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Mojo

The CD reveals R.E.M. still have plenty of fuel to throw upon their smouldering career. [Jan 2008, p. 100]

Billboard

Attention does seem to wander during some of the post-millennial songs, and the insistent clapping on the wrong beat during 'Drive' is irritating, but the crowd's love is audible and the band more than earns the affection.

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Delusions of Adequacy

Taken as a whole package though, R.E.M. Live is a flawed but respectable enough addition to the canon of three men who can still conjure up a bit of magic, albeit in spite of themselves.

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New Musical Express

We're treated to none-too-shabby performances of the obvious lighter-wavers as well as several lesser-known wonders, including a rocked-up take on 'Green' favourite 'Orange Crush' and an airing of the sublime 'Cuyahoga' from underrated 1986 release 'Life's Rich Pageant.'

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Rolling Stone

Live is as much about forward motion as the records singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills have made since Berry left in 1997.

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Austin Chronicle

Recorded in Dublin, 2005, the 2-CD/1-DVD set bores through nonhits but paints a vivid picture of legends in a post-9/11 world.

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All Music Guide

Fans of the frenzied early R.E.M. rock & roll will find this too anthemic--but this big, big sound on R.E.M. Live speaks to the band's core strengths in a way no post-Bill Berry studio album does.

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Trouser Press

A solid enough set from the Around the Sun tour but not particularly revelatory, it’s exactly what one would expect from a late-period R.E.M. live album, with no surprises in performance or setlist.

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Spin

It's reliably beautiful, if staid. [Dec 2007, p.124]

Pitchfork

What makes Live so disappointing isn't that it offers too few shots of the band they were, but so many glimpses of the band they could be, if they were more adventurous in hi-fi.

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Entertainment Weekly

Whenever they shift to tracks from 2004's leaden "Around the Sun," you can practically hear the audience slink toward the concession stand. [26 Oct 2007, p.69]

The Phoenix

Unless you’re a diehard fan, wait for their new album in the spring.

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Blender

It’s strange and sometimes fascinating to hear R.E.M.’s oldest songs played so differently, though vintage tracks are rare in a set concentrating on 2004’s mostly inert "Around the Sun."

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jesse gave it an8:
it's a pretty good time. i could do without some of the newer stuff but the dvd sound is great, and the old songs still sound as good as they did when i was growing up.

RLB gave it a4:
Why a live CD now, and why another DVD? "Road Movie" and "Perfect Square" satisfied my requirement for live REM many times over! And there's nothing monumental here, the best selections being the ones originally out before '87.

Todd W. gave it a2:
This one hurts. R.E.M. is my favorite band of the last 25-plus years, and to hear an unadulterated piece of crap live album like this when they've got so much more to offer is a shame. Both on me and on them. They've never really released a proper live album, and to come out with an offering that extols their latter day work is either telling their fans that they really don't care or it's a holiday rush job from their management. Either way, it stinks. They could have really done something radical with a live album - after all, they've got almost 30 years of shows in the can - but they choose the easy way out. I kept hoping all of the rock-n-roll prognosticators who foretold the death knell of this once great American band were wrong. With this, I feel they've got their finger on R.E.M.'s pulse. And it's weak.

Bert Echo gave it an8:
R.E.M. has suffered an identity crisis of sorts with the subpar Reveal and Around The Sun. However, this live album shows that R.E.M. is as powerful live as ever. Even songs from the last two albums come alive, free from studio tentativeness and overproduction.

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