As expected, after the overwhelming response to their North American tour in tribute of R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction and a 2024 run tackling Murmur, Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy will reprise the festivities next year in honor of the 40th anniversary of Michael Stipe and company’s Life’s Rich Pageant.
They’ll be joined by their trusty band of Jon Wurster (drums), Wilco’s John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar) and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keyboards). Dates begin Feb. 11 in Denver and wrap March 16 in Bloomington, In. The group will also return to R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Ga., where all four original members of the legendary quartet made surprise appearances with Shannon and Narducy in February.
“I don’t aspire to be in a cover band, but this is just so damn fun,” Narducy told SPIN earlier this year. “It also doesn’t feel like a cover band. It’s more like a celebration band. Most of the comments from people are them sensing that we love the songs and they love the songs and we’re just going to get into a room and do that for two-plus hours. What does that say about R.E.M.? They’re so phenomenal. The quality of every single album is astounding.”
Narducy praised the vocal performance of Shannon, who spent three days before the spring tour preparing with the help of the same vocal coach with whom he worked in his role as George Jones in the miniseries George and Tammy.
“He really worked hard on his vocals for this tour and I think it really showed,” Narducy said. “I thought he sounded good on the [2024] Murmur tour but almost everybody I spoke to was like, something happened in the last year. Backstage, Michael is not talking to anybody. He’s doing yoga stretches. He’s listening to music. He’s warming up his voice. That’s quite a precedent when the person at the top is working that hard and is that committed. He really set such a great tone for the rest of us.”
In related news, Narducy will release his first book, Mostly the Van on Dec. 9. It chronicles his eventful life in music, including anecdotes about being trapped in an old Nazi bunker with Bob Mould, forgetting lyrics during recording sessions, jamming with strangers and facing the tough critical ear of Kim Gordon. Click here to pre-order.
Here are Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s tour dates:
Wed. Feb. 11 – Denver, CO @ Summit
Fri. Feb. 13 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Sat. Feb. 14 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Mon. Feb. 16 – Stateline, NV @ Harrah’s Lake Tahoe
Tue. Feb. 17 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
Thu. Feb. 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bellwether
Sat. Feb. 21 – Austin, TX @ Emos
Tue. Feb. 24 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Thu. Feb. 26 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
Fri. Feb. 27 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
Sat. Feb. 28 – Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
Mon. March 2 – Richmond, VA @ National
Tue. March 3 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Wed. March 4 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Fri. March 6 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Sat. March 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Mon. March 9 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Smalls
Tue. March 10 – Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron
Thu. March 12 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
Fri. March 13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
Sat. March 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
Mon. March 16 – Bloomington, IN @ Bluebird
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