Mathew Street Festival August 27th 2007				Review by Sue
	The outdoor gigs at The Mathew Street Music Festival 2007 were unfortunately cancelled but many bands did not disappoint, they set up their gear and played in numerous pubs instead. The highlight of the whole event was definitely Stipe headlining at The Krazyhouse. After being introduced and taking the opportunity to inform the crowd that the band is actually called ‘Stipe’ not ‘Stripe’ (many get it wrong) they opened up with Imitation of Life then delivered hit after hit including Everybody Hurts, Bad Day, The Great Beyond, One I Love, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite and even Sitting Still. These guys truly delivered that ultimate R.E.M. experience with Rick (lead vocals) sounding like Michael Stipe and replicating his moves on stage and complementary vocals provided by Tony (bass) and Paul (lead guitar). With the crowd constantly shouting for more Paul got his little instrument out (girls – it’s so adorable you’ll want to have a play) and they performed Losing my Religion. This was a definite crowd pleaser, everyone was dancing and jumping around, and even the sticky floor which felt like Velcro underfoot didn’t stop us, it just added to the atmosphere, proving once again that music does bring people together. Then the band increased the tempo and played Orange Crush, Frequency Kenneth. Pete (keyboards) pick up his guitar and the band flowed into Man on the Moon – whilst Karl was busy thrashing those drums Tony, Pete, Rick and Paul provided an energetic performance by jumping on stage, the crowd went wild and the atmosphere was truly electric. By doing some requests and dedications they built a rapport with the audience and delivered a professional, amazing, faultless, fantastic gig that left us buzzing!! We wanted the gig to carry on all night but all good things come to an end and this set ended with It’s the End of The World. If you are reading this and haven’t seen this talented bunch I highly recommend them, they are unpretentious and take time to chat with everyone after the gigs. Thanks for a great gig guys, we really do appreciate you!! Review by: Sue