It’s the 40th anniversary of a seminal alternative rock album — Fables of the Reconstruction — but unfortunately, the music’s creators aren’t active to celebrate it on tour.
Enter the actor Michael Shannon and guitarist Jason Narducy, who recruited some other musicians to from an REM tribute act that people truly love! In a recent visit to 9:30 Club, Shannon, Narducy, and company performed Fables of the Reconstruction in its entirety and then added a set of REM favorites to toast the influential jangle pop album.
For those of us not familiar with the pairing of Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy, let’s ask the question that surely first comes to mind for newcomers: Can Michael Shannon — known for movie roles in Revolutionary Road, Take Shelter, The Shape of Water, Man of Steel, and more — not only sing but do justice to the material? The answer is a resounding yes. Mr. Shannon carries himself with the confidence of a movie star, but he also operates in service of the material.
Michael doesn’t grandstand or do anything that would distract you from the songs. If anything, as seen at 9:30 Club on March 4, he’s doing a bit of Michael Stipe cosplay with his casual dress, tightly worn ball cap, and sneakers.
In performance at 9:30 Club, powerhouse guitarist Jason Narducy (best known to many of us as a member of Superchunk) stood to Michael’s left. While playing, Narducy expressed pure joy at the opportunity to lead this ensemble, which included Jon Wurster (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keyboards).
In their first set, Shannon, Narducy, and company romped through Fables of the Reconstruction in tracklist order, opening with “Feeling Gravitys Pull” and winding down on “Wendell Gee.” They tacked on “Femme Fatale” by The Velvet Underground, which REM would later cover on the Dead Letter Office (1987). Along the way, they gave a standout peformance of “Driver 8,” the album’s well-regarded third track.
Watch Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy perform “Driver 8” by REM on The Tonight Show via YouTube:
In the lengthy second set, Shannon and Narducy covered a lot of ground, playing an additional 18 REM songs! It would have been easy for them to lean on REM’s 1983 debut album, Murmur, which Shannon and Narducy toured at Black Cat in 2024. But they lifted only one track from that record — “Sitting Still” — and then went all over the map for the rest of the set.
Perhaps the most anticipated number in the second set was “Pretty Persuasion” from 1984’s The Reckoning. Early on this tour, all of REM joined Shannon and Narducy on stage for “Pretty Persuasion” in their sold-out concert at the 40 Watt in REM’s hometown of Athens, Georgia. And then REM frontman Stipe joined in again just a few days ago when Shannon and Narducy performed at Brooklyn Steel.
In exhaustible at 9:30 Club, the band happily returned for a big encore, which included another seven songs — the tour debut of REM’s “Radio Free Europe” among them. They went off script for the final two songs of the encore to cover “Crazy” by Pylon and “Toys in the Attic” by Aerosmith.
The atmosphere at 9:30 Club was festive on March 4, and concertgoers sold the show at in the final moments before showtime. Spirits were high in the very packed room, and there was a feeling of unity between band and audience. Shannon and Narducy started this act as a one-off in Chicago before seeing that it truly had legs, and so they took it on the road. They did the right thing, and their very earnest, down-to-earth, and respectful performance of these songs is well worth your time.
Here are some photos of Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy, and friends performing the songs of REM at 9:30 Club on March 4, 2025. All pictures by Mickey McCarter.
