Michael Stipe Sings R.E.M.’s “These Days” & “The Great Beyond” For The First Time In 18 Years

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s R.E.M. covers show returned to New York City's Brooklyn Steel tonight and Michael Stipe joined them on two songs he hadn’t performed in 18 years: “These Days” (from 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant) and “The Great Beyond” (from 1999's Man On The Moon soundtrack).

Stipe (and Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry) first joined Shannon and Narducy at their Athens, Georgia hometown's 40 Watt Club in February 2024. Stipe did not sing then, but it was the first time all four R.E.M. bandmates were onstage together in 17 years. (The band's actual reunion performance came at their Songwriters Hall Of Fame induction that summer.) Stipe then joined Shannon and Narducy last year for “Pretty Persuasion” in Athens and Brooklyn.

Shannon and Narducy's bandmates on this tour are guitarist Dag Juhlin, Keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak, bassist John Stirratt, and drummer Jon Wurster. The Lifes Rich Pageant 40th anniversary tour concludes in Evanston next week, but they'll be back for a few shows in the US and UK in the fall. When the tour rolled through Athens last week, Berry, Buck, and auxiliary member Scott McCaughey made surprise appearances too.

Watch fan footage from Brooklyn Steel below and read our We've Got A File On You interview with Michael Shannon here.