What started out in 2014 as two friends having fun and playing covers of random bands (early efforts also included The Cars, Neil Young With Crazy Horse, Bob Dylan, The Smiths and others) quickly coalesced into a juggernaut once they hit upon playing the songs of R.E.M.
Halfway through 2023 they played Murmur and Chronic Town in full and tossed in some other songs from Reckoning for good measure. The response was so great that they pulled together a short US tour the following year, and then expanded their scope of records they would play and cities and continents they would play them in. I was out of town for the last Boston show when Fables Of The Reconstruction was the main course, but made sure I saw this run, when Lifes Rich Pageant (no apostrophe, please) was served up piping hot.
In the ensuing two years since seeing them, longtime drummer Jon Wurster, ex-Poi Dog Pondering guitarist Dag Juhlin and keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak are still on board, while John Stirratt took advantage of some downtime in the Wilco touring schedule and brings his Rickenbacker to anchor the low end. Charging out of the gate with “Begin The Begin,” the imposing frame of Michael Shannon, decked out in a green jumpsuit quickly took control of the stage, flanked on his left by Jason Narducy who married slashing chords with the occasional leg kick. The engine is started, let’s go!
“These Days” completed the 1-2 knockout combo, probably REM’s most aggressive song and one where the acting ability of Shannon came in handy as he channeled Stipe’s moves, and the lyrics of “Carry each his burden, we are young despite the years/We are concern, we are hope despite the times” could not be more relevant. (The next night, lucky New Yorkers got treated to the real deal on vocals and Stipe sounded so good I’m sure it kickstarted countless wishes of a reunion tour).
The big radio hit “Fall On Me” got the attention of a fair chunk of the audience who looked like they don’t go to many shows and perhaps don’t go too deep into R.E.M.‘s songbook as the sold-out room cleared out a bit during the encore, and the mime/dance routine of the surf rock-heavy and mostly instrumental “Underneath The Bunker” executed by Shannon and Narducy produced some confused looks.
Side B got underway with “The Flowers of Guatemala” is a delicate ballad that shifted momentum, gently deferring to the more revved up “I Believe” that kicked off with Tellis-Nayak’s banjo work, as per the studio recording. If you’re gonna cover an entire record, you need to get all the details right, and they did. In particular, this song helped to showcase how Narducy and Juhlin work together to bring disparate guitar parts into a shining whole. “Just A Touch” felt more like a placeholder, a semi-generic rave-up, while “Swan Swan H” hit all the right targets as one of the band’s most tender moments and strong vocal lines that Shannon handled perfectly. Then the left field hit of “Superman” (written by The Clique as a B side from 1969; I’m sure they appreciate the royalties that have been funneled their way over the last few decades that they never envisioned) closed out the record in bright sunshine fashion.
Of course Athens, GA and NYC get the prized special guest appearances, but having Morphine’s Dana Colley come out and play sax to “Fireplace” was a nice treat, one we got in 2023 as well. For the bonus material, the band strayed farther afoot into later material, with the sublime “E Bow The Letter” prefaced by Shannon musing over the rhetorical situation of someone asking you what your favorite R.E.M. song is. “That’s a horrible question to ask someone, but here’s my pick for now.” Material from Around The Sun and Up and lesser known cuts from Out Of Time were sprinkled in, with the encore focusing back to the earlier work of the band’s first record Murmur and a few from Reckoning. Two softer moments were also true highlights, the plangent “Nightswimming” and the yearning “Camera.”
Narducy noted that in their journey through the discography, they skipped over the band’s sophomore release; maybe that’s in the plans for next tour, or maybe they will proceed right into Document. Stay tuned.
The night started with some laughs, never a bad thing in these current times. Bobcat Goldthwait has been traveling with the band on this tour and in his brightly colored wookkie hoodie and beanie he regaled us with some quick witted observations, including a self-professed life highlight of meeting the muppet Grover. Narducy popped on stage to join in on a hilarious cover of “YMCA” done in the style of U2
Meanwhile, Boston resident Eugene Mirman took over next, reprising and updating his classic bit about finding random celebs on Venmo and sending them money, like sending $150 to Nikki Sixx annotated “For housecleaning.” He also made some custom bumper stickers that were pretty funny. He ended with an relevant anecdote of his time with Stipe at Peter Buck’s short-lived music event in Todos Santos where he got mugged by the Mexican police, taking his $100 in pesos and wishing he’d stuffed his pockets with brie cheese instead. “You fucked with the wrong American!”
