Members of Depeche Mode and Glasvegas each have revealed that their bands have recorded new U2 covers that appear to be connected to the Irish megaband’s 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Achtung Baby,’ which arrives in November in a variety of formats including a $660 ‘uber deluxe’ edition stuffed with CDs, DVDs, vinyl and more.

Monday night in New York City, Patti Smith sang and read poetry at Milk Studios for the opening of ‘Illumination: Who Are Poets,’ an exhibit by rock ‘n’ roll photographer Steven Sebring — and was joined onstage by Michael Stipe for an impromptu performance of R.E.M. smash ‘Everybody Hurts.’

For his first live dates since a series of trouble-prone 2009 outings, Morrissey will return to the stage this summer with a nine-date U.K. tour leading up to a slot headlining the Hop Farm Music Festival alongside such icons as Lou Reed, Iggy & The Stooges and Patti Smith.

Back on Dec. 19, visitors to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art witnessed a surprise ‘walk-in concert’ by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Patti Smith as part of the museum’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of French political activist and writer Jean Genet.

R.E.M. today released a free MP3 of ‘Discoverer,’ the opening track off its new album ‘Collapse Into Now’ — which will be released March 7 in the U.K. and March 8 in the U.K. via Warner Bros. Download it here.

R.E.M. employed a decidedly old-school medium to announce the full tracklist of its new album ‘Collapse Into Now’: The band revealed the titles of the record’s 12 songs via its snail-mail fanclub newsletter.