Earlier this year, we told you about legendary R.E.M. performances captured before they were famous. Those shows, now considered amongst the best the band ever played, took place in 1981, just as they were getting started (their first single had just come out). We’ve got another fabled R.E.M. concert to share with you, one that took place when they were considerably more well known, but had yet to break into the mainstream. This show is perhaps the most unique concert they ever played. It occurred when the group was still in its formative stage, but change was coming.

By 1985, R.E.M. was one of the most popular American rock bands not signed to a major label. Their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, made it to #28 on the Billboard charts, and their video for “Can’t Get There From Here” received MTV airplay. In August of ’85, the “Reconstruction I” tour took them to Canada, and included an August 17th stop at Barrymore’s Music Hall in Ottawa, Ontario. The first part of the gig went off without a hitch. Their main set was solid, featuring two great covers— “Pills” (Bo Diddley by way of the New York Dolls) and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)—as well as a brand new, yet to be released song, “Fall on Me.” But when they returned for an encore, everything changed.
 

 
What went down was recounted in the recent (and excellent) biography, Begin the Begin: R.E.M.‘s Early Years.

After running through their regular set list, the band was heckled with cries of “Fuck off!” when they encored with “Moon River.” This almost resulted in a fight: [bassist Mike] Mills allegedly had to be restrained from attacking the heckler. A couple of songs later, [guitarist Peter] Buck couldn’t let it go. “The guy who yelled ‘Fuck you’ during ‘Moon River’: Meet me backstage, you asshole.” Further heckling ensued, but instead of storming off (which the band had sometimes done in similar situations), R.E.M. elected to play an entire second set of mostly cover songs—including punishing, shambolic versions of “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” (originally performed by Brownsville Station but mistakenly attributed by Mills to Bachman Turner Overdrive), “Sweet Home Alabama,” and “God Save the Queen,” interspersed with deranged monologues from [singer Michael] Stipe and Mills.

Author Robert Dean Lurie also notes that the Fables era marks the end of R.E.M.’s initial approach to touring, and that their subsequent outings were more professional and far less unpredictable.

The group would eventually sign with a major label, and their hugely popular albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), resulted in success for R.E.M. on a global scale. During this period, they stopped touring entirely.
 

 
A very listenable audience recording of the Barrymore’s gig was just upped to YouTube, and it’s embedded below. The whole show is worth your time, but if you can’t wait for the “Moon River” incident and what follows, cue it up to 1:02:30.

The setlist:

1. Feeling Gravitys Pull
2. Radio Free Europe
3. Letter Never Sent
4. Pills [Bo Diddley/New York Dolls]
5. Can’t Get There From Here
6. 7 Chinese Bros.
7. Laughing
8. Driver 8
9. Maps and Legends
10. Fall on Me
11. Have You Ever Seen the Rain? [Creedence Clearwater Revival]
12. West of the Fields
13. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
14. Old Man Kensey
15. Pretty Persuasion
16. Moral Kiosk
17. Life and How to Live It

Encores:

1. Moon River [Audrey Hepburn/Andy Williams]
2. I Can’t Control Myself [The Troggs]
3. 1,000,000 — includes Fascists Eat Donuts [Pop-O-Pies]
4. I Can Only Give You Everything [Them/The Troggs]
5. Tired of Singing Trouble/Boy (Go) [Golden Palominos]/Paint It Black [Rolling Stones]
6. In the Year 2525 [Zager and Evans]
7. Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room [Brownsville Station]
8. Sweet Home Alabama [Lynyrd Skynyrd]
9. (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone [Paul Revere & The Raiders/The Monkees] — includes 1 2 X U [Wire]
10. Secret Agent Man [Johnny Rivers]
11. The Lion Sleeps Tonight [The Tokens]
12. God Save the Queen [Sex Pistols]
13. Roadrunner [The Modern Lovers] — includes 1 2 X U [Wire]
14. 20th Century Boy [T.Rex]
15. Skank
16. Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

 
R.E.M. playing “Can’t Get There From Here” on the British program, The Tube, in 1985:
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Legendary R.E.M. performances captured before they were famous, 1981 (with a DM exclusive)
‘Just Like a Movie’: Young Michael Stipe covers Velvet Underground in clip from R.E.M. ‘Holy Grail’
R.E.M.’s Mike Mills on ‘Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee’