Flashback: U2 and REM Join Forces for Bill Clinton Inauguration

It’s no secret that Donald Trump has struggled to book performers for his inauguration. It’s gotten so bad that a Bruce Springsteen cover band pulled out of a New Jersey inaugural party, even though they were booked long before Trump even entered the presidential race. He’s ultimately been forced to settle for 3 Doors Down, Lee Greenwood, Toby Keith and America’s Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho. “We’ve gotten calls that almost sound a little bit desperate: ‘Does anybody want to perform?'” music manager Ken Levitan told Rolling Stone. “At this point, we haven’t had anybody that has any desire to perform at the inauguration.”

Things were very, very different back in January of 1993 when Bill Clinton was getting sworn in. There were huge concerts all over Washington DC that week, culminating with Fleetwood Mac reuniting to perform his campaign theme “Don’t Stop.” MTV put together their own inaugural ball featuring Don Henley, En Vogue, Boyz II Men, 10,000 Maniacs and a one-off mashup of U2 and REM featuring…