Michael Stipe performed alongside members of the National in Biarritz, France on 17 October 2026, as reported by Spin Magazine. The event, dubbed AB100, was held at the Atabal venue to mark the twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s 50th birthdays belatedly, their actual birthday having fallen on 23 April. Jon Hopkins, Ben Howard, Anaïs Mitchell, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry and Ragnar Kjartansson also appeared as special guests.
Stipe first performed ‘No Time for Love Like Now’, his 2020 collaboration with Aaron Dessner, before staying on stage for a cover of R.E.M.’s ‘E-Bow the Letter’ alongside National frontman Matt Berninger. The song originally appeared on R.E.M.’s 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi, featuring a guest vocal from Patti Smith.
Gifts, guitars and a slide you might regret using
Before launching into the set, Stipe produced handmade sculptures he had brought from New York City. ‘I brought gifts from New York City and they’re heavy in my pocket,’ he told the crowd, before distributing them to the Dessners. ‘It’s a sculpture that I made the year that we toured together. You can use it as a guitar slide, but you might get electrocuted, which is not good.’
Aaron Dessner provided his own context for the ‘E-Bow’ cover. ‘We got to open for R.E.M. in 2007-8 and we used to beg them to play certain songs, and sometimes they would oblige,’ he said. ‘We did it today again, and Michael gracefully said yes.’
Stipe then offered his own account of the song’s origins. ‘The song that we’re going to perform started in 1975 on the Lower East Side of New York City,’ he said. ‘Exactly 20 years later, it coalesced and started to become this song in San Sebastian, which I haven’t been back to since 1995.’ The AB100 event was set to continue in San Sebastian with a full National concert.
The National return to the stage after two years away
The Biarritz appearance came just days after the National broke a two-year stage hiatus on 11 October 2026 in Berlin, performing at the PEOPLE festival. That show featured collaborative performances of ‘Fake Empire’, ‘Terrible Love’, ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ and others, with guests including Ben Howard, Gordi, SOAK, Bartees Strange, Angie McMahon and Gail Ann Dorsey, known as David Bowie’s bassist.
As for Stipe’s own recording work, he recently told the Los Angeles Times that his long-awaited debut solo album would be out next May. In October 2026, Pitchfork reported, citing that same interview, that Stipe is working on the record with Andrew Watt, Andy LeMaster and what he described as ‘a gallery of thieves’. In October 2026, Yahoo Entertainment also reported on the interview, noting that Stipe said: ‘Five seconds into the new year, there will be a new song with a video setting up the album.’
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