9 May
2001 - ‘Lo Más 40’, 40 Principales Studios, Grupo Prisa, Madrid, Spain
Set: Imitation Of Life / The Great Beyond / Interview / All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) / Losing My Religion / Interview / I’ve Been High / She Just Wants To Be / Find The River / Cuyahoga. (R.E.M. Timeline)
One of the shows R.E.M. played a few days before the release of Reveal.
14 May
2001 - Georgia Theatre, Athens, GA
Notes from the R.E.M. Timeline -‘Reveal’ Pre-Release Listening Party. Well fed by Weaver D’s, As well as playback of the new album, and a making of Reveal documentary film by Dominic DeJoseph, included a live auction of rare memorabilia & other goodies by Gwen O’Looney & Doc Eldridge and raffle & door prizes. R.E.M. were not present. Proceeds benefited Community Connection Of Northeast Georgia.
‘Reveal’, Their 12th studio album, produced by Pat McCarthy, is released everywhere outside of North America, and released there the day after.
I have a lot of favourites on this album. Tonight I want to hear Beat A Drum. 
21 May
2001 - ‘MTV Unplugged’, TRL Studio, MTV Studios, New York, NY
Set: All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) / Electrolite / At My Most Beautiful / Sad Professor / Daysleeper / Beat A Drum / I’ll Take The Rain / I’ve Been High / So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) / The One I Love / Losing My Religion / Country Feedback - Like A Rolling Stone / Cuyahoga / Imitation Of Life
Encore: La Bamba / All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) / Electrolite / At My Most Beautiful / Beat A Drum / Disappear / Find The River / Daysleeper / The Great Beyond / The One I Love / So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Notes: 2nd Television Performance for MTV Unplugged. First performance of ‘Beat A Drum’. ‘All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star)’, ‘Electrolite’, ‘At My Most Beautiful’, ‘Daysleeper’, ‘Beat A Drum’, ‘The One I Love’ & ‘So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)’ are played twice.
R.E.M Timeline
Video Tracklist: -
"All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)
“Electrolite”
“At My Most Beautiful”
“Daysleeper”
“So Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
“Losing My Religion”
“Country Feedback”
“Cuyahoga”
“Imitation of Life”
“Find the River”
I’ve watched this over a couple of nights. This is a great live show.
27 May
2005 - Parque Antonio Soria, Torrevieja, Spain
Support: Fabula
Set: I Took Your Name / What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? / Leave / Animal / Me In Honey / The Outsiders / Bad Day / 7 Chinese Bros. / Wanderlust / Everybody Hurts / Electron Blue / Electrolite / Orange Crush / I Wanted To Be Wrong / Disturbance At The Heron House / The One I Love / Walk Unafraid / Losing My Religion
Encore: Imitation Of Life / The Great Beyond / Leaving New York / Drive / I’m Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon
Notes: Michael forgot the lyrics to ‘Me In Honey’ and the band continued playing while he was laughing in a corner. 
(R.E.M. Timeline)
‘Leave’ (Fanclub member recorded video) Still, pretty good!
2 June
2008 - ‘Hollow Man’* CD Single is released in the UK, the second single from their fourteenth album, ‘Accelerate’
Filmed live by Vincent Moon (Seney-Stovall Chapel, Athens, GA) Not sure of the exact date, I believe it was 2008.
10 June (I’m a tad late)
1985 - R.E.M. released their 3rd studio album ‘Fables Of The Reconstruction’ in the UK & the U.S. Produced by Joe Boyd, record at the Livingston Studios in Wood Green, London.
One of fav songs from this album, ‘Maps And Legends’
Also late, from June 10, 2008. This was my second to last R.E.M. show. The last was a few days later in Atlanta.
14 June
1998 - Tibetan Freedom Concert, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington D.C.
Other acts performing: Sean Lennon, Buffalo Daughter, Pulp, Jungle Brothers, Wyclef Jean, The Wallflowers, Blues Traveller, Radiohead, Luscious Jackson, Sonic Youth, A Tribe Called Quest, R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Radiohead: Airbag / Talk Show Host / Karma Police / Fake Plastic Trees / Lucky / Paranoid Android / Creep / Street Spirit (Fade Out)
R.E.M.: Airportman / Losing My Religion / Suspicion / Sad Professor / Be Mine / Parakeet / E-Bow The Letter / Man On The Moon
Notes: Tibetan Freedom Concert, benefit concert raising money for The Milarepa Fund. First R.E.M. concert without Bill Berry on drums. Scott McCaughey, Barrett Martin & Joey Waronker complete the band. Michael Stipe sings lead vocals with Radiohead on ‘Lucky’, & Thom Yorke guests on ‘Be Mine’ and ‘E-Bow The Letter’
-R.E.M. Timeline
This video isn’t the full show as it states. Ends at ‘Lucky’
On this day in 2008 I saw R.E.M. perform live for the last time when they came to Atlanta on the tour in support of Accelerate. It was the 12th time overall with the first being during the Pageantry tour in 1986 when I was 24 years old. 3 years later they’d announce they were disbanding after 31 years.
23rd June
1995 - Late Show With David Letterman’, CBS, Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY
I saw this great live performance when it first screened. Monster, a great album title considering the songs on the album.
I have to say those subtitled lyrics are completely up the creek!
July 3
2005 - Main Stage, Rock Werchter 2005, Festivalpark, Werchter, Belgium
Other acts performing: Flogging Molly, Keane, Feeder, Kane, Soulwax, Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters
Set: Bad Day / What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? / The One I Love / The Outsiders / Drive / Turn You Inside-Out / Wanderlust / Animal / Leaving New York / Everybody Hurts / Electron Blue / Electrolite / Orange Crush / Walk Unafraid / Losing My Religion
Encore: Imitation Of Life / The Great Beyond / I’m Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon
(R.E.M. Timeline)
My only thing time seeing R.E.M. on my birthday was 27 years ago today at Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC. Wilco opened. Their website was new. Fan club tickets were new. It was also their first tour without Bill. In fact, they initially weren’t going to tour behind Up but had a change of heart.
I had just gone online roughly one year before so it was still somewhat new to me. I’d found the Raleigh based twang-centric Guitartown community in the spring. We met up before the show in the parking lot. I’m not sure when I found Murmurs but I’m guessing it was not too long after Up was released in late 1998. It was through Murmurs that I found someone that had a copy of the show. @Parakeet had expressed interest in it but it was a considerable amount of time later before I put a copy in his hands.
Some highlights of the show included having my camera batteries taken from me by security during Wilco’s set. I kept forgetting to disable the flash. When it went off during “Kamera” (true story) they asked for my batteries. They returned them when R.E.M. was playing “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” at the end of the night. It was sheer pandemonium as security was trying to keep people out of the aisles but it was an impossible task as everyone was dancing.
There was also the rare performance of “Camera” as recorded by Chris Hartstonge (see below) of The R.E.M. Timeline. Stipe also treated us to a story of how his grandmother would send him to the grocery store for milk when he was a kid. When he asked why it had to be a specific grocery store, she said, “Because Piggly Wiggly is a Southern Institution,” which was met with a resounding round of applause. There was also the flowers a fan gave to Stipe which he inadvertently sat next to a footlight prompting them to catch fire during “The One I Love.”
Bill was missed but they also showed there could be life in R.E.M. beyond him. Said with all due respect to him. In 2003, he joined them onstage at Walnut Creek to sing backup with Mike Mills on “Radio Free Europe.” Afterwards, he got on the drum kit for “Permanent Vacation.” In 2008, also at Walnut Creek, Don Dixon and Mitch Easter sat in with them on “Sitting Stiil.” All momentous occasions at this venue for both them and us.
From the R.E.M. Timeline:
27 August 1999 - Alltel Pavilion At Walnut Creek, Raleigh, NC
support: Wilco
set: Lotus / The Wake-Up Bomb / Fall On Me / Suspicion / Electrolite / Everybody Hurts / Daysleeper / Camera / The Apologist / Sweetness Follows / The Great Beyond / The One I Love / E-Bow The Letter / At My Most Beautiful / Star 69 / Losing My Religion / Man On The Moon / Walk Unafraid
encore: Hope (Stipe solo) / Why Not Smile (Mills & Stipe) / What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? / Tongue / [Stipe story telling] / Find The River / It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
notes: ‘Camera’ is played for the first time since 1985.
Before ‘Camera’, Stipe said: “Last night Peter & I & some friends went to eat in Carrboro, it was directly across the street from the first place that we ever played outside of Georgia, in July 17th of 1980, I think, The Station. So as we were getting carefully and slowly drunk on our delicious wine, we were rolling this around our head and decided tonight we wanted to play a song that we haven’t played in 15 years. And these are the words, according to the internet, they’re actually really wrong. But I don’t know, they look really cool I think. Peter said and he’s got a better memory of these things than I do, I’m not guaranteeing its going to sound like anything, this is not CATS, and this is not Mariah Carey here. Apparently the last time that we performed this song Peter said was in Winston-Salem. So that’s pretty cool, that’s where Mitch Easter lives. We hope you like it”, & it was an amazing version as well. After the song, Michael said “well, that was kinda fun huh?, do you think we should offer that to Atlanta?, (cheering) OK, I take your advice” - Chris Hartstonge
I’m pretty sure I woke up to this news 15 years ago today via Facebook. Though not entirely surprised, a huge lump formed in my throat nevertheless. I had remained in denial despite Collapse Into Now being full of hints, including Stipe waving goodbye on the cover. It was easy to dismiss as some fellow fans had felt several of their latter releases would be the last. I stayed optimistic though deep down I knew the day would come. They had always said they would not stick around long enough to outlive their relevance.
Upon reading the news, the past 28 years flashed before my eyes. I was 21 years old when I first became a fan. I had just turned 49 when they announced R.E.M. was no more. That is a huge chunk of my life, one in which R.E.M. had provided much of the soundtrack. It went far deeper than that though. There were the concerts, the fan club newsletters and singles, and their outspokenness when it came to a variety of issues. The often indecipherable words I related to which spoke to me on some other level. An outcast and misfit in life who never felt alone in relation to the music whether it be on record or during the live concert experience. Visceral, to say the least. Impactful beyond words.
All these years later, all the original members of R.E.M. are still with us and still active, though Bill Berry continues to maintain a relatively low profile. The original members have performed three times together since they disbanded. The first, in 2024 when they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and twice performing “Pretty Persuasion” on consecutive nights at the 40 Watt when Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s 40th anniversary celebration of Fables of the Reconstruction rolled through town.
Unlike some of their contemporaries, R.E.M.’s presence in the modern day isn’t quite as omnipresent. Sometimes all it takes is a well received cover or a strategically placed song in a movie, TV show, or advertisement to thrust an artist from the past back into the limelight. For whatever reason, this has yet to happen with R.E.M. In an interview with Peter Buck from not so long ago, he seems content with this aspect of their legacy. Their music is always there waiting to be rediscovered or discovered by new generations of fans who were not along for the ride the first time. This sort of low profile seems fitting for a band such as R.E.M. who, other than for a few short years in the 90s, were never the center of attention. More like understated.
They went out with a couple “goodbye” songs; “Blue,” which closes Collapse Into Now and ends with a reprise of album opener,”Discoverer” which invites the listener to a circular album listening experience.
Then, there’s “We All Go Back To Where We Belong,” one of three brand new songs included on their only career spanning compilation, Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 which was released in early November of 2011, in the wake of the news of their disbanding. To my ears, it indicated a new direction for R.E.M. and that they still had plenty of gas left in the tank.
Back in 2011 I could have never foreseen how the future of R.E.M. would have unfolded. Peter Buck remains as prolific as ever, always staying busy with one project or another, seemingly juggling multiple ones at the same time.
Mike Mills continues to perform with Jody Stephens, Chris Stamey and others, keeping the legacy of Big Star alive. This, in addition to various other projects, including Howl Owl Howl, a supergroup of sorts that also includes Darius Rucker, and Steve Gorman. They released a single, played some dates, and announced they had an album in the works but then went silent.
Michael Stipe is promising his debut album will find its way into the world in the not too distant future. Earlier this year he was joined by Elizabeth Hatmaker for a recitation of the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann for the Joyfully Waiting website. Worth checking out if you haven’t already.
Bill was involved with his first full band project with The Bad Ends, made up of fellow Athens stalwarts. They released an album and played some shows with Bill participating only in the hometown one. This year Bill, Mike, and Peter all worked on what will be Steve Wynn’s first solo album in 14 years, hopefully to be released sometime next year.
I didn’t recognize any hints that Collapse Into Now, would be their last record as R.E.M. Though in discussions about it, a lot of fans did. I was probably in denial to. It’s great that they’re still musically active and some. 
I dismissed them because it had become relatively commonplace with the last few albums. I chose to be optimistic. In retrospect I also recalled how they pulled out all the stops when they played Raleigh on the tour in support of Accelerate. I know the idea of ending the band was first entertained during that tour. I’m just not sure if it was before or after I saw them (I caught them in Atlanta as well).
