REM said CBS Mornings this week it would take a comet for them to play together again. Well, apparently they saw one.
For the first time in nearly 16 years, the foursome reunited to sing “Losing My Religion” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala in New York City on Thursday night (June 13).
The show was preceded by Jason Isbell, who won them over with a spirited, flawless rendition of “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” which he said he learned when he was 10 years old. “REM was greater than the sum of its parts. REM moved as a single body,” he said.
The foursome from Athens, Georgia — Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck — took the stage next, with Stipe speaking for all four. “Writing songs and having a catalog of work that we're all proud of that's out there for the rest of the world forever is the most important aspect of what we've done. The second is that we managed to do it all these decades and remain friends. And not just friends, dear friends,” he said.
“We're four people who decided very early on that we were going to be our own bosses and share our rights and songs equally,” he continued. “All for one and one for all.”
In a gracious move, Stipe quickly read off a long list of thanks to people stretching from her early days at IRS Records through Warner Records, before closing by thanking the band's longtime manager Bertis Downs.
Then the band took center stage, picked up their instruments and, as Stipe said, “Here's what we did.”
The band's last full concert was in November 2008 in Mexico City. The foursome played a private party for the Downs in 2016, but hadn't appeared in public since 2008.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/rem-performs-songwriters-hall-of-fame-2024-reunion-1235709680/
