Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy Back at First Avenue

Another year, another anniversary of a legendary R.E.M. album. This year it’s the 40th anniversary of Fables of the Reconstruction, and it’s another year of me still not being able to see R.E.M. perform said album. In fact, I NEVER had the chance to see R.E.M. perform outside of TV and YouTube. I was either way too young or way too far away or even way too poor to afford tickets. One day they will do a reunion, and I’ll just drop whatever I’m doing and make it out to see them, but until then I am 100% confident I have the next best thing to seeing R.E.M. live: Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy & Friends!!!

First Avenue was the place to be on a surprisingly warm Wednesday night in March in Minneapolis. I lined up at the door 20 minutes before doors, and soon after, hoards of people followed suit. I timed my entry to the venue perfectly as the line behind me grew and grew down the whole block to Hennipen Ave.

When I heard who the opener was, I couldn’t believe my eyes. DAVE HILL!!!  No, not the guy from Slade but the comedian Dave Hill. I am a huge Dave Hill fan. I have been following Dave for a long time now. I’ve seen him live many times and listen to his live albums regularly and follow all of his social media outlets and can’t wait to hear the infamous “Oh hey, it’s Dave… from before”. Whether it’s an impromptu unsolicited commercial for a business or a history lesson on food or a lesson on how to make cereal, I know I’ll have at least a few moments of happiness when I see his new posts. He brings us so much joy.

It is often said that comedians and musicians are driving down the same road in life but get off on different exits. Somehow, Dave has managed to be going both places. His blend of music AND comedy (and other bits) goes hand in hand. He can play a comedy club or a music club, and nothing would change. There are not a lot of comedians that can pull that off.

His set is a full-on slaughter of your senses. Your face will be hurting from smiling and laughing so hard, and then your face would have 3rd-degree burns after he melts your face with legendary wicked guitar shredding. I don’t want to give away too much of his set as I encourage everyone to see him live. You will walk away happy and probably join his gang, “The Dangerous Snakes Who Hate Bullshit”, which I am a card-carrying member. I did chat with Dave after his set. Mostly about his guitar pedals and just general pleasantries. He’s a great person and he is a bright spot in this dark world. The world needs more people like Dave Hill.

While tucked away in the front corner watching the rest of Dave’s set, I scanned the crowd to see how full the venue was, and a little rush of anxiety came over me seeing just how packed it was! I’ve been to sold-out shows here before, but this was insane. Just walking around was a difficult task. Usually, you could walk the back bar area with ease, but not tonight. There were people from the sound booth to the bar side by side and back to back. There was no way to walk around freely without bumping someone or having to muscle in. It was PACKED!

Hollywood actors posing as rock and roll heroes are so hot right now, with Timothy Chalamet doing his version of Dylan and Jerry Allen White getting ready to be Springsteen, and that Jared Leto fella doing whatever it is that 30 Seconds to Mars is, and they all bore me, whether it be a movie or a rock and roll show.

That said, there is ONE Hollywood actor that doesn’t bore me. I may be biased on this proclamation since I’m a huge fan, but when Michael Shannon gets on the stage to front this R.E.M. tribute band, he becomes Michael Stipe. It’s not just his Oscar-nominated acting skills that elevate him but his actual desire and love of music. If you’ve ever been to Chicago and hung around the music clubs for a while, there’s been a chance that Shannon showed up out of the blue and performed with whatever band was on the stage. These appearances weren’t scheduled or advertised; he just loves rock and roll and wanted to rock out with whatever band.

Lucky for us, he did advertise and promoted these R.E.M. shows. I was at last year’s Murmur anniversary show, and I’m obviously at this show and I will be at the next one, and until R.E.M. decides to jump back into the saddle again, Shannon and Narducy are the best replacements.

As I entered the photo pit, the screen that covers the stage was still down and I couldn’t really see anything. The crowd started to cheer voraciously. The band was taking the stage, and finally, the screen was lifting, which felt like an eternity to me. I was so pumped for this show.

Finally, the stage was set, and the arpeggio sound from Narducy’s guitar rang out, and instantly, I got goosebumps. The opening track from the album “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” set the tone for the night. Shannon came out, donned in a baseball cap and thick black sunglasses. He gripped the mic and instantly turned into Michael Stipe. If you had closed your eyes, you wouldn’t have known this wasn’t R.E.M. It was so spot-on. The band continued on with the rest of the album, and I’m geeking out in the photo pit, trying to take photos while trying to hide that I’m singing my heart out. Shannon was pretty stationary and glued to the mic for the first two songs, but on the third song, he became more erratic once someone yelled out “choo-choo”. That trigger word was the beginning to Driver 8. One of the most known R.E.M. songs. I couldn’t hide my excitement for this one. I was belting it out along with 99% of the crowd. It was a shared experience that tugged at these old heartstrings.

Once the first three songs were up, I headed to the back of the house to get a perspective of just how crowded it was, and it was even more packed than it was earlier. People were still scanning tickets and coming in. Walking around became almost impossible. The stairs were lined with people sitting and trying to see over the hoards of people who were trying to see over the other hoards of people. It was a happy sight to see a celebration of a band like R.E.M. still resonates with people, even if that band isn’t the actual band.

The fifth song, “Old Man Kensey,” was perfect mood music, followed by “Can’t Get There From Here,” which brought the dancing out to the floor. After saying hi to a couple of friends who I found upstairs trying to scope out a spot, I made my way back down the stairs in the shadowy corner to take in the rest of the show in solitude, which is what I prefer.

The band continues and finishes up the album set with a cover of The Velvet Underground’s song “ Femme Fatale.” That was it. That was set one: The Fables of the Reconstruction album. It went by in a flash, but when I looked at the time, an hour and 10 minutes had passed? Really?? It felt like 20 minutes.

The band leaves the stage for a breather and promptly gets back on stage for another hour and a half of classic R.E.M. songs. “Romance” opened the set up, followed by “Strange” from the album Document. Something I didn’t know was that song wasn’t originally an R.E.M. song. The band covered it from the band called Wire. It may be common knowledge, but I wasn’t in the loop on this fact. I just knew it was the song that came before the legendary “It’s the End of the World as We Know It…” on the album. “Strange” was a head bouncer. Even if you didn’t know it, your head was bouncing to this.

Following more songs like “7 Chinese Bros.” and “Little America” and “Radio Free Europe,” that band just had to do a Prince cover. I mean, why wouldn’t they? “Raspberry Beret” was the choice song to play before they went back into R.E.M. with “Camera.”

Apparently, R.E.M. liked to cover Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic,” so that was how Michael Shannon and Friends ended the set . They brought Dave Hill back out on stage to shred the faces and send people home happy. I know I was walking home happy.

Earlier in the day, Michael and Dave were at Duck Duck Coffee on 38th St. (go there, they rule) for a Conversation event. It was just as the title says, a conversation. I won’t get into too many details, but someone asked Michael, “What R.E.M. album is next?”. Michael said he’s taking a break from music and is going to promote his new movie that he directed called Eric Larue, which comes out April 4th. He said he isn’t doing any R.E.M. shows in the unforeseen future. I hope someone talks him out of that though. We have so many more R.E.M. anniversaries to celebrate.