R.E.M. to kick off 6-week tour

DETROIT, March 28 (UPI) -- A desire to "get the name back out there" has led the Grammy-winning modern rock group R.E.M. to set a six-week North American tour that will commence on Sept. 1 at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle.

The 26-show tour -- R.E.M.'s first in North America in four years -- will follow a European jaunt that kicks off July 27 at the Glastonbury Festival in England. It includes two-night stands in Denver and New York City as well as performances at the San Diego Street Scene Festival on Sept. 7 at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas on September 21.

"We like to play; it's just a question of timing," R.E.M.'s Mike Mills said by telephone from Canada, where he and bandmates Michael Stipe and Peter Buck are working on a new studio album with co-producer Pat McCarthy. Two of the new songs will be finished in time for inclusion on "The Best of R.E.M.," an 18-track compilation that will arrive in stores on Sept. 30 and feature material from the group's tenure with Warner Bros. Records since 1988.

Mills said that with a new studio album also looming for 2004, the trio felt that "it was time to get out there. As a band you have to play live. It's what you do; it's the essence of what being a band is. If you take too long away from it, you start to suffer, I think.

"We've sort of disappeared in America the last couple of years. Hopefully this will remind people that we're still around and a pretty damn good band and give us a good springboard for the next record."

R.E.M. chose not to tour in North America on its last album, 2001's ``Reveal,'' which was more commercial successful in other parts of the world than in the United States.

For the tour, Mills, Stipe and Buck will be augmented by three other musicians -- longtime sideman Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5, the Posies' Ken Stringfellow and drummer Bill Rieflin (Ministry, the Minus 5). Opening acts for the North American tour include Wilco (Sept. 3-13), Ed Harcourt (Sept. 4-20) and Sparklehorse (Sept. 23-Oct. 4).

Mills said that R.E.M. plans to load its 2003 shows with hits such as "Losing My Religion," "Man on the Moon" and "Everybody Hurts" but will also preview some of the group's new songs. Among those will likely be "Last Straw," an anti-war protest song that was recently posted at the web site remhq.com

"There's a lot of protest in our music these days," says Mills, who recently appeared on a panel of artists discussing activism in music at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.

Several of the songs are directly or indirectly protesting the actions and the reactions of the Bush administration," he said. "It makes us so angry that it's impossible not to say something about it."

Mills said R.E.M. will take some time off following the tour but will likely return to the studio before the end of the year to finish its new album.

R.E.M.'s full North American tour itinerary includes: Sept.: 1 -- Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle; 3 -- New Amphitheatre, Portland; 6 -- Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Francisco; 7 -- Street Scene Festival, San Diego; 10 -- Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles; 11 -- Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas; 13-14 -- Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver; 16 -- Xcel Energy Center, Minneapolis; 17 -- Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Mo.; 19 -- NextStage, Dallas; 20 -- Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston; 21 -- Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, Texas; 23 -- Lakefront Arena, New Orleans; 24 -- Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, Birmingham, Ala.; 26 -- United Center, Chicago; 27 -- Blossom Music Center, Cleveland; 28 -- The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mich.; 30 -- Air Canada Centre, Toronto

Oct.: 1 -- Mann Center For the Performing Arts, Philadelphia; 3-4 -- Liberty Park, New York City; 5 -- Tweeter Center, Boston; 8 -- MCI Center, Washington, D.C.; 9 -- Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.; 11 -- Philips Arena, Atlanta.