Michael Stipe and Patti Smith Play San Francisco

Michael Stipe has definitely been laying low in the last couple of years since the breakup of R.E.M. He made a quick appearance with Chris Martin at the Concert For Sandy Relief in 2012 and just four other short sets, rarely longer than five or six songs, since that time.

On Tuesday night (December 29), he opened for Patti Smith at The Fillmore in San Francisco with a five song set covering songs from Neil Young, Boy George, the Doors, John Lennon, David Bowie and a small bit of the Velvet Underground. What wasn’t included, and rarely is at any of his performances, was music from R.E.M.

Set List for Michael Stipe:

Old Man (Neil Young cover) (into a verse of Venus in Furs (Velvet Underground cover))
The Crying Game (Dave Berry cover)
People Are Strange (The Doors cover)
Imagine (John Lennon cover)
All the Young Dudes (David Bowie cover)

Smith then took the stage for a regular fifteen song set that also included a complete performance of her 1975 album Horses along with a bit of Velvet Underground and the Who. Stipe returned to the stage towards the end of the show to join Patti on People Have the Power.

Set List for Patti Smith:

Main Set
Compacted Awareness (Patti Smith poem)
Gloria (from Horses, 1975)
Redondo Beach (from Horses, 1975)
Birdland (from Horses, 1975)
Free Money (from Horses, 1975)
Kimberly (from Horses, 1975)
Break It Up (from Horses, 1975)
Land / Gloria (from Horses, 1975)
Elegie (from Horses, 1975)
Dancing Barefoot (from Wave, 1979)
Rock & Roll / I’m Waiting for the Man / White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground cover)
Beneath the Southern Cross (from Gone Again, 1996)
Because the Night (from Easter, 1978)
People Have the Power (from Dream of Life, 1988)

Encore
My Generation (b-side of Gloria, 1976)