The Bad Ends: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Robin Hilton | March 24, 2023
On one hand, this Tiny Desk (home) performance by The Bad Ends is an Athens, GA insider's dream, not just because the group features R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry and singer Mike Mantione of the band Five Eight, but because of all the Easter eggs the group placed around the room. There's the cookbook for the much-beloved restaurant The Grit, Jason Thrasher's Athens Potluck — a collection of photos and reflections from local musicians — and paintings by Athens artists like Terry Rowlett, Jill Carnes and even one by Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum.

But this four-song set should feel magical to anyone who loves the loose intimacy you get when a group of friends play in their parents' basement, jamming together while dreaming that it's really for a stadium-sized rock show. The Bad Ends members, all longtime veterans, capture the spirit of their earliest days when anything seemed possible.

The songs they perform here are from the band's debut album, The Power And The Glory, including the closer, a wistful instrumental called "Ode to Jose," which features Bill Berry on acoustic guitar. This is the first band Berry has been a member of — and the first album he's made — since leaving R.E.M. in 1997. Watching him play, lost deep in his thoughts, it's a moment that says, "We've been on this road a long time, but the journey isn't over."

SET LIST
"All Your Friends Are Dying"
"Left To Be Found"
"The Ballad of Satan's Bride"
"Ode to Jose"

MUSICIANS
Mike Mantione: vocals, guitars
Bill Berry: drums, 12-string guitar
Geoff Melkonian: keyboards, background vocals, shaker, bullhorn
Dave Domizi: bass, background vocals
Jay Gonzalez: guitar, mandolin
John Neff: pedal steel guitar
Anne Domizi: harmony vocals
Eddie Glikin: djembe
Owen Lange: mellotron, purple cowbell
Bennett Evans: electric sitar

CREDITS
Video: Marc Pilvinsky, Philip Wages, Larry Justice
Audio: David Barbe, Henry Barbe

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bob Boilen
Video Producer: Kara Frame
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Desk Team: Bobby Carter, Suraya Mohamed, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Hazel Cills, Marissa Lorusso, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván, Jill Britton, Sofia Seidel
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

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