Michael Stipe has never been one to let his leftist leanings go unpronounced. Still, his announcement of support of Barack Obama seems sooo Super Tuesday. After performing the song "Ignoreland" of off 1992's Automatic For The People—a rarely performed anti- George H.W. Bush song—Stipe told NME that Barack Obama "seems to represent an outsider, he's not one of those career politicians, and that seems to have more resonance." The British press is making a whole to-do of the annoucement of R.E.M.'s support of Obama, but it seems fairly obvious an insubstantial on the American end. Do you really think Stipe would vote for McCain?
The performance of "Ingoreland" concluded the T-in-the-Park Fest in Kinross, Scotland.
R.E.M. »
Stipe wore Obama T-shirts and made pro-Obama statements at a lot of the stateside shows.
The NY Post had a really negative review of the MSG show - they wrote about "Ugh, all these anti-Republican lyrics!" and how Stipe wore a suit the whole time, and that combination somehow made the show bad.