Actor Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy are currently in the middle of a tour in which they are covering in full R.E.M.’s debut album Murmur with a backing band, and when the tour stopped off last week at the 40 Watt club in Athens they were joined on stage by R.E.M. original members Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, and Michael Stipe.
The reunion marked the first time R.E.M.’s core four appeared on stage together since their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2007.
They didn’t all perform together, however, and Stipe didn’t perform at all, but he did emerge at the end of the show to tell the audience: “Speaking on behalf of Bill and Mike and Peter, we are so fucking thrilled to be here tonight.”
The four band mates previously attended an R.E.M. tribute at the 40 Watt in 2022, but only Buck and Mills appeared on stage for that show.
Stipe told Rolling Stone in 2021 that R.E.M. “will never reunite," so anyone hoping for a full-fledged reunion may just have to keep dreaming.
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