Cinema Purgatorio Presents: R.E.M. This Is Not A Show

In their acclaimed 2007 “working rehearsals” in Dublin, R.E.M. set up camp at the venerable Olympia Theatre in Ireland’s capital city and tested new material over five nights before passionate, capacity crowds.

Music at the show was produced by Dublin native Jacknife Lee who, along with R.E.M., co-produced Accelerate, the album which emerged from these shows. “Live At The Olympia” gives fans an opportunity to hear those songs at their earliest stages of development. In addition to the new material, the band also served up several songs from across their nearly thirty year career.

The documentary This Is Not A Show, directed by Vincent Moon and Jeremiah, premiered in late September 2009 at the Sound Unseen festival in Minneapolis. It runs approximately sixty minutes – definitely not enough for a “theatrical” release.