Michael Stipe has made it clear to fans that R.E.M. have no plans to ever return to the stage, insisting ending the band was "liberating".
The Everybody Hurts hitmakers stunned fans in September (11) by announcing they were splitting up after 31 years together, and the frontman claims there will be no distant reunion. It's over!
He says, "It's done. Of course (it's sad). It's bittersweet. (But) strangely liberating."
Stipe was joined by bandmate Mike Mills on British political show Newsnight on Wednesday (02Nov11), where they discussed the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, and when talk turned to the end of the group, the guitarist added, "We feel very comfortable with what we have done."