R.E.M. famously didn’t tour behind its two best-selling albums — 1991’s Out of Time and 1992’s Automatic For the People — but the band did play a single concert in support of the latter record, a Greenpeace benefit at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Ga., exactly 20 years ago tonight that stands as the entirety of the Automatic world tour.
The show, which featured two run-throughs of lead-off single “Drive,” is widely bootlegged, and most of the performances were released as live B-sides spread across the Monster singles and on the Greenpeace Alternative NRG compilation. There’s surprising little video footage of it available online, but we were able to round up the band’s performances that night of “Drive” (first take), “Monty Got a Raw Deal” and “Funtime,” which you can watch below.
For a deeper look at this show, check out Chronological Snobbery’s piece from a few years back breaking down one of the show’s better-known bootlegs.
R.E.M., Greenpeace benefit concert, 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, 11/19/92
1. “Drive”
2. “Monty Got A Raw Deal”
3. “Everybody Hurts”
4. “Man On The Moon”
5. “Losing My Religion:
6. “Country Feedback”
7. “Begin The Begin”
8. “Fall On Me”
9. “Me In Honey”
10. “Finest Worksong”
11. “Drive”
12. “Love Is All Around”
13. “Funtime”
14. “Radio Free Europe”
Video: R.E.M., “Drive,” 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, 11/19/92
Video: R.E.M., “Monty Got a Raw Deal,” 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, 11/19/92
Video: R.E.M., “Funtine,” 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, 11/19/92
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
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- R.E.M.’s Peter Buck to release solo debut this week in limited-edition, 2,000-copy vinyl run
- R.E.M.’s ‘Document’ 25th anniversary reissue to include unreleased 1987 concert
- ‘Athens, GA – Inside/Out’ soundtrack set for first-ever CD release with film, 5 bonus cuts
- Stream: Peter Buck, ‘10 Million BC’ — 1st track off R.E.M. guitarist’s solo debut
- R.E.M., 1980-2011: Genre-defining college rock band breaks up after 31 years
Thanks.