User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 20
  2. Negative: 2 out of 20

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  1. ToddW.
    Oct 31, 2007
    2
    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 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. Expand
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 13
  2. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.