Former R.E.M drummer Bill Berry rejoined the band as they were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night (March 12).
Berry, who left the group in 1997, teamed up with Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck to play three songs from their career at the bash at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
REM performed ‘Begin The Begin’, ‘Gardening At Night’ (which frontman Stipe dedicated to Kurt Cobain) and ‘Man On The Moon’, with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who inducted the band, joining in on backing vocals.
But there was no reunion for rockers Van Halen – only estranged frontman Sammy Hagar and ex-bassist Michael Anthony turned up to the ceremony.
Both Hagar and Anthony were left out of the line-up set to go on a reunion tour later this year, although these plans are currently on hold, as guitarist Eddie Van Halen is currently in rehab.
Other acts inducted on the evening were Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five and The Ronettes.
Smith was inducted by Rage Against The Machine’s Zack De La Rocha, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five by Jay-Z, while Keith Richards introduced The Ronettes.
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Tributes were also paid to James Brown and to Atlantic Records executive Ahmet Ertegun, who helped found the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, who both died in December.
Soul legend Aretha Franklin performed the first million-seller she made with Ertegun, ‘I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)’.