Patti Smith turned 70 on New Year’s Eve, which also happened to co-incide with the Chicago leg of her Horses tour, in which she performs the seminal punk classic in full.

The show was happily interrupted towards the end, when REM frontman Michael Stipe came onto the stage and surprised Smith with a birthday cake, leading a crowd-singalong of ‘Happy Birthday’.

He then joined Patti and band for a rousing version of ‘People Have The Power’.

Stipe are Smith are long-time friends, having collaborated numerous times throughout their careers, most notably on the 1996 REM single ‘E-Bow The Letter’, and on the touching ‘Blue’, the final track on REM’s last album.

Check out various fan footage below, and then enjoy Patti and REM performing ‘E Bow The Letter’ live in NYC in 1998.

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