Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy & Friends

The Garage, Highbury, London - Saturday 23 August 2025

Is this a covers band or tribute act, or something greater than that?

The fact that this ensemble arrive in town officially endorsed (and occasionally joined by) the band whose songs they are covering - would suggest they are more than your average covers band! And when we see the quality of musicianship assembled before us, we feel sure we are onto a winner. Before we get into the review proper, here is a little context....

Firstly, it's not every day you can stand in a small London venue watching a twice Oscar nominated actor on lead vocals, but Michael Shannon has musical chops in his past, so is by no means out of his depth here. Jon Wurster (drums) is no amateur either - the best part of a quarter century in North Carolina indie rockers, Superchunk, almost twenty years in Bob Mould's band, and associations with everyone from Aimee Mann to Ryan Adams. Dag Juhlin (guitar) is a mainstay of the Chicago music scene, while Ted Leo has jumped in to play bass (switching from guitar) in a break from his own band, The Pharmacists and a recent stint with Gang Of Four, while Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keys) has worked with the likes of Stewart Copeland and Chuck Berry.

But Jason Narducy is kind of the reason I am stood here tonight. Well obviously it is also my love of early R.E.M. that brings me in, but without him, all of these random stars wouldn't have aligned for me. His own band, Split Single, were recommended by the R.E.M. social media team a few years ago, because Mike Mills had played bass on the excellent last album, Amplificado. I was hooked. But more than that, he also provides the platform which gels this whole concept together - he has played with Wurster for several decades, as a touring member of Superchunk, in the Bob Mould band, and also roping him in to play on all three Split Single records. He also has a decade long friendship with Michael Shannon - they started playing occasional shows together in Chicago based on different classic albums, but when they struck on the idea of celebrating the fortieth anniversary of R.E.M.s awesome debut Murmur, this current concept was born and has now grown legs.

It was recently the fortieth anniversary of R.E.M.s fantastic southern gothic masterpiece, and possibly my favourite of all their records, Fables Of The Reconstruction (see my piece on that here). They had completed a small tour around this in the States earlier in the year, but luckily for us, it felt there might be enough demand to come and play a show or two in the UK. Shannon was over here performing in a play anyway, the others joined him, and here we all were, in North London, just a few miles from where Fables was recorded. I never got to see the actual R.E.M. play live - and by the time I could have seen them I don't they were playing this amount of their early (and for me, favourite) tunes.

So this was a great opportunity to get my R.E.M. fix, and we were in good company - it seems noted music journalist (and owner of Needle Mythology records) Pete Paphides and Go-Go guitarist (and I believe now a Londoner) Kathy Valentine were in the crowd, as was (it was noted by Shannon) Joe Boyd, the man who produced this album in question.

The Show:

No support - just two hours of classic tunes.

Firstly we, of course, get Fables in full. You can argue, perhaps with good reason, that not every song on Fables is a classic, but all of them are at least good, and three or four would flirt with my Top 10 R.E.M. tunes of all time.

Shannon is captivating at the front, recreating the essence without trying to directly mimic Michael Stipe - some of the mannerisms are there (hand draped over the mic, occasional crazed hand movements etc.), there is a hint of a Georgian twang, but you wouldn't ever confuse the two, nor should you, that's not the point. Narducy and Juhlin provide the Mike Millsian backing vocals, and as my friend notes, Wurster provides some "bloody tight" drumming up back, oh and he does look good with that Bill Berry-like tie on.

Feeling Gravity's Pull is a strangely great way to open proceedings, the drums allow plenty of space for that iconic staccato guitar riff and rippling bass line. They glide through Maps And Legends and we are into an early fan favourite, Driver 8. Then they get to perhaps my favourite R.E.M. tune of them all - Life And How To Live It - they get the atmospheric nature of it spot on, but somehow also tear it up in blistering fashion. Old Man Kensey is quirky and before you know it, we are onto Side-B. Can't Get There From Here (from a few comments I've seen) is often considered a bit too light and poppy for some, but I love it and Shannon is loving all of those Stipe whoops and hollers!

Life And How To Live It (brief audio snippet)

Green Grow The Rushes, a strong Kohoutek and then a frenetic, fantastic Auctioneer. Good Advices is a song which hadn't always fully landed in my consciousness, but when Shannon added the context that it meant a lot to him, being away from home for an extended period of time - "Home is a long way away" is suddenly a plaintive cry, with deeper meaning. And what can you say about Wendell Gee, a truly beautiful song, rendered beautifully tonight to close out the Fables portion of the set.

There is time for a run through Femme Fatale (what do you call a cover of a cover?), one of several Velvet Underground tunes R.E.M. made their own in the 80s. And that is set one done. I'm emotionally exhausted and we are not even halfway through yet!

***

Now, anything and everything goes.

Part two starts in very niche territory, the rarely (if ever) played Romance, which the band had done for 1987 movie Made In Heaven, and only ever appeared on the IRS greatest hits Eponymous LP the following year. They then rock through the Document take on Wire's (originally sedate) art-punk classic Strange, which as ever is turned into a proto-punk thrash. Lovely stuff. We then veer into 'newer' territory, with New Test Leper, before another unexpected journey into rarities, with old B-Side Bandwagon getting a run.

More joy for me, as they dip into the Chronic Town EP, perhaps one of the finest debut releases there is - and we get joyous versions of Gardening At Night and 1,000,000. World Leader Pretend provides the surprise crowd singalong of the evening, it is a sadly relevant tune and transforms to become a supercharged anthem, swiftly followed by perhaps another not so sly political jab, with Moral Kiosk.

Gardening At Night (taken from Glasgow performance on 20th August)

Daysleeper is delivered impeccably, Sitting Still is another early gem - and then a teaser. Might the UK be interested if they were to tour Life's Rich Pageant next year? Heck yeah! Especially when they rip through Cuyahoga, providing us with yet another anthemic moment to revel in.

Cuyahoga (brief audio snippet)

The home straight approaches. The band depart the stage, with just Shannon and Narducy returning. They are silhouettes on the backlit stage and deliver us a slow and gorgeous So. Central Rain. Shannon is not Stipe, nor is he trying to be, but he matches that primeval vocal that Stipe had found from somewhere forty years ago - it is mesmerising.

The band are back, and it's another cover that R.E.M. somehow made their own, this time borrowing Crazy from fellow Athenians, Pylon. Pretty Persuasion sends the crowd into fresh rapture, before another beautifully executed moment - Let Me In was Stipe's ode to Kurt Cobain, which Shannon re-dedicates to an old friend and theatre director, Sarah Kane who also died by suicide.

We finish with the perfect choice (and again fitting in the current climate) - Radio Free Europe is one of R.E.M.'s finest and they close us out in style.

And I am hoarse from singing almost every word of this two hour set. Cover bands have never been quite like this before - we'll be back for more next year....

Setlist:

Feeling Gravity's Pull

Maps & Legends

Driver 8

Life And How To Live It

Old Man Kensey

Can't Get There From Here

Green Grow The Rushes

Kohoutek

Auctioneer (Another Engine)

Good Advices

Wendell Gee

Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)

***

Romance

Strange (Wire)

New Test Leper

Bandwagon

Gardening At Night

1,000,000

World Leader Pretend

Moral Kiosk

Daysleeper

Sitting Still

Cuyahoga

So. Central Rain

Crazy

Pretty Persuasion

Let Me In

Radio Free Europe