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Perfect Square

2004 video by R.E.M.

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
2 min read
Source updated November 3, 2025
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Perfect Square is a 2004 concert film of the alternative rock band R.E.M., filmed on July 19, 2003, at the Bowling Green in Wiesbaden, Germany. It was released by Warner Reprise Video on March 9, 2004.

The concert features a performance of the song "Country Feedback", which Michael Stipe opens by declaring it his "favorite song". The rendition features appended lyrics from another song, Reveal's "Chorus and the Ring", and a guitar solo by Peter Buck, neither of which are in the original. The performance (in audio form) also found its way onto the limited edition issue of the In Time compilation, which was released a few months after the Wiesbaden concert.

Other concert highlights include the appearance of two then-new songs, "Bad Day" (Also originally known as PSA when first written in the early 1980s) and "Animal", and the re-emergence of the long-lost song "Permanent Vacation". "Permanent Vacation" dates back to 1980, years before their first album, while "Bad Day" dates back to 1985.

Included on the DVD release is a bonus documentary, A Stirling Performance, chronicling the band's three-night stand at Stirling Castle in Scotland in July 1999. The documentary demonstrates the effect the concerts had on Stirling and its residents. It was released in 2000.

01Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe except as indicated.

  1. "Begin the Begin" , 4:04
  2. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" , 4:12
  3. "Maps and Legends" , 3:28
  4. "Drive" , 4:44
  5. "Animal" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 4:22
  6. "Daysleeper" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 3:46
  7. "The Great Beyond" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 4:17
  8. "Bad Day" , 4:24
  9. "The One I Love" , 3:22
  10. "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 5:00
  11. "Orange Crush" , 3:59
  12. "Losing My Religion" , 4:45
  13. "At My Most Beautiful" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 3:37
  14. "Electrolite" , 4:28
  15. "She Just Wants to Be" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 5:58
  16. "Walk Unafraid" (Buck, Mills, Stipe)  , 5:16
  17. "Man on the Moon" , 5:57
  18. "Everybody Hurts" , 6:26
  19. "So Fast, So Numb" , 4:24
  20. "Country Feedback" , 6:11
  21. "Permanent Vacation" , 2:52
  22. "Imitation of Life" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) , 3:55
  23. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" , 5:55

02Personnel

R.E.M.
Auxiliary musicians

03Certifications

Certifications and sales for Perfect Square
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF) Platinum 8,000^
Australia (ARIA) Gold 7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI) Gold 25,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Watch videos about Perfect SquareExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Perfect Square”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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