Michael Shannon is mostly known as actor; one whose intense presence makes for memorable roles in films like Man of Steel and The Iceman. As it turns out, he’s also a musician and R.E.M. superfan. A singer who, along with pal Jason Narducy, takes a love for the original “college rock” band on the road. There, they’re joined by other fans hungry for live performances of early R.E.M work.
After a successful run of sold out shows last year when the pair honored R.E.M.’s debut album Murmur, Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy and Friends are back at it, celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s 1985 album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Tuesday night, the men hit Washington, DC’s famed 9:30 Club for a gig filled to the rafters.
On the road, Shannon and Narducy are joined by “friends”: Wilco’s John Stirratt on bass, drumming powerhouse (and one of my very favorite Instagram follows) Jon Wurster, guitarist Dag Juhlin, and keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak.
The show on this tour is divided into two sets: the first set is the entire Fables album. The band had no problem delivering fantastic performances of Fables tracks such as “Feeling Gravity’s Pull,” “Driver 8,” and “Can’t Get There from Here.” After “Wendell Gee,” the band wrapped up the first set with a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale.”
Not to be satisfied with “just” a front to back performance of Fables, the band then launched into a second whole set made up of a terrific, if dizzying, selection of other R.E.M. classics taken from across the band’s history. Everything from “Pretty Persuasion,” to “Romance,” to “Bandwagon.” When that set was finished, Shannon, Narducy and the gang treated the audience to a seven-song encore. Here we had the classic “Radio Free Europe” and, appropriate for a DC show, “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville.” The night finally ended with a cover of, oddly enough, Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic.” In all, it was a massive 37-song set. Amazing.
So it’s a testament to not just the love these men have for R.E.M. but also their ability to flawlessly deliver such a massive show night after night. While Michael Shannon’s voice doesn’t have quite the same qualities as Michael Stipe’s, it often comes pretty darned close.
He is a no-nonsense frontman, but his passion for the music was evident in every song. The mostly Gen X audience was there for it, singing along and dancing however they could in the close quarters of the 9:30 Club. Once I finished shooting from the pit, I wound up on the third floor of the club behind a crowd of people so thick I never saw the stage again. The night truly belonged to the R.E.M faithful.
Providing support on this tour is comedian/musician Dave Hill. Taking the stage in a heavily embroidered jumpsuit, Hill warmed up the crowd by providing some DC-oriented laughs to the assembling crowd at the 9:30 Club. After several minutes of stand up, Hill was joined by the rest of his band to play some comedy tunes and get the crowd lubricated for Shannon, Narducy and friends.
The US leg of Shannon and Narducy’s tour winds down March 15 in Evanston, Illinois. In August, they hit the UK for a string of gigs.
DAVE HILL
