Taking you back to Earth Day, 1990– Merriweather Post Pavilion in suburban Maryland outside Washington DC, where Natalie Merchant’s 10,000 Maniacs, the Indigo Girls and Billy Bragg (and a bunch of other great bands) were playing a benefit and Michael and Peter came along (only a few months after finishing the final shows of the Green World Tour). It was a stellar spring day, not unlike today, and I remember a stunning version of John Prine’s “Hello in There” figured into the festivities. Well, all these years later, all we can find on YouTube to memorialize that day is sort of a shaky quality recording of Michael and Billy joining the Maniacs for Campfire Song but for good measure, we also located a clip of Hello In There from a bit later when Michael actually toured in Europe with Billy and Natalie (LINK).
Happy Earth Day, then and now. Peace, then and now.
The nonpareil R.E.M. Timeline calls the action:
21 April 1990 – ‘A Performance For The Planet’ – Earth Day, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
other acts appearing: 10,000 Maniacs, Billy Bragg, Indigo Girls, Ziggy Marley, Crack The Sky, The Fabulous Tunderbirds, Jungle Brothers, Bruce Hornsby And The Range, Michelle Shocked
sets included:
10,000 Maniacs: What’s The Matter, Here? / Dustbowl / Trouble Me / A Campfire Song (w/ Billy Bragg & Michael Stipe) Billy Bragg: Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards / Hello In There (w/ Stipe) / Dallas (w/ Stipe) / Disturbance At The Heron House (w/ Peter Buck & Stipe) / Fall On Me (w/ Peter Buck, Stipe & Merchant) Indigo Girls: World Falls / Summertime (w/ Michael Stipe) / White House Blues / Hairshirt (w/ Stipe) / All Along The Watchtower (w/ Stipe) / Kid Fears (w/ Stipe)
notes: Earth Day show with Indigo Girls with Michael Stipe. 10,000 Maniacs & Billy Bragg, as well as Michael played other songs…