THE CHANT from the audience at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday welled up after R.E.M. had played seven songs. Was the two-syllable chorus a spontaneous cheer for one of the musicians? A mass request for a particular song? No, as it came into focus, the crowd's message was clear: "Lou-der. . . . Lou-der."
You don't often see a rock band being asked to turn it up, but it was a reasonable demand given the somewhat sedate nature of the show to that point. The music sounded bright and clear enough, but it didn't reach out into the broad amphitheater and embrace the fans in its spell, nor punch them in the gut, the way this band has done for nearly three decades.
That sonic reticence might have served as a handy symbol of R.E.M.'s diminished presence in recent years. It's been an up-and-down decade for the Athens, Ga., band, which almost single-handedly created the template for the indie-rock ideal.
Doubts about the band's very existence followed drummer Bill Berry's 1997 departure, and when singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills did return to action, they made albums that marked R.E.M.'s commercial and critical low points.
At the same time, they showed they could soldier on, and while they might have drifted musically, they never squandered the integrity that made them the shining role model for bands such as Radiohead, which was once their opening act and absorbed much about career conduct from their example. You can bet that this tour's support bands, the National and Modest Mouse, are learning some lessons as well.
That integrity, combined with a vast repertoire of songs both familiar and obscure, means that even a routine R.E.M. concert will have a firm foundation. But this time around the band found a way to make it a cut above the routine.
Their new album, “Accelerate,” has been welcomed as a return to form, with a rawness and immediacy that provide a palpable spark of renewal. And without making a big point of it, the band included nearly all the songs in Thursday's two-hour concert.
They opened the show with one of their older songs, "Pretty Persuasion," and then got right to it with the new "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," a scathing assertion of independence from demagogues, whether religious or political.
