{"id":164077,"date":"2026-02-04T20:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164077\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:50:12","slug":"r-e-m-great-peter-buck-brings-drink-the-sea-concert-tour-to-berkeley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164077\/","title":{"rendered":"R.E.M. great Peter Buck brings Drink the Sea concert tour to Berkeley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Buck<\/a> is most often associated with Athens, Georgia, where he cofounded one of the greatest rock bands of all time \u2014 R.E.M.<\/a> \u2014 with drummer Bill Berry, bassist Mike Mills<\/a> and vocalist Michael Stipe<\/a> in 1980.<\/p>\n

Yet, the famed guitarist is actually a Bay Area guy \u2014 at least by birth. And, in that sense, Buck\u2019s show with his new band Drink the Sea on Tuesday night at The Freight in Berkele<\/a>y, was a kind of a homecoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cBerkeley\u2019s prodigal son returns!\u201d Drink the Sea drummer Barrett Martin exclaimed.<\/p>\n

Wow, did he ever. And Buck<\/a> \u2014 who was born Dec. 6, 1956, in Berkeley \u2014 brought along such a talented group of players with him.<\/p>\n

Drink the Sea definitely qualifies as a supergroup \u2014 based on members\u2019 skill levels and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s \u2014 even though many folks may not know the individual players by name.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Drink the Sea will help introduce Buck\u2019s fellow musicians \u2014 Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season), vocalist-saxophonist-guitarist Duke Garwood (Mark Lanegan Band), vocalist-guitarist Alain Johannes (Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures), vibraphonist-percussionist Lisette Garcia and bassist Kelsey Mines \u2014 to a much wider audience.<\/p>\n

\"PeterPeter Buck, of R.E.M. fame, plays guitar shoeless with Drink the Sea at The Freight in Berkeley on Feb. 3, 2026. (Chris Riley\/Times-Herald)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, Buck has been involved with so many side projects and acts-not-named-R.E.M. over the years. That\u2019s one of the reasons we love him \u2014 the dude just loves to play music and he never lets things like commercial potential or prestige level stop him.<\/p>\n

Yet, there is clearly something special about Drink the Sea \u2014 a point that was so finely showcased on Tuesday night at The Freight.<\/p>\n

The sextet opened its show just after 8 p.m. with a powerful version of \u201cShaking for the Snakes,\u201d one of 26 songs that Drink the Sea would perform during its excellent two-hour-plus set in front of a full house of curious R.E.M. fans and other adventurous sonic travelers.<\/p>\n

With the exception of a few covers taken from the musicians\u2019 previous projects, the songs hailed from the band\u2019s two full-length efforts \u2014 \u201cDrink the Sea I\u201d and \u2018Drink the Sea II.\u201d These recordings, released just two weeks apart in 2025, flow seamlessly together and are considered by band members to be two parts of the same \u201cdebut\u201d album. They both showcase a wild, satisfying mix of global sounds, brought vividly to life through traditional guitar-bass-drums configurations further colored with the use of Arabic oud, Indian sitar, Indonesian gamelans, Brazilian surdo drums and other percussion instruments.<\/p>\n

The music \u2014 so finely and thoughtfully produced and mixed by Martin and Johannes in the studio \u2014 translated quite nicely on the live stage as the group continued through \u201cOutside Again,\u201d \u201cSip of the Juice,\u201d \u201cWhere We Belong\u201d and other standout cuts.<\/p>\n

Each of the musicians had their opportunities to shine, although always within the context of the band itself. In particular, Garwood proved to be a marvelous vocalist \u2014 stepping up to the microphone with a memorably deep and resonate voice that brought to mind Nick Cave \u2014 as well as a solid rhythm guitarist and fine soprano saxophonist with a taste for free jazz.<\/p>\n

Garwood is \u201cthe voice\u201d of the band, but Martin and Johannes also provide lead vocal work \u2014 the latter more so than the former \u2014 and both do so quite well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BarrettBarrett Martin plays the drums and sings with Drink the Sea at The Freight in Berkeley on Feb. 3, 2026. (Chris Riley\/Times-Herald)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johannes is the de facto lead guitarist in the band, delivering impressive runs on a variety of axes. Martin is at helm for it all, powering the music forward \u2014 or pulling it back a notch when necessary \u2014 from his drum throne.<\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s efforts on percussion \u2014 especially on the vibes \u2014 bring so much color and life to the music. And Mines is just a lock-down bassist, providing the thread that really holds this wild and wonderful mix together.<\/p>\n

\"DrinkDrink the Sea perform at The Freight in Berkeley on Feb. 3, 2026. (Chris Riley\/Times-Herald)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Restraint, of course, has long been one of the primary characteristics of Buck\u2019s guitar work. After all, he built a career with R.E.M. on eschewing big solos. Even by his standards (and track record), however, Buck\u2019s performance was decidedly unobtrusive, leaving pretty much every lead to the highly capable Johannes and rarely playing what one could call regular rhythm guitar work. Instead, he focused on adding bits of color and flourishes to the already busy musical mix.<\/p>\n

The one big spotlight that Buck got \u2014 and certainly took full advantage of \u2014 came late in the show when Drink the Sea covered the R.E.M. classic \u201cThe One I Love\u201d (from 1987\u2019s \u201cDocument\u201d). The other two guitarists put down their axes for that one and just let Buck have his big moment \u2014 which turned out to be the one that pretty much every R.E.M. fan in the building had been waiting to see.<\/p>\n

Drink the Sea setlist:<\/p>\n

1) \u201cShaking for the Snakes\u201d<\/p>\n

2) \u201cSaturn Calling\u201d<\/p>\n

3) \u201cOutside Again\u201d<\/p>\n

4) \u201cPour Your Glow On\u201d<\/p>\n

5) \u201cSacred Tree\u201d<\/p>\n

6) \u201cBembe 4 2\u201d<\/p>\n

7) \u201cSip of the Juice\u201d<\/p>\n

8) \u201cEmbers\u201d<\/p>\n

9) \u201cWhere We Belong\u201d<\/p>\n

10) \u201cParedes\u201d<\/p>\n

11) \u201cHouse of Flowers\u201d<\/p>\n

12) \u201cThe Strangest Season\u201d<\/p>\n

13) \u201cSpirit Away\u201d<\/p>\n

14) \u201cMidnight Starlight\u201d<\/p>\n

15) \u201cMouth of the Wale\u201d<\/p>\n

16) \u201cAching Harbour\u201d<\/p>\n

17) \u201cLong Gone Day\u201d<\/p>\n

18) \u201cMeteors\u201d<\/p>\n

19) \u201cButterfly\u201d<\/p>\n

20) \u201cRose Crested Sky\u201d<\/p>\n

21) \u201cSweet as a Nut\u201d<\/p>\n

22) \u201cLand of Spirits\u201d<\/p>\n

23) \u201cTurig Asteroid\u201d<\/p>\n

24) \u201cThe One I Love\u201d<\/p>\n

25) \u201cMaking a Cross\u201d<\/p>\n

26) \u201cHanging Tree\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter Buck is most often associated with Athens, Georgia, where he cofounded one of the greatest rock bands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[79395,79394,143,145,144,79398,79396,79397],"class_list":{"0":"post-164077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-a-supergroup-featuring-members-of-r-e-m","9":"tag-drink-the-sea","10":"tag-oakland","11":"tag-oakland-headlines","12":"tag-oakland-news","13":"tag-performed-at-the-freight-in-berkeley","14":"tag-screaming-trees","15":"tag-them-crooked-vultures"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}