The Apple iTunes “Live from London” festival celebrated it’s third anniversary with a very private and intimate show with REM. To say this was a major coup would be putting it lightly, and Michael Stipe joked that this was the smallest gig that they had done for years, joking about the size of the stage and being deafened by the cymbals. He also quiped that he lives near the Apple Store in New York and gets an iBoner every time he walks past, he went on to praise Apple saying that PC’s are for people who work in offices and creative people use Macs!
Despite the venue and stage being a lot smaller than they are used to REM put on a great show performing tracks from their forthcoming album “Accelerate” as well as hits such as “Man on the Moon”. The assembled audience all of who won the tickets acted on their best behaviour without pushing or shoving and everyone seemed quite content to calmly watch or listen to the gig.
As with all Apple/iTune events the show was impeccably stage managed and even the security and staff were polite and courteous. The only problem for Apple will be who to book for the 4th annual event. After REM I guess they will need to convince Coldplay or Radiohead to appear as guests next year. In addition to this event Apple staged the first iTunes Festival over the month of July last year at the ICA. The acts which appeared included Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse, Crowded House, Jack Penate, The Editors and The Hoosiers amongst others. The bill for 2008 has not been announced yet however I am looking forward to seeing who they book this year as last year’s festival was most enjoyable.
Written by John Rahim