R.E.M.: “Tom’s Diner”
March 15, 1991 
The Borderline, London

“On March 14, R.E.M. were filmed playing three songs lived in the studio for broadcast that evening on BBC2’s The Late Show. While this show was being broadcast, the band were playing the first of two consecutive nights at The Borderline in London under the pseudonym Bingo Hand Job.

‘I think [Michael Stipe] just likes the idea of people waiting in line to ask for tickets for Bingo Hand Job,’ said Peter [Buck] shortly before the first show.”

Helped out by Bill [Berry] on drums and Billy [Bragg] as a human beatbox, Michael extemporized his own vocal for a hilarious reading of Suzanne Vega’s ‘Tom’s Diner’.

—excerpted from from It Crawled From The South: An R.E.M. Companion

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