Pitchfork

Geared up to Accelerate and readying themselves to pal around North America with the youngsters in Modest Mouse and the National, R.E.M. have announced their big plans for the summer. The band will head to Europe in July, August, and early September, with more festival appearances and a full UK trek to be announced shortly.

But before any of that, the band will play a one-off show in London on March 24 at the legendary Royal Albert Hall. It's a benefit for the ICA.

Accelerate drops March 31 in the UK and April 1 in the U.S. from Warner Brothers. And like any major album these days (and a lot of minor ones), it will be available both as a regular ol' CD and a special edition. The latter is a CD/DVD combo featuring "special Amray package with a 64-page booklet inside" and, on the DVD, " a Vincent Moon 48 min. film of behind-the-scenes footage, and performance pieces of various songs on the album." And if all that wasn't enough, you also get two bonus mp3s: "Red Head Walking" (ooh ooh, Beat Happening cover?!) and "Airliner".

Speaking of bonuses, check out this video of Michael Stipe in NYC cooling out with a coffee and chatting up the record. Turns out first single "Supernatural Superserious" is a "geek anthem" about "terrifying, humiliating things that happened to us in our teenage years that follow us through life." And it turns out Michael Stipe doesn't much like that President of ours. I never would've guessed!


R.E.M.:

03-08 Big Cypress, FL - Big Cypress Indian Reservation (Langerado Festival)
03-12 Austin, TX - Stubb's Bar-B-Q (SXSW) !
03-24 London, England - Royal Albert Hall #
05-23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park *
05-29 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
05-31 Berkeley, CA - The Greek Theatre *
06-03 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
06-06 Chicago, IL - United Center *
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre *
06-10 Raleigh, North Carolina - Walnut Creek Amphitheatre *
06-11 Washington, DC - Merriweather Post Pavilion *
06-13 Boston, MA - Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts *
06-14 Long Island, NY - Jones Beach Theater *
06-18 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts *
06-19 New York, NY - TBA *
06-21 Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre *
07-02 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Westerpark
07-09 Nice, France - Theatre de Verdure
07-15 Dresden, Germany - Elbufer
07-16 Berlin, Germany - Waldbuhne
07-18 Lucerne, Switzerland - City Square
07-20 Perugia, Italy - Umbria Jazz Festival
07-21 Verona, Italy - Arena
07-23 Naples, Italy - Neapolis Festival
07-24 Udine, Italy - Villa Manin
07-26 Milan, Italy - Arena Civica
08-17 Prague, Czech Republic - Slavia Stadium
08-19 Stuttgart, Germany - Ehrenhof
08-20 Loreley, Germany - TBA
08-22 Wurzburg, Germany - Marienfeste
09-03 Oslo, Norway - Ullevaal Stadium
09-04 Bergen, Norway - Koengen Stadium
09-06 Copenhagen, Denmark - Parken Stadium
09-07 Stockholm, Sweden - Stadium
09-09 Helsinki, Finland - Finnair Stadium

! with Johnathan Richman, Papercranes, Summerbirds in the Cellar, Dead Confederate
# with Robyn Hitchcock, Foals, Duke Spirit
* with Modest Mouse, the National