R.E.M. Members Perform With Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy At 40 Watt Club

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.'s 1985 album Fables Of The Reconstruction landed at the 40 Watt in R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia on Thursday night. The first of two Fables Of The Reconstruction shows at the famed Athens club featured the four members of R.E.M. performing together once again.

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills formed in Athens in 1980. Berry left the group in 1997 after surviving a double brain aneurysm while performing with the band in Switzerland two years prior. The remaining trio disbanded R.E.M. in 2011.

The original four members performed together in 2007 when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The foursome reunited again in 2024 at their Songwriters Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony.

R.E.M. also shared the stage together last year at the 40 Watt when Shannon and Narducy brought their tour honoring R.E.M.’s 1983 debut album, Murmur. Last year’s 40 Watt reunion merely saw the four members onstage at the same time, though Stipe did not perform at the concert.

Last night, Stipe, Berry, Buck and Mills did perform a song along with Shannon, Narducy and their band comprised of drummer Jon Wurster, bassist John Stirratt, guitarist Dag Juhlin and keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak.

The four members of R.E.M. led the collective through “Pretty Persuasion,” a song from the band’s sophomore album, Reckoning, which was released between Murmur and Fables. Watch video footage of R.E.M. performing “Pretty Persuasion” last night in Athens:

Buck had previously joined Shannon and Narducy during the Fables Of The Reconstruction Tour’s recent West Coast swing. The guitarist made additional appearances during Thursday’s concert, as did Mills. Berry appeared during the final song of the Fables portion of the set, emerging during “Wendell Gee.”

Veteran guitarist Lenny Kaye also sat-in at the 40 Watt, guesting on a The Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” and “There She Goes Again.”