The biggest tour that R.E.M. had ever embarked on, taking in arenas and stadiums round the globe, was in full flow by March 1995 when the Athens, Georgia quartet rocked up in Switzerland to headline Lausanne megadome Patinoire de Malley. But the Monster jaunt was about to brought to an abrupt halt – midway through the show, drummer and co-founder Bill Berry collapsed. The next day, he was diagnosed with a ruptured brain aneurysm. Speaking to this writer back in 2021, frontman Michael Stipe looked back on one of the most harrowing period in the alt-rock titans’ history.
“We put a good spin on it publicly but the truth is Bill almost died and he almost died more than once,” Stipe recalled. “It was absolutely terrifying. It was truly horrific. We were in the middle of a tour so we were all insanely adrenalized and the tour came to a screeching halt. We were determined to stay there by his side until he was well enough to leave the hospital and walk and talk on his own. He came through - it's truly miraculous. He also happened to have an aneurysm less than five kilometres from the best hospital in the world to have surgery for aneurysms, he was very, very lucky.”
