Before the show kicked off, Michael Stipe did something quieter than singing: he pulled out two handmade sculptures and gifted them to the Dessner brothers (Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner). When it was Matt Berninger's turn to take the stage, his return gift was much simpler—a few sticks of gum, handed out to the crowd half-jokingly. The moment unfolded on the night of October 17 at the Atabal venue in Biarritz, France.
The performance was part of the AB100 festival, celebrating the Dessner twins turning 50. The two-day event spanned Biarritz and the nearby Spanish city of San Sebastián, bringing together a rotating lineup of the brothers' longtime collaborators. Saturday's opening show, dubbed "Mixtape," featured Stipe and members of The National alongside Ben Howard, Kevin Morby, and Jon Hopkins.
The Stipe-Berninger duet on "E-Bow The Letter" revisited the lead single from R.E.M.'s 1996 album "New Adventures In Hi-Fi," which originally featured Patti Smith on vocals. Before the performance, Stipe explained to the crowd that the song was written during R.E.M.'s stay in San Sebastián in 1995—and this year's festival stage happened to be set near that very city. Aaron Dessner added that when The National opened for R.E.M. on tour in 2008, they had "begged" the band to perform the song live.
That year, The National and Modest Mouse opened for R.E.M. on their North American tour, marking the start of a friendship between the bands. In the years that followed, the relationship extended into the studio: in June 2020, Stipe and Aaron Dessner released a collaborative single, "No Time For Love Like Now," under the Big Red Machine name, with arrangements handled by Bryce Dessner. Aaron described Stipe at the time as "a massive hero and friend to me [and The National]," admitting he never imagined the two would write music together. That same month, the pair also performed the track on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."
"E-Bow The Letter" has become something of a staple for Stipe's live collaborations over the years. Radiohead's Thom Yorke has joined R.E.M. on multiple occasions to perform the song, stepping into the vocal part originally sung by Patti Smith—including at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert and a 2004 intimate church show in London.
AB100 festival caps off tonight (October 18) with its headline act: The National will play their first full-band show since 2024 at Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastián—also their only full-lineup performance of 2026—under the name "The National And Friends," with more special guests expected to appear. The band's most recent album is 2023's "Laugh Track," which followed "First Two Pages Of Frankenstein," released earlier that same year.
Stipe, meanwhile, is still working on his long-awaited debut solo album. In July he released the spoken-word single "Hum Desiderata," and back in April he performed the unreleased track "The Rest Of Ever" on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." He has previously said he hopes to finish the album before the end of 2026, while admitting progress has been considerably slower than expected.
