R.E.M. hits the road tonight. The tour to support Accelerate, which does not come out for a few more weeks, opens tonight at the Langerado Festival in Florida.

Big geek that I am, I will troll the Web tonight looking for a set list. I also hope some good folks are out there taping the show so I can pop it in my CD player and rock out to the boys live on my way to work. Very few things help me get my mind off a bad day at work like R.E.M. live very loud in the car.

I really have no idea what to expect from the set list. I don’t know if some of the real oldies from the Dublin shows will return. I couldn’t imagine them pulling out “Second Guessing” and a bunch of the Chronic Town songs, but I also wouldn’t put it past them.

I know this won’t happen, but I wish they would return to closing the night with “End of the World.” That always left me with such a great feeling, and I think the band needs to do that. I don’t have problems with “I’m Gonna DJ,” but some online commentators seem to think that the song indicates some sort of cardinal sin. The last thing I want to read about is how the band “ruined” the show for certain people by closing with that song. People need to get over themselves some time and just enjoy the music.

I wish I could be there to do that. My friend Leslie will be, so check out her blog and see what kind of report she files.