Watch Michael Stipe play R.E.M.’s ‘Wendell Gee’ for first time since 1985
Michael Stipe played at his second Kamala Harris campaign event on Thursday, digging out an R.E.M. deep cut for the first time in four decades in the band’s hometown.
Stipe appeared at a rally event in Athens, Georgia on October 10, sharing the bill with Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff. Alongside fellow Athens musicians Andy LeMaster (of Now It’s Overhead) and David Barbe (of Mercyland), the singer played a four-song set.
Most notable was the inclusion of ‘Wendell Gee’, a track from R.E.M.’s third studio album ‘Fables Of The Reconstruction’, released in 1985. The maudlin, tender song was a semi-regular presence in the band’s playlists around the time of the album’s release, but was never performed again after August 1985. Watch Stipe’s first public performance of the song in 39 years here:
Alongside it, Stipe also sang his 2019 solo single ‘Your Capricious Soul’ and the 2020 collaboration with Big Red Machine, ‘No Time For Love Like Now’.
Also included was ‘Driver 8’, which Stipe also sang at his first campaign event for the Democratic presidential nominee in Pittsburgh on October 4. That day, the singer joined forces with Jason Isbell, and also played ‘The One I Love’.
Following the Pittsburgh show, Stipe explained why he was endorsing Harris. “There’s the comparison that has been made that voting for a politician is like taking a bus,” he said. “You get on the bus that takes you closest to where you want to go. When you get off that bus, that’s when you have to start working. You have to do the walking.”
He also praised Harris for fighting injustice, adding: “We’re a big country with a lot of weight and a lot of power. And we need it to go right and your wife can guide it in the right direction. There’s a lot to work on, there’s a lot to do, but I have a lot of faith in her.”
Stipe joins names including Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, P!nk, Bon Iver, Quavo, Bruce Springsteen, Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo in coming out in support of Harris ahead of this November’s election.
Alanis Morissette also took to the stage at a Harris fundraiser in Los Angeles last month, and P!nk recently joined Isbell to perform at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
The election will be held on November 5.
Elsewhere, R.E.M. recently shared ‘We Are Hope Despite The Times’, a digital compilation of songs to mark National Voter Registration Day.
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Max Pilley
NME
