Michael Stipe Joins R.E.M. Tribute in Brooklyn

Michael Stipe, the former frontman of R.E.M., made a surprise onstage appearance Saturday night at Brooklyn Steel in New York, joining actor Michael Shannon and musician Jason Narducy to perform two classic R.E.M. songs during a tribute concert to the band's 1986 album, Lifes Rich Pageant.

The event marked the latest collaboration in Shannon and Narducy's ongoing tour, which celebrates the album's 40th anniversary by performing it in full each night. The duo, backed by a skilled ensemble including keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak, bassist John Stirratt of Wilco, drummer Jon Wurster of The Mountain Goats, and guitarist Dag Juhlin of Poi Dog Pondering, opened the show with a track-by-track rendition of Lifes Rich Pageant. They followed with a second set of additional R.E.M. material, building anticipation among the crowd of fans eager to hear the band's enduring hits.

Stipe emerged toward the end of the evening, first contributing vocals to "These Days," the album's second track, which the band had already played earlier in the set. He remained onstage for an encore performance of "The Great Beyond," a song R.E.M. recorded for the 1999 film Man on the Moon. The appearances...