Borderline
Details
- Date
- March 15, 1991
- Venue
- Borderline London, England
- Billed As
- Bingo Hand Job
- Gig Type
- Concert
Set List
- World Leader Pretend R.E.M.
- Half a World Away R.E.M.
- Fretless R.E.M.
- The One I Love R.E.M.
- Cindy Of A Thousand Lives Billy Bragg
- The Auld Triangle Billy Bragg
- Reason to Believe Billy Bragg, Peter Buck
- Hello In There Billy Bragg, Michael Stipe
- My Youngest Son Came Home Today Billy Bragg, Michael Stipe
- Jackson R.E.M., Billy Bragg
- Dallas R.E.M., Billy Bragg
- Disturbance at the Heron House R.E.M., Billy Bragg
- Belong R.E.M.
- Low R.E.M.
- Love is All Around (The Troggs) R.E.M.
- Next to the Last Waltz Peter Holsapple
- Lonely Is as Lonely Does Peter Holsapple
- Neverland Peter Holsapple, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills
- White Train Peter Holsapple, Peter Buck, Mike Mills
- You Are the Everything R.E.M.
- Swan Swan H R.E.M.
- Radio Song R.E.M.
- Perfect Circle R.E.M.
- Oceanside Robyn Hitchcock, Morris Windsor
- Ultra Unbelievable Love Robyn Hitchcock, Morris Windsor
- Birdshead Robyn Hitchcock, Morris Windsor, Peter Buck
- Queen of Eyes Robyn Hitchcock, Morris Windsor, Peter Buck, Peter Holsapple
- Endgame R.E.M.
- Pop Song 89 R.E.M.
- Losing My Religion R.E.M.
- Fall On Me R.E.M., Billy Bragg
Encore
- classical organ piece Michael Stipe
- waltz organ piece Michael Stipe
- Tom's Diner Michael Stipe, Billy Bragg, Peter Holsapple, Mike Mills, Morris Windsor
- Listening to the Higsons Robyn Hitchcock, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Peter Holsapple, Billy Bragg, Morris Windsor
- You Ain't Goin' Nowhere Bob Dylan & The Band All
- Get Up R.E.M.
- Moon River R.E.M.
Media
Video of complete show
Portion of the show on Archive.org
Another recording on Archive.org
Reviews
From A MOJO Time Machine: R.E.M. are Bingo Hand Job:
Just a few days after the release of Out Of Time, on the evenings of March 14 and 15, R.E.M. pitched up at London’s Borderline, a bijoux basement beneath a Mexican diner off Charing Cross Road, to play a secret gig. They played under the alias Bingo Hand Job, featuring The Doc (Berry), Raoul (Buck), Stinky (Stipe) and Ophelia (Mills), along with friends Conrad (Billy Bragg), Violet (Robyn Hitchcock) and Spanish Charlie (Peter Holsapple). Support act was Stump Monkey. MOJO’s Keith Cameron reported on the gig, and wrote how the unannounced shows “sold out within an hour and demand was such that outside, grown men were asking (and receiving) £200 in exchange for the right to descend the Borderline’s stone steps and check out this hotly-tipped new act. Once down there, all became clear. Stump Monkey turned out to be the Chickasaw Mudpuppies, purveyors of refried hillbilly kitsch; the ancillary bands none other than Billy Bragg, Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Holsapple, while the main attraction were revealed as R.E.M., one-time garage punks from Athens, Georgia, who had decided to play their first UK gig in almost two years to barely 200 people in a cellar.”
Playing seated in relaxed style, using accordions, mandolins and bongos and a music stand to read lyrics from, the shows were freewheeling affairs. Bingo Hand Job/R.E.M. played pieces including Radio Song, The One I Love and Losing My Religion, as well as such covers as Syd Barrett’s Dark Globe and The Troggs’ Love Is All Around, plus duets with support acts Hitchcock or Bragg on versions of Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s Jackson and Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Going Nowhere. The disbelieving crowd, most of whom had paid a mere £6, also got a flannel embroidered with the words “Sanitised for your protection”.
If the gig was a rehearsal for future one-off dates, it additionally confirmed the band’s intention not to get involved in serious touring – something they would avoid until 1995. ”We don’t necessarily do the things we do to sell records,” Mills explained.
Not that their absence from the road affected the sales of Out Of Time. It would ultimately shift over 18 million units worldwide. R.E.M. were global stars at last, but stars still up for doing things their own way, it seemed. After The Troggs found out that R.E.M. had been covering their song, they set off to Athens that September to record with Buck, Berry and Mills. The 1992 collaborative album, Athens Andover, was the result. The Doc, Raoul, Stinky and Ophelia must have been proud.
Just a few days after the release of Out Of Time, on the evenings of March 14 and 15, R.E.M. pitched up at London’s Borderline, a bijoux basement beneath a Mexican diner off Charing Cross Road, to play a secret gig. They played under the alias Bingo Hand Job, featuring The Doc (Berry), Raoul (Buck), Stinky (Stipe) and Ophelia (Mills), along with friends Conrad (Billy Bragg), Violet (Robyn Hitchcock) and Spanish Charlie (Peter Holsapple). Support act was Stump Monkey. MOJO’s Keith Cameron reported on the gig, and wrote how the unannounced shows “sold out within an hour and demand was such that outside, grown men were asking (and receiving) £200 in exchange for the right to descend the Borderline’s stone steps and check out this hotly-tipped new act. Once down there, all became clear. Stump Monkey turned out to be the Chickasaw Mudpuppies, purveyors of refried hillbilly kitsch; the ancillary bands none other than Billy Bragg, Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Holsapple, while the main attraction were revealed as R.E.M., one-time garage punks from Athens, Georgia, who had decided to play their first UK gig in almost two years to barely 200 people in a cellar.”
Playing seated in relaxed style, using accordions, mandolins and bongos and a music stand to read lyrics from, the shows were freewheeling affairs. Bingo Hand Job/R.E.M. played pieces including Radio Song, The One I Love and Losing My Religion, as well as such covers as Syd Barrett’s Dark Globe and The Troggs’ Love Is All Around, plus duets with support acts Hitchcock or Bragg on versions of Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s Jackson and Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Going Nowhere. The disbelieving crowd, most of whom had paid a mere £6, also got a flannel embroidered with the words “Sanitised for your protection”.
If the gig was a rehearsal for future one-off dates, it additionally confirmed the band’s intention not to get involved in serious touring – something they would avoid until 1995. ”We don’t necessarily do the things we do to sell records,” Mills explained.
Not that their absence from the road affected the sales of Out Of Time. It would ultimately shift over 18 million units worldwide. R.E.M. were global stars at last, but stars still up for doing things their own way, it seemed. After The Troggs found out that R.E.M. had been covering their song, they set off to Athens that September to record with Buck, Berry and Mills. The 1992 collaborative album, Athens Andover, was the result. The Doc, Raoul, Stinky and Ophelia must have been proud.