Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy Setlist

— Lifes Rich Pageant —

Begin the Begin¹
These Days¹
Fall on Me¹
Cuyahoga¹
Hyena¹
Underneath the Bunker¹
The Flowers of Guatemala¹
I Believe¹
What If We Give It Away?¹
Just a Touch¹
Swan Swan H¹
Superman (The Clique cover)
— Set II —
Lotus¹
Fretless¹
Gardening at Night¹
Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)¹
How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us¹
Burning Down¹
Fireplace¹
E-Bow the Letter¹
Crush With Eyeliner¹
Me in Honey¹
You Are the Everything¹
The Lifting¹
The Great Beyond¹
— Encore —
Nightswimming¹
Pilgrimage¹
Try Not to Breathe¹
Sitting Still¹
Country Feedback¹
Radio Free Europe¹
Star 69¹
¹ R.E.M. Cover

I got the chance to review Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy in the second year of their late winter / early spring stint as a R.E.M. cover band. They’ve been working their way through the album catalogue: year one in 2024 was Murmur, last year was Fables of the Reconstruction. Here in 2026, the band was once again at a sold out First Avenue to play through 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant and much more.

Up first was Bobcat Goldthwait. Yes, the one and only comedian, actor and director was the opener and he was fire from the start. I got the indirect call out as Goldthwait posed for a photo and simply stated, “that will be a good one”. Godthwait gave some nice words to the Minnesota community, but quickly ranged far and wide from Bluetooth hearing aids to Grover (yes, the muppet) to talking about his time meeting Prince. His Grover bit was brilliant and Goldthwait’s ability to riff and cross subjects was so good and felt seamless. A bit on a concussion from a car accident was hysterical, with an impression from a hospital staff that was off the charts. The subject of erectile dysfunction actually had him crying from laughing and wandering into the strangest of corners. A late “nation of finks” had a set of jokes that were perfect hits of a number of easy targets (Trump, Cosby, etc.). A final story about a troubling flight was a great close (including a bit on cannibalism) and Bob Goldthwait had quite literally killed it. Jason Narducy came up to play guitar while Goldthwait smashed a U2 and the YMCA song together that had the audience laughing and cheering him off the stage.

Headliners Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy have this R.E.M. routine down, but it’s also a great reminder of how truly brilliant the front end of Lifes Rich Pageant is, and those first four songs are dynamite. Begin the Begin was just kinetic energy as the septet (vocals, guitar/vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and percussion) went straight to work. Fall on Me was simply a superb song and the backing vocals were perfect. Cuyahoga concluded that nearly perfect foursome, and the band was well on point. Underneath the Bunker had dance choreography from Shannon and Narducy on the mostly instrumental number, with Shannon on megaphone for the few lyrics at the end. Narducy had some beautiful words for the late, great First Avenue stage manager Conrad Sverkerson, and then introduced comedian and activist Lizz Winstead from Abortion Access Front, who connected their work (the group was over at merch) with all of the things going on in the world.

We moved onto side two of the album and there was no let down. With the nice banjo intro to I Believe, the multiple vocals were really effective and the bass line was a great pull through. A switch of guitars for Narducy also had Shannon talking about the example that Minnesota was setting for the rest of the country and those words felt very heartfelt. While Shannon does a great Michael Stipe, if you’re really going to play R.E.M., you have to have a Mike Mills and Narducy filled that role admirably. Just a Touch was a quick and high tempo number that showed off the band’s range. Superman was the close of the album and was such a good finish to the first set, with much of the audience singing along.

It was the absolute briefest of breaks (I think the impending snow storm might have had something to do with it) before the band was back on stage for set two and Lotus was a very good starting point, with a guest violinist. Fretless was preceded by Shannon saying this was one of his favorite R.E.M. songs, though picking a single one “is ridiculous”. Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) had a delightfully goofy keys intro with Shannon all in on vocals and supported by a great drum beat underneath. After a slower bit, Burning Down had the brighter and fast sound from the band. Teasing next year’s tour of Document, we got a sneak peek with a guest saxophone player on Fireplace. Crush with Eyeliner had that classic Peter Buck guitar sound and Shannon nailed those lyrics for a late set hit. We had rolled past ninty minutes and there was no slowing down from the band (though you could see audience members calculating when they should head for the doors as the snow outside was starting to intensify). Narducy got to play mandolin for You Are the Everything, adding a different layer to the overall sound. The second set ended with The Great Beyond, which was a good summary of what Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy brought to the table. A quick change over and the extended encore was on. A great joke about ending up in three feet of snow after this concert was over, the band jumped into a great version of Nightswimming, mostly featuring Shannon. The rest of the band came back to stage to work through another six songs, including the banger Radio Free Europe, which has become a staple of their encores. Well over thirty songs and two hours, Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy once again demonstrated their musical skills as well as the staying power of R.E.M.’s music. We look forward to this annual tradition continuing.