THEY should just have sold standing space. Rock band R.E.M. had the 3,000-strong crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium on their feet even before lead singer Michael Stipe's vocals strained over the sound system.
The audience barely had time to gasp after that as Stipe and his partners - Mike Mills (bass), Peter Buck (guitar) and Bill Berry (drums) - pounded out hit after hit from their latest album Monster.
Stipe wasted no time with words as the band concentrated on putting its heart and soul into 11/2 hours of solid rocking.
Stipe was the star of the show for many of the women present, drawing screams with the occasional theatrical wiggle.
He sent the audience scrambling at the foot of the stage as he flung pages of lyric sheets at them.
'He's just great, they're all really good,' enthused one twentysomething female fan as she dashed for the washroom during one of the band's slower numbers.
All too soon, it seemed, the concert was over, and it was a happy but reluctant crowd that finally trooped out of the stadium.