I can officially get excited. R.E.M. has announced its first concert for 2008. We don’t know when they will release their next album. We don’t even know what it might be called. But we know they will play in Florida in March, and they have dropped hints that more shows will come.

I, for one, say screw the album. Let’s just hear about the tour.

The last few R.E.M. albums have done little to excite me. I have enjoyed a few songs from each one, but can’t remember the last time I said,  “Hey, I really want to listen to Reveal from start to finish. Then I’ll listen to Around the Sun.”

But each concert they have done since Bill Berry left the band in 1999 has left me full of excitement. They still can shake the paint off the walls, and I can’t wait to see that again.