Michael Stipe and Jon Bon Jovi play R.E.M. classic at Harris/Walz rally

Posted By: Staff
November 4, 2024 @ 10:17 am
Music News

Tim Walz, Michael Stipe, Dough Emhoff, Jon Bon Jovi, The War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr.; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

At a rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in Atlanta Sunday, Michael Stipe sang an R.E.M. classic with an unlikely musician backing him up: Jon Bon Jovi.

In fan-captured footage, you can see Stipe sing “The One I Love” backed up by Bon Jovi on guitar and country duo The War & Treaty on vocals.

Stipe also performed another R.E.M. classic, “Driver 8,” at the rally and encouraged the crowd to join him in singing “It’s fun to get out the V-O-T-E,” to the tune of the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.”

Stipe has been supporting the Harris/Walz ticket with appearances, while R.E.M. collectively has shared a new lyric video for their song “I Believe” to encourage people to vote. They also released a digital compilation of 18 hand-picked songs called We Are Hope Despite the Times in honor of National Voter Registration Day.

As for Bon Jovi, he and The War and Treaty will appear with Walz at a rally in Detroit on Monday.