An older and more-comfortable R.E.M. [ tickets ] played to the older and more-comfortable wine-and-cheese set at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday night (9/10) in Los Angeles, with mostly positive results.

Clearly invigorated in the early stages of their first full-on North American tour since 1999, the band--and most notably, lead singer Michael Stipe--showed remarkable energy as they plowed through picks from most of their albums from the last 20 years.

Though there was a strong focus on recent and forthcoming material, crowd favorites stemmed primarily from mid-career albums "Document" (1987), "Green" (1989), and "Automatic for the People" (1992). Meanwhile fans of "old" R.E.M. had a few things to be happy about, including Mike Mills' piano-heavy "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" from "Reckoning" (1984), and the band's opener, "Begin the Begin," and "Fall on Me," both from 1986's "Lifes Rich Pageant."

As for quieter highlights, though there was the inevitable lighter-waving "Everybody Hurts," more-sincere warmth came in a simple piano-only version of "Nightswimming," and a tribute to the recently departed Warren Zevon in "Find the River." New songs (the band is due to release an album in early 2004) included the unmemorable "Animal," an energetic "End of the World"-sound-alike called "Bad Day," and a stronger, angry ballad, "Final Straw."

The outdoor setting and bright, full moon provided an excuse to bring out "Great Beyond," from the "Man on the Moon" soundtrack, as well as the song that provided the source for that film's title--complete with a mystery actor who seemed too short to be Jim Carrey imitating late comedian Andy Kaufman's alter-ego, Tony Clifton--storming the stage and taking over the microphone to bring on the pre-encore break.

Core members Stipe, Mills, and Peter Buck were joined by drummer Bill Rieflin, who has played with Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, Ken Stringfellow of The Posies on keyboards, and guitarist Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5, a side project that has featured collaboration with Buck, Stringfellow, and members of concert openers Wilco [ tickets ].

For their part, Wilco played a healthy 12-song set, drawing heavily from their much-talked-about 2002 release, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." As always, the Chicago-based band demonstrated its need to keep its songs evolving, experimenting with a variety of keyboard sounds, pedals and guitars, bringing on a string quartet for the somber "Jesus, etc," and trying out a new, screaming, rock-heavy tune, "Kicking Television." They reigned it in, however, for the tame, completely seated Bowl crowd. Mills and Buck joined Wilco for a sing-a-long version of the Woody Guthrie-worded "California Stars," from the 1998 Billy Bragg collaboration, "Mermaid Avenue."

Agree? Disagree? Other thoughts? Click here to post your comments on liveDaily's Sounding Board.