Live Review: The Ones We Love: Celebrating REM

Tonight’s tribute begins, as many good REM retrospectives do, with Radio Free Europe. Greg Atkinson and Peter Fenton follow this with bar band versions of Pilgrimage and Stand. These versions are looser than the airtight originals. There are some difficulties with the harmonies that highlight how perfectly Michael Stipe and Mike Mills’ voices worked together, and in that sense it’s a wonderful tribute. So far it’s dad rock interspersed with dad jokes. 

Trish Young (The Clouds) and Alannah Russack (The Hummingbirds) join for the rousing It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) and Superman. Their higher-pitched voices really complement these songs, which are heavy on Mills’ backing vocals. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville is a fun country romp, although Stipe’s exaggerated southern accent is missed.

Ashley Naylor of the band Even tears through the first three tracks on Life's Rich Pageant - Begin The Begin, These Days, Fall On Me - with gusto. Naylor offers reverent, bang on renditions of this unimpeachable album opening salvo. His voice is the closest of tonight’s singers to Stipe’s and this faultless trio of songs feel the most like seeing the real thing. 

Ron S Peno’s still-powerful voice is well-suited to early classics like So. Central Rain and Talk About The Passion. He leaps around the stage manically as he wails Orange Crush’s wordless chorus. Steve Kilbey of The Church appears to have a pretty loose grasp on the melodies of The One I Love, Driver 8 and Maps And Legends. His part feels uncomfortably close to mediocre karaoke.

In a night of fairly faithful renditions, Jeff Martin of The Tea Party is the only singer to do anything substantially different with his covers. With his guttural growl, his versions can’t help but be complete reinterpretations of songs like Losing My Religion and Drive. Martin injects Everybody Hurts - a song everyone in this room has probably heard way too many times - with renewed pathos. He foregrounds the suffering and hopelessness in the song before tearing into a pretty impressive guitar solo. His version of Nightswimming is a beautiful, understated ending to what is undoubtedly the most electrifying part of the set. 

Singalong versions of Man On The Moon and Shiny Happy People are uplifting, crowd-pleasing closers. As a celebration of a band a bunch of people still really love, this tribute succeeded admirably. It also reminds us there was something incredibly special about those four particular musicians that is not easily replicated, although it’s fun to watch some diehard fans try.