R.E.M Frontman Michael Stipe

R.E.M Frontman Michael Stipe

R.E.M.'s Irish warm-up shows for their last tour are to be released as part of a new double album/DVD package.

The group played five sold-out shows at the Olympia in Dublin in 2007 before embarking on their Accelerate tour and now the best performances will feature on Live At The Olympia, which will be released on 27 October.

R.E.M.'s Peter Buck calls the pre-tour warm-up shows an "experiment in terror," but he's thrilled they worked out: "We were just trying to do something we hadn't done before, which meant there was no relaxing during the set.

“Every second we were playing something we didn't know all that well. Which was kind of good. There were all kinds of terror elements going on during that show."

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