Some surprise guests made actor Michael Shannon’s touring tribute to R.E.M.’s ‘Murmur’ unforgettable.
Michael Shannon and a crew of alternative/indie rock veterans are currently on tour playing R.E.M.’s debut album ‘Murmur’ in its entirety. Last night (February 8) they rolled through R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, and guess who dropped by? Here are some pictures courtesy of one very lucky concertgoer.
For the first time since their 2007 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction – and, of course, their 2011 breakup announcement – Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and Bill Berry shared a stage for an all-too-brief moment. And what venue could be more fitting than the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia?
There are tons of clickbaity music blogs out there throwing around the words ‘reunion’ and ‘reunite’. I feel doing that would be disingenuous. Some of the R.E.M. guys performed with Michael Shannon’s band. Michael Stipe hopped on stage towards the end of the set to say, “Speaking on behalf of Bill and Mike and Peter, we are so f—ing thrilled to be here tonight.” But Stipe did not perform.
Let’s cross our fingers this leads to something more, even though just a few years ago Michael Stipe said something quite definitive to the contrary about reunion tours:
“We decided when we split up that that would be really tacky and probably money grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don’t really need that. And I’m really happy that we have the legacy of 32 years of work that we have from 1980 to 2011.”
If these guys changed their minds, would you hold it against them?
