"We were sunbathing together outside of the dressing rooms": Thirty years ago, R.E.M. befriended a young British band and helped steer them on the path to greatness

R.E.M. in 1995.

Thirty years ago, R.E.M. had every excuse going to arrive on British and Irish shores in all sorts of disrepair. The global tour to support the amped-up anthems of their 1994 album Monster had begun back in January and had been beset by all manner of health issues. In the most major incident, they’d been taken off the road for two months as drummer Bill Berry recovered from a brain aneurysm he suffered onstage in Switzerland. Then a run of dates in Europe in July were nixed after bassist Mike Mills required abdominal surgery.

But R.E.M. did not arrive on British and Irish shores looking like the walking wounded. They picked the tour back up at Slane Castle in Ireland on July 22^nd and for that and a UK tour that took in huge outdoor shows in Cardiff, Huddersfield, Edinburgh and Milton Keynes, the Athens, Georgia alt-rock giants were in the form of their lives. I can say this confidently because the second Milton Keynes Bowl show on July 29^th, 1995 – 30 years ago next week – was my first gig.