Three days after R.E.M.’s world tour in support of its 14th album, Accelerate, wrapped in Mexico City, the band posted this six-song, 39-minute encore set from that final concert on Nov. 18, 2008 — an appearance that Michael Stipe told fans would be “our last show for a long time,” but now stands as the group’s final performance.
This video was brought to our attention tonight by Matthew Perpetua, author of the essential R.E.M. song-by-song examination Pop Songs 07-08. As he wrote today in posting this performance, “R.E.M. were one of the very best bands in the history of rock music.”
Setlist: R.E.M. encore set, Mexico City, 11/18/08
1. “Supernatural Superserious”
2. “Losing My Religion”
3, “I Believe”
4. “Country Feedback”
5. “Life And How To Live It”
6. “Man On The Moon”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- R.E.M., 1980-2011: Genre-defining college rock band breaks up after 31 years
- Vintage Video: Full R.E.M. concert from 1985′s ‘Fables’ tour filmed for ‘Rockpalast’
- Full album stream: R.E.M., ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ 25th anniversary reissue
- R.E.M. ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ 25th anniversary reissue to include 19 unreleased demos
- Video: Michael Stipe and Patti Smith perform R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ in NYC
- Video: Michael Stipe performs ‘The Letter’ at Big Star ‘Third’ tribute
horrible footage! made my head hurt.
So of course this is completely personal, but man, they have to do a reunion tour, just so Man on the Moon isn’t the last song they ever played.
Concur.
Actually surprised they are not doing at least a few ‘farewell’ shows. A-ha did a full farewell tour last year. REM should play a few of the major US cities, and Euro cities before they end it. They must truly be done, because I’m sure the offers would be significant money-wise to wrap this up with a farewell tour.