R.E.M. was joined onstage Tuesday night in North Carolina by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, the locally-based co-producers of the band's influential 1983 debut album 'Murmur' and its 1984 follow-up, 'Reckoning.' The gig -- part of their ongoing world tour in support of 'Accelerate' -- took place at the Raleigh Walnut Creek Pavilion, and also found former Smiths-turned-Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr join the band onstage.

The band's surprise introduction of Easter and Dixon for a version of the memorable 'Murmur' track 'Sitting Still' during the encore was an instant highlight of the tour for R.E.M. and fans alike. "We figured out before the show that the last time those two guys attended an R.E.M. show together was 1984 at the Park Center in Charlotte," manager Bertis Downs posted yesterday. "They sat in on a song that helped put the band on the proverbial map, and the extra guitars in the hands of those dear friends, was a very special moment and sound and memory indeed."

Meanwhile Marr -- who has been supporting R.E.M. with Modest Mouse -- also joined the group as he has for the past week or so, during its encore of the 1986 single 'Fall On Me.'

During its current run, the Athens, Georgia-bred group has been playing songs from every one of its fourteen studio albums. '1,000,000', for instance, from their 1982 EP 'Chronic Town' -- produced by Easter at his now-defunct Drive-In Studios -- was one also part of the set at the Walnut Creek gig.