, and the sound quality is fairly good, especially considering its origins. This comes from a "boom box" recording, according to T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz). When he shared it with me, he explained the band hired him to be their sound tech for this show in Augusta, GA. Apparently there was no other recording equipment available, so a boom box positioned in front of the stage was the only viable option. 

Thanks to Pat, we can now enjoy one of the band's earliest known live recordings, and we have all 32 of the songs played that night. Although I could've chopped out some stretches of audience chatter, I left them in since this recording is so rare and I thought the archivists among you would want to hear everything as I received it. There's a fun little audio bonus to listen for at the very end. (The files Pat shared with me were lossy, so no FLAC this time.) 

MP3@320

   

LINEAGE: T. Patton Biddle master tape from boom box recording --> ? --> lossy digital file share --> Audacity for normalization & DC offset, track splitting, speed & pitch adjustment, fades --> MP3 files  *no eq or compression*

Still more to come...

   

R. E. M. - What the Hell Just Happened? 1987-08-19 Athens, GA (sbd - M1) - NEW

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Aug. 19, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)

    

01 Finest Worksong 

02 Welcome to the Occupation

 

03 The One I Love

04 Begin the Begin

05 Orange Crush*

06 Disturbance at the Heron House

07 Title

08 Superman

09 return to the stage

10 It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

   

     *LIVE DEBUT

   

SAMPLE TRACK: "Disturbance at the Heron House" (live Aug. 19, 1987 - sbd)

   

ROB SEZ: This recording prompted my return to blogging after years away. It’s easily one of my top 3 live recordings ever by the band. Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill are firing on all cylinders and sound elated to be playing 5 songs from album number 5, plus a few chestnuts and one brand-new song: Orange Crush, heard here in an early Michael-is-ranting version. Document had been completed by the time of this performance, but hadn't yet been released. I got the idea of compiling an alternative version of Document, and dug out of my archive an old, rare soundboard recording of this performance. That recording had some problems with digi noise, not to mention an unknown lineage. For some time, I’d been aware of the audience recording for this performance that came from the JEMS team. But once I knew there was a soundboard recording out there, possibly in better shape than the one in my archive, I was determined to find it. Eventually, that led me to the guy who recorded it in the first place: the true southern gentleman T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz), who’s still living near Athens, GA after playing his part in the early career of R. E. M. Pat was utterly gracious in agreeing to send me the digital transfer made from the master recording. I am proud to present what I believe is the definitive version of this gob-smacking performance, absent a transfer from the master with no post-transfer digital amendments. Please enjoy.

   

Someone who was there must’ve said:

What the hell just happened?

FLAC

MP3@320

If you want to hear my alternative version of Document, featuring demos and live takes, that's HERE. A generous handful of tracks come from this live recording.

Further details & recording lineage:

REMTimeline says:

Silent Peas show. R. E. M. perform unannounced as a supporting act & the live debut of “Orange Crush” features a totally different vocal arrangement, with Stipe just singing/rambling various army and war statements etc. Mike Mills & Bill Berry's usual backing vocal is not present in this version. Mike Mills thanks the Silent Peas for letting R. E. M. open the show for them.

LINEAGE: T. Patton Biddle's master cassette —> TPB's digital transfer, using unknown equipment —> unknown digital editing, including added compression —> Audacity for tracking, fades, normalization, editing out dead air, and 1 pass of eq to boost bass frequencies and lower treble —> FLAC

Find a link for the original raw, untracked, unprocessed file under Comments. 

That's it (for now) for my R. E. M. special shares.

Plenty more to come from The dB's and other artists.

           

R. E. M. - 'Surprise Guest' at The 40 Watt, Feb. 10 & Sept. 3, 1987 (sbd M1) - NEW

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Feb. 10, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)  

00 stage entrance

01 Begin the Begin (fades in) 

02 Oddfellows Local 151

03 Lightnin’ Hopkins

04 Just a Touch (aborted)

     Note: Drew Worsham subbed for Bill Berry on drums

SAMPLE TRACK - Oddfellows Local 151 (live on Feb. 10, 1987)

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Sept. 3, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)

00 stage entrance

01 Finest Worksong

02 These Days

03 Title

04 I Believe

05 It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

06 unknown, untitled+

07 Disturbance at the Heron House

08 The One I Love

09 Begin the Begin

      +Michael claims this previously unknown song was written “at 9:20 this evening” — which is quite possible, given how shambolic & unfinished it sounds.

ROB SEZ: I'm calling this one “Surprise Guest” due to the nature of the performances. I like the thought of a few people in & around Athens knowing R. E. M. would be making an appearance these nights, but others only hearing rumors about a surprise guest. The February set is noteworthy because two songs from Document see their live debut: “Oddfellows Local 151” and “Lightnin’ Hopkins.” These recordings are yet more goodness from the sound archives of T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz), who made some of the most historically significant recordings of R. E. M. in the 1980s. Pat was kind enough to share with me digital transfers from his safety tapes. These two opening sets have previously circulated in soundboard quality, but they're not currently available through the usual channels. To my knowledge, this is the first time they've been placed into circulation with a known lineage, so this may be a new source even for those who already have other versions. I don't know if they're an upgrade or not, since I don't own any other versions. Check the comments if you want the untracked, raw files as I received them.

The view from the floor at The 40 Watt
  

FLAC

MP3@320

FURTHER DETAILS & RECORDING LINEAGE

REMTimeline says:

Feb. 10, 1987: Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe along with Drew Worsham on drums, play an impromptu set after Mystery Date. “Just A Touch” is aborted halfway through due to Peter Buck blowing out the [borrowed] guitar amp he was using.

Sept. 3, 1987: Smokin' Dave and the Premo Dopes show. R. E. M. perform unannounced as a supporting act, and according to Michael Stipe during the show, the unknown track was written at 9:20 p.m. that evening.

LINEAGE: T. Patton Biddle's master cassette —> TPB's digital transfer, using unknown equipment —> unknown digital editing, including added compression —> Audacity for tracking, fades, normalization, deleting dead spots, tempo adjustment, and 1 pass of eq to boost bass frequencies and lower treble --> FLAC

Stay tuned; more to come.