R.E.M. at Jone's Beach, Long Island, 2008

R.E.M. was performing at Jones Beach Amphitheater, Long Island; my close childhood friend called me and told em we were going. So I booked a ticket and flew over to NYC. We met up and decided to spend an hour on the beach before the concert. From Manhattan, to Brooklyn, to the LIRR, to a bus... We finally got to the beach, and then walked to the Amphitheater.

There were a lot of REM fans, all of them traveling from far and wide like Adi and I. Modest Mouse, and The Nationals were the opening bands, and as the night grew darker, the wind from the Atlantic Ocean blew in some crazy clouds. Soon the music was competing with the voices, the guitar, the bass, cymbals, snare drums, and the deep boom of the kick drum bass... oh what a battle of the bands!

The band rushed off the stage when lightning stuck the stage, and the power went off. We were all sitting ducks, in an amphitheater which was made of mostly metal. This huge storm was right on top of us, Modest Mouse was only half done playing, when everyone was evacuated out of the stadium into the parking lot. So where do we go? To our cars? We didn't have a car, we had a friend coming to pick us up later that night. Many people were in the same boat as we were.

People were super nice to each other, and suddenly there were raincoats, and ponchos for sale (where do these people appear from, really!?). Since we were wondering around in the rain, we bought two ponchos and waited to see if R.E.M. would still go on. $100 tickets! We stuck around, soaked from the rain, poor Adi had brought his fancy SLR thingy lens and all, and he couldn't take it in. I had a bag full of wet clothes from the beach, it would have helped if I had more dry clothes. The crowd knew R.E.M. would not desert their fans. I think it was about 2 hours of herding the crowds back in, and out of the building, until R.E.M. got on.We just wanted R.E.M.! They played extra long for us too, although it was mighty late All the awesome songs - Songs from Accelerate, The One I love, Get up, Stand, etc... Michael Stipe spoke to us all, he did a little campaigning for Obama, and gave the loyal audience all the dry t- shirts he and the band still had. There were a lot of Obama 2008 t-shirts he threw out. We stood there as the band played on through the night, as we all stood in the rain. I think the show finally ended at around 1 or 2 am. It was so worth it!

Adi's friend took a while getting to the parking lot, so we sought to see the band leave, but we couldn't find the right bus. Maybe we saw Modest Mouse or The Nationals, I don't remember. At this point I was beat, soaking wet from head to toe, and crashing. Finally Adi's friend picked us up and took us to his place. Strange how there were still special buses running back to the train station at this hour! We got to the friend' place ate, and fell asleep. The next day we parted ways on the LIRR. It was a night to remember! We had so much fun - A musical adventure of its own.

:-)

Before the concert, we enjoy the beach. My second time to the Atlantic Ocean, my first few times were when I was too young to remember! This is my close childhood friend Adi! What silly T-shirt was I wearing :-/

We were almost the first people there!

The Nationals and Modest Mouse opened for R.E.M.

This was Modest Mouse, until it began to storm so bad, and lightning hit the stage and they had to get off the stage.

Finally R.E.M. after the rain kind of cleared out and it was safe for them.

Adi was grumpy cause he couldn't bring his camera into the concert!

This was when we all had to evacuate the amphitheater. But check out the guy behind us! Lol!

Here they perform Orange Crush. One of my favorite songs!

Michael Stipe! He was awesome! I love this guy!

R.E.M. rocks!

Breathe!