Show Review: Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends with Dave Hill at The Neptune Theater, 2/21/25

Shannon, Narducy & Hill: Attorneys at Rock

When I told people that I was going to see Michael Shannon perform the music of R.E.M. fronting a band that’s the alt-rock world’s equivalent of Ringo’s All-Starr Band, their reactions, for the most part, were Doc Brown in tone, asking, “Michael Shannon! The actor!?” Yes, that Michael Shannon. This particular music project of Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy (more on him later) is ten years in the making, and this is the second year they’ve been playing REM-themed shows exclusively.

Brought together in Chicago back in 2015 by musician and friend in common Robbie Fulks, who asked Narducy to play bass and Shannon to sing for a one-off performance of Lou Reed’s 1982 album Blue Mask. Throughout the last decade they’ve performed numerous albums and band showcases as one-off events: In 2015, a Velvet Underground song showcase, The Smiths’s The Queen is Dead in June of 2016, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited in 2017, The Music of The Cars (2019), Neil Young’s with Crazy Horse’s Zuma (2021), The Music of T-Rex (2022) and The Modern Lovers’ First Album in Jan of 2023. That July, they performed REM’s album Murmur coupled with the EP Chronic Town and a few other choice cuts at the Metro in Chicago’s 40th anniversary, where REM had famously played the maiden show. Mike Mills joined them on stage for a number of songs that evening, giving them the first but not last member of REM’s blessing.

In 2024, they did their first tour, billed as playing Murmur and Chronic Town. Kicking off with two nights at SF Sketchfest, the second night included a one-off performance of REM’s classic album Reckoning. When they reached REM’s hometown, Athens, Georgia, Mills, Peter Buck, and Bill Berry joined them on stage at different points of the evening, all blessing the project.

On Friday, Feb 21st, Shannon/Narducy pulled into Seattle’s Neptune Theater to perform, in its entirety, REM’s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction. This is Shannon and Narducy’s first time playing together in Seattle, and they came prepared. Fables is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and it was recorded in England between February and April of 1985, so this evening, you could imagine a song on the album was either written or recorded 40 years to the day beforehand. Peter Buck had famously said that the weather was terrible the entire time they were there and that when it wasn’t snowing, it was raining. So, this dreary, rainy Seattle night felt like the perfect setting to experience this music in the environment in which it was crafted.

To open the show, a virtuoso comedian and guitar player, Dave Hill, performed. I’ve been a fan of Hill for a few years now and really look forward to seeing him perform. Clad in a Black jumpsuit pockmarked with embroidered art, he looked like some sort of a Mid-West Jimmy Page. Opening with requesting and receiving chants of “DAVE! DAVE! DAVE! DAVE!” he performed some quick bits of stand-up before grabbing his guitar and mockingly running through some well-known songs on his trusty Gibson Flying V. Knocking out a verse of Danzig’s “Mother” before asking for requests then denying said requests and playing parts of “Sweet Home Alabama.” An audience member yells, “Freebird!’ and Hill quickly chides in response, almost as if a threat “Alright, but I’m going to have to play all of it.” After some handwritten pages of Dollar Tree slogans, he brought his band out, which included 2/3 of the original lineup of Seattle’s own Presidents of the United States of America, Chris Belew and Dave Dederer, with Dave playing bass and Chris on keys. The drummer, whose name I didn’t catch, was only there because, as Dave said, “We’re in last-minute negations to get Jason Finn.” He played around with some Seattle-specific locations that weaved into Hill’s indelible songwriting and performing style, and he thoroughly had the audience in their clutches by the end. I was lucky enough to talk to Hill for a few moments at the merch booth later, and he told me the Presidents were just one-off guests and that he had different friends/musicians lined up for each city they were performing in on this tour. If you’ve wanted to see Hill and catch him this go around, it’s sure to be a one-of-a-kind performance you won’t regret seeing.

When the main attraction hit the stage, they launched right into “Feeling Gravity,” the opening song from Fables…. Donning a baseball cap, wrap-around sunglasses, a tight t-shirt, leather pants, and Chuck Taylors, Shannon gave his best and uncanny Stipe right out of the gate and sustained it for the duration of the evening. Narducy, known for playing bass in Bob Mould’s Sugar and Husker Du, Superchunk, plays guitar and handles stunningly pitch-perfect Mike Mills vocal harmonies in this iteration of the band. Jon Wurster rounded out the lineup from Superchunk & Moutain Goats on drums, Poi Dog Pondering’s Dag Juhlin on lead guitar, Vijay Tellis-Nayak from Chicago’s Kick the Kat, who has also played with heavies ranging from Marcus Miller and Jennifer Hudson handling keys and last but not least John Stirratt of Wilco and Autumn Leaves on bass. This band is not your average tribute project. These are people who have been creating the sounds of alt rock over the last 30 years that wouldn’t have existed if not for REM’s contributions in the 80’s and 90’s. You could tell this was more than just a pet project and that everyone involved is actively loving the music they were playing.

Shannon was in great spirits and was chatty between songs while working their way through a note-for-note, spotless live interpretation of Fables of the Reconstruction. After “Driver 8” he told a story about his terrible stepfather and how he once, while making chili, got Tabasco in a young Michael’s eye. After finishing up “Old Man Kensey” he spoke about how he was educated by a fan very early on in the tour that Fables doesn’t have an A side and a B side but rather an A side and Another Side. After wrapping up the album with the final song Wendell Gee he mentioned it again “And that’s the end of Another Side.”

Fables of the Reconstruction’s runtime is just under 40 minutes long, and I had no idea what to anticipate afterward other than maybe a few songs that the band still knows from their previous shows. They ended their set with the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale,” a song that REM themselves covered and which originally appeared as the B-side of the 12” Superman single. After the VU cover, they left the stage and returned a few short moments later, joking that it was “Venue Union policy” that they had to leave the stage. What followed was not an encore but an entire second set that dwarfed the performance of the album they had just expertly executed

As if to say the real show has just begun the band wasted no time and tore through precise renditions of 7 different songs from 7 different REM releases. Looking around the room, you could see super fans singing along with every word to their favorites, often with tears in their eyes, acknowledging how important experiencing a song live can mean to someone, even if it’s a cover.

Bringing a Snare drum to the front of the stage, Shannon asked why the drummer should have all the fun, told a brief story about busking with bongos when he lived in Chicago in his 20s, and commented that the song they were about to play “Crazy” by Pylon “Is a third generation cover” because they’re covering a cover. After wrapping up Pylon, Shannon placed the snare behind him and spoke into the mic, “Now we’ve got something special for you.” a blur of energy and screaming fans, “Peter Buck is going to play some songs with us. He came up from Portland today for this.”

Buck played on the following 6 songs and, through the end of the set, smiling ear to ear, rocking on his heels, turning to the musicians on stage beaming at the addition of a member of REM being there. Alternating between his black Rickenbaker and his 12-string sunburst Epiphone guitars, the energy through the roof and the talking between songs went away by necessity. When the set ended, people in the audience looked at their neighbors with looks on their faces, wondering if what we had just experienced had actually happened.

For the encore, Buck returned with the band for “So Central Rain” and “Sitting Still,” almost as if to comment on this time of year in Seattle. Buck, who lived here for decades, might as well have chosen his final two songs of the night. Afterward, he hugged every band member on the stage before leaving. At that point, Dave Hill joined the band, Narducy put down his guitar and picked up a mic, and Michale Shannon brought the house with a blistering version of Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic,” a song REM covered and which first appeared as the b-side of the 12” single for their song Fall on Me from 1986’s Life’s Rich Pageant. They had blown through their curfew, and for good reason.

If you have a chance to see Shannon and Narducy the next time they come through your town, even if a member of REM isn’t sitting in, they’re the real deal. When’s the last time you heard of a tribute band playing 29 songs off of 9 separate studio albums and a b-sides compilation with a member of the band they’re covering coming out to end the night with them? It’s the first time for me.

Set one

Fables of the Reconstruction:

Feeling Gravity’s Pull

Maps and Legends

Driver 8

Life and How to Live It

Old Man Kensey (end of A Side

Beginning of Another Side)

Can’t Get There From Here

Green Grow the Rushes

Kohoutek

Auctioneer (Another Engine)