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.
