Thor Christensen

ERICH SCHLGEL / DMN

Michael Stipe

AUSTIN – When R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe said his band was going to debut a bunch of new songs Wednesday night, the packed crowd at Stubb's fell silent.

"But the good news is most of them are less than 2 ½ minutes long."

True to his word, the group blazed through a slew of taut punk rockers from its aptly titled upcoming CD Accelerate. The layered keyboards found on R.E.M.'s last three discs were gone – in their place were snarling, jangling electric guitars of yore.

Mr. Stipe dedicated the new "Until the Day Is Done" to his late friend, Heath Ledger.

"Goodbye Heath! We loved you!" he yelled as the song ended.

Earlier, he said the Hurricane Katrina-themed "Houston" was inspired by Barbara Bush. The song's opening lyric: "If the storm doesn't kill me, the government will."

While the band played most of the songs from Accelerate, it did save time for hits ("Fall on Me," "Man on the Moon"), rarely heard songs from the '80s ("Second Guessing," "Auctioneer") and a Ramones-style "Happy Birthday" for a crew member. You can hear the complete concert at www.npr.org.

Thor Christensen