Peter Buck and Mike Mills perform R.E.M. songs to celebrate 40th anniversary of ‘Chronic Town’
Former R.E.M. members Peter Buck and Mike Mills reunited on stage earlier this week to mark the 40th anniversary of the band’s beloved debut EP, Chronic Town.
The pair performed the collection of classics at the 40 Watt club in R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, with a house band, including The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson and Sven Pipien and Screaming Trees’ drummer Barrett Martin.
The one-night special event show saw supporting performances from other class acts, including Fred Armisen, Hootie & The Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, Patti Smith Group’s Lenny Kaye and Indigo Girls on a host of tracks which included ‘Chronic Town’ ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Orange Crush’ and ‘Crush With Eyeliner’.
The benefit concert raised funds for the non-profit organisation Planned Parenthood, which provides sexual health care and services across the US and globally. The soaring throwback culminated with a cover of Big Star’s ‘September Gurls’. Watch footage from the event below.
Elsewhere, Peter Buck recently discussed the prospect of an R.E.M. reunion. The group disbanded on September 21st, 2011, posting a statement on Instagram that read, “as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band,” adding that they were walking away with “a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.”
Buck recently reaffirmed that the band’s split is permanent. “When the non-musical stuff became so intense, it took away some of the pleasure for me,” Buck said, pondering the band’s success after they became “really big”.
“It’s just the stuff where you kind of wake up and go, ‘God, I don’t really want to have my picture taken today. And I don’t really want to pretend to be an actor in some video where I can’t act’. I loved playing Glastonbury and playing in front of lots of people and selling multiple copies of records, but it was never the reason I did it”.
He added: “And when we got to the point where we decided that it was the end, it felt like a great shared experience. I wouldn’t change it, but I’m not going to go back to it.”
Watch footage from Peter Buck and Mike Mills’ special performance below.
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