On This Day, March 1, 1995: R.E.M.’s Bill Berry suffers brain aneurysm onstage

On This Day, March 1, 1995 …

R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry collapsed onstage at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The band was on tour in support of their ninth studio album, Monster. It was their first tour in six years.

Berry underwent surgery and R.E.M. wound up canceling the rest of the tour’s European leg. He was able to rejoin them once the tour resumed in the United States in May of that year.

It wound up being Berry’s last tour with R.E.M. He announced his departure from the group in October 1997, and R.E.M. continued on as a three piece. They would eventually announce their breakup in 2011.

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