Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy

Life’s Rich Pageant Tour

Opener: Bobcat Goldthwait

By Rob McCune

Michael Shannon doesn’t look like Michael Stipe.

For one thing, Shannon – the actor known for playing the parts of imposing men who seemingly could level a city block with a hard stare and crater the Earth with an outburst – is six inches taller than the former REM frontman.

Still, at 6-foot-3, when the music takes him, Shannon moves like Stipe, and with Jason Narducy & Friends (Dag Juhlin, John Stirratt, Vijay Tellis-Nayak and Jon Wurster) backing him up, it can be easy to forget you’re not at an REM show.

Having previously toured to play in full REM’s “Murmur” and “Fables of the Reconstruction” albums in their 40th years, Shannon, Narducy & Friends hit the road to throw a similar birthday party for the 1986 album “Life’s Rich Pageant.”

The spectacle toured for 22 shows this year, starting in Denver in mid-February and ending in Bloomington, Indiana, in mid-March. The crowd at Brooklyn’s The Bowery got a special treat with a surprise appearance by Stipe, who sang two songs – “These Days” (“Life’s Rich Pageant”) and “The Great Beyond” (“Man on the Moon” soundtrack).

The tour was also enlivened by the presence of comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait, who performed a 30-minute standup routine that left more people in stitches than an entire season of “The Pitt.”

At the Cleveland stop, March 10 at Globe Iron, the band played for two hours, playing two sets and 30 REM songs.

The first 12-song set covered “Life’s Rich Pageant” in full, in tracklist order – including “Cuyahoga,” a song about Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, just steps from the venue. Shannon, Narducy & Friends left the stage for a few minutes – bathroom breaks, and in Shannon’s words, to give the album its own moment.

The next 12-song set covered a variety of REM hits and B-sides, from “Lotus” to “Burning Down.” Still not done, the show featured a six-song encore, starting with a stripped-down “Nightswimming,” and ending with “Radio Free Europe” and “Star 69.”

Following the 40th anniversary trend, next up for the band will be REM’s 1987 album “Document,” which includes such iconic tracks as “The One I Love” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.