Michael Stipe sings “Karma Police” with Radiohead in Vancouver

Michael Stipe came on at the start of Radiohead's second encore at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on Saturday 30 August and sang “Karma Police” with them, a night after Thom Yorke had joined R.E.M. on the same stage.

R.E.M. opened their North American tour there on the Friday, with Wilco also on the bill. Radiohead watched from the field, fans there reported. Stipe dedicated “Orange Crush” to them, R.E.M. twice played the bass line of “The National Anthem”, and Stipe told the crowd he would be at Radiohead's show the next night. Yorke came out for the last two songs of the set, “E-Bow the Letter” and “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, and by the end of the second he was playing Peter Buck's guitar.

Seven songs into their own set, Radiohead dedicated “Lucky” to R.E.M. The two bands have been friends since Radiohead toured with R.E.M. in 1995. At the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1998 Yorke sang “E-Bow the Letter” with R.E.M. and Stipe joined Radiohead for “Lucky”, so this time he chose a different song.

Radiohead, Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver, 30 August 2003