Some of the sold-out crowd at Metro Friday night may have been there to see Michael Shannon, the actor, but most were there to hear R.E.M. — how else do you explain hundreds of people singing along with 1982’s “Gardening at Night”? Or at least they were there for a combination of the two. Sh annon, guitarist Jason Narducy and a backing band performed R.E.M.’s 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” in its entirety in Chicago in celebration of the album’s 40th anniversary, plus a second set of deep cuts and an encore to conclude a month-long, 18-city tour. Shannon, the actor, has a devoted Chicago following, what with him starting out at the tiny A Red Orchid Theatre in Old Town on his way to Oscar nominations and screen roles. But he’s been performing as a musician for years, forming the indie band Corporal in 2007 after relocating to New York, and his cover-band collaborations with fellow Chicagoan Narducy go back more than a decade. This latest project dates back to a similar, shorter tour in 2024 of playing the R.E.M.’s “Murmur” for that album’s 40th anniversary. That tour, in turn, came out of a one-off show at Metro that brought invites to do more of the same in other cities. “It’s great to be here again at Metro,” Shannon said from the stage. “This is where it started.” When they played in R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, last year, they were joined on stage by singer Michael Stipe, drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills in R.E.M.’s first reunion in 13 years. The same thing happened with this tour, with all four band members joining Shannon and friends on stage on Feb. 28 at Athens’  40 Watt Club to perform “Pretty Persuasion.” Michael Shannon and band perform the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at Metro in Chicago on March 14, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon performs the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at the Metro. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon and band perform the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at Metro in Chicago on March 14, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon performs the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at Metro in Chicago. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy (right) perform the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at Metro in Chicago on March 14, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon performs the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at the Metro in Chicago on Friday, March 14, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy (right) perform the R.E.M. 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” at Metro in Chicago on March 14, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Along with Shannon and Narducy, their band was Jon Wurster (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar) and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keyboards). They played a marathon set of almost 40 songs in all, with those deep cuts mostly sticking to R.E.M.’s first albums, straying into 1997’s “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” just for “New Test Leper.” Shannon inserted the occasional pause, once with a looping story about a homeowner with a double life to introduce “Life and How to Live It,” another to bring on stage an organizer from the nonprofit Abortion Access Front. A final encore opened up the setlist to better-known fare like “Radio Free Europe.” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy joined to lead a Velvet Underground cover of “There She Goes Again.” dgeorge@chicagotribune.com   ...read more read less