American popular culture is an amazing thing.
Last night, American actor Michael Shannon brought his band to the Globe Iron for a two-hour show, highlighting REM’s Lifes Rich Pageant.
Shannon, known for a fervent gaze and an everyman ferocity within his acting resume, brought the same Montgomery Clift passive-stare to the stage while running through an early part of the REM catalog.
Starting as an homage to his favorite outfit about ten years ago, the cover band has gained notoriety for their reverence to the source material. Co-creator Jason Narducy (on guitar and backing vocals) and Shannon have taken the show on the road and their recent tour stop in New York City had REM frontman Michael Stipe join them onstage for a few tunes. Meta meets meta.
Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Superman’s nemesis General Zod in the recent spate of the “Snyderverse” DC Comics movies, the actor recently played President James Garfield in the excellent miniseries “Death By Lightning” on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it, the show is definitely worth your time. Afterwards I asked him if he had an opportunity to check out the Garfield home and farm in Mentor; he said the rigors of touring and such a fast-paced schedule didn’t allow much time for exploring, but he wished that he had the time to go to Lakeview Cemetery and see the resting place of his character.
Perhaps an odd choice for an opening act, but comic and Police Academy veteran Bobcat Goldthwait did a forty-minute set of politically-laced humor to start off the evening. Goldthwait largely left the acting world behind and became an acclaimed director of subversive, dark comedies such as Shakes the Clown and World’s Greatest Dad. His stylings were a perfect start to such an odd event: An actor who played General Zod tours in a band that covers REM. He fronted the REM tune “Superman,” adding a layer of surreal meta wink-wink nod-nod.
Pop culture turned upside down and very self-referential; the show made this child of the eighties giddy with all of the references to the good old days. And, for an actor, Shannon had more than enough vocal cred to match the REM tunes.
