R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe joined members of The National to perform ‘E-Bow The Letter’ at a special concert in France last night (October 17) – watch footage below.
The singer appeared alongside The National’s Matt Berninger and twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner at the Atabal venue in Biarritz, as part of the AB100 festival celebrating the brothers’ 50th birthdays.
The two-day event is taking place across Biarritz and the nearby Spanish city of San Sebastián, bringing together friends and collaborators of the Dessners for a series of special performances.
Saturday’s opening concert, billed as ‘Mixtape’, saw the brothers joined by a rotating cast of musicians, including Ben Howard, Kevin Morby and Jon Hopkins.
Stipe and Berninger came together to sing ‘E-Bow The Letter’, originally released as the lead single from R.E.M.’s 1996 album ‘New Adventures In Hi-Fi’. The original recording featured guest vocals from Patti Smith.
Before they began the song, Stipe gifted handmade sculptures to both Dessner brothers, before Berninger was welcomed to the stage and he jokingly handed out pieces of chewing gum as gifts.
Stipe introduced the song by explaining that R.E.M. wrote it during a stay in San Sebastián in 1995, while Aaron Dessner said it was a song The National “begged” them to play when they opened for the band in 2008.
The National have a long history with Stipe and R.E.M., having supported the latter on their North American tour in 2008, alongside Modest Mouse.
Stipe has also worked directly with Aaron Dessner, with the pair releasing the collaborative single ‘No Time For Love Like Now’ in June 2020.
The song was released under Dessner’s Big Red Machine project, with orchestration provided by Bryce. At the time, Aaron described Stipe as “a great hero and friend to me (and The National)”, adding that he had never imagined they would end up writing songs together.
The pair also performed the track together on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon later that month.
‘E-Bow The Letter’ has also been a regular choice for Stipe’s live collaborations over the years. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has joined R.E.M. to perform the song on several occasions, taking the vocal part originally sung by Smith, including at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert and a secret London church show in 2004.
