I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract

Some old songs in a new (for me) venue!

If you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know that R.E.M. are probably my favouritest ever group and I've only ever seen them live once on the Monster tour, none of which was anyone's finest hour - but they (and Michael Stipe in particular) seemed to have an adverse reaction to the Milton Keynes Bowl which meant that everyone who was there remembers Blur's support set much more fondly. Also, having called it a day a mere 15 years ago, the chances of them reforming for the money seem to be extremely remote - they still all do some sporadic music-based stuff these days but they really couldn't be bothered going back on tour (and it's not clear they actually like each other enough to do so). So what's an R.E.M. fan supposed to do these days if they need a live hit?!?


Obviously many tribute bands are available (who are probably playing in your local pub as I write this), but one of the more curiously successful options available was set up by US musician Jason Narducy in '22 when he recruited twice Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon to front up a band doing a seven US date tour of their debut album Murmur. This was well received, so they then toured the third album Fables Of The Reconstruction in both the US and the UK. Which was an odd choice, because their second album, Reckoning is far better - matched only in their early work (imho) by their fourth album, Lifes Rich Pageant. So when I heard they were visiting these shores again to concentrate on that one, I felt I had to check it out...


And I was pleased I got to do so in a venue I'd not been to before - KOKO in Camden. And very nice it is too with a very plush entrance and a fancy interior. I was near the front so visibility wasn't an issue for me - it didn't seem to be quite so good from the back, although there was quite a decent amount of upper level balcony space which also had quite a few people there. 


It was also (pleasingly for this old man) an early start - doors were at 6pm, with no support and the band starting at 7:30. And, for no obvious reason, they came on stage to a brass band version of "Abide With Me". I struggle to imagine anything less reminiscent of any stage of R.E.M.'s output - but after that there was no let-up, with 28 tracks played in just over two hours to an audience who were very much "of a certain age" (although there were a few young'uns present). 


The first half(ish) was a straightforward run-through of Lifes Rich Pageant, with "Fall On Me" and "I Believe" being my favourite tracks, with the second half being a selection of tracks covering various albums from Murmur (released in '83) to Reveal (released in '01), with "You Are The Everything" and "The Great Beyond" hitting home hardest for me. And we were then treated to a generous five song encore, including "Nightswimming" and "Crush With Eyeliner" as my favourites.


So did they provide the full R.E.M. experience? The band were pretty tight and delivered decent versions - interestingly there were seven of them on stage, so I suspect they were able to get closer to the sound of the album tracks than the four members of R.E.M. that originally toured the album. But the whole performance was always going to live or die on the ability of Shannon to channel Stipe and I think he did a remarkable job. For me, his voice wasn't always quite where I imagined the original Michael would go but this was more than made up for by his jittery stage presence, exceptional use of the megaphone and, at times, quite peculiar dancing. It also needs to be pointed out that a load of these songs have complex lyrics which can't be easy to commit to memory and he didn't put a step wrong - he also provided some amusing Stipesque banter between songs.


MS : "This is our last song"

Audience : "NO!"

MS : "Don’t worry - when I get back to wherever I’m staying tonight I’m going to beat the shit out of myself for disappointing you"


All in all, I had a great evening being reminded of a load of tracks I knew well so I had a good sing-along - although I was pleased to be introduced to a track that I wasn't previously aware of ("Fretless"). I've no idea how close the experience was to an early R.E.M. gig, but I do feel you can worry far too much about the authenticity of such things and I can confidently state it was a far more enjoyable experience than the one time I managed to catch the original band live. I'm very much hoping they will revisit these shores for the next album, Document because this includes "It's The End Of The World As We Known It (And I Feel Fine)" and that's got to be worth catching live!








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