 Michael Stipe sang new REM songs alongside previous hits |
US band REM announced a tour of the UK and Ireland by performing a secret show in a London church on Wednesday. The band were joined on stage by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke as they played in front of 200 people at St James's Church, Piccadilly.
REM will start their tour at London's Hammersmith Apollo in February, before returning to the UK in June and July.
Their tour will include concerts in Sheffield, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Hull, Cardiff and Nottingham.
Surprise duet
Tickets for the 2005 concerts are due to go on sale on Saturday.
Radiohead's Thom Yorke joined REM onstage on Wednesday for a surprise duet with singer Michael Stipe on E-Bow The Letter.
Yorke, whose band supported REM on 1995's Monster tour, sang the same song onstage with them at a Vancouver concert last August.
At Wednesday's gig, REM performed songs from forthcoming album Around The Sun as well as hits such as Losing My Religion and Man On The Moon.
Dressed in a white suit, Stipe asked any journalists reviewing the church concert not to use the headline "Losing My Religion".
Earlier this week, REM were joined onstage by Coldplay singer Chris Martin at Oxfam's Make Trade Fair benefit show in Hammersmith, London.
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