Is Lou Reed any good live nowadays?

Just curious since he's coming over here in April and the GF wants to go, but there's the question of whether he's worth $55 nowadays. (And he's NOT bringing Metallica with him as the backing band, so at least that's a plus).

We saw him in 2006 and he was great, but with Lou, who knows where his head will be at any time? Presumably he's mellowed but who can say? My wife once walked out of a Lou Reed concert many years ago. You spins 'yer wheel, you takes 'yer chance.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

I don't like paying money to see anyone, and I would seriously consider paying a mere $55 to see Lou Reed. I mean, I paid like $30 to see him walk through a set 20+ years ago, and he wasn't about to die then, like he is now. Especially if you've never seen him, just go and enjoy a living legend.

"Especially if you've never seen him, just go and enjoy a living legend."

Museums are cheaper. . . I'd be highly skeptical of paying more than 20 bucks for Lou Reed nowadays.

Of the two concerts I paid a lot for last year, one wasn't worth it (Morrissey) and one was (Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend set).

We are in the caveat emptor era of concert-going, what with Ticketbastard having driven things too far northward to ever come back down (and no regulation of the industry).

Ticket prices are beyond ridiculous, it's true. But as long as those with the $$ are willing to pay it, it's gonna be the state of things for anyone but a club band. I'd love to see Soundgarden play in Austin in May (especially because I never saw them when they were originally around), but at $75 a pop, it's out of my range.

That said, I did pay over a hundred bucks to see Leonard Cohen last year. I was afraid this might be his last tour, given his advanced age, and I'd never seen him. And I gotta say, it was worth every penny.

Mr. Toland: I echo your sentiments on Leonard Cohen. I paid $60 to see him on his last tour and that was like $150 to me. And even though I only have a single album of his [I was the definitive casual fan] it was worth more than the time and effort. I'd recommend anyone see Cohen if they had the chance.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

What's an "off" night for Lou anyways? A dog whistle set?

Yeah, at twenty or even thirty dollars I wouldn't even both asking, but at $55 + @#$%ing service charge.... At least I'd be able to say I've seen him, but on the other hand I've gone to other shows using the same rationale and ended up wishing I'd saved the bucks, the evening, and my memories.

Oh, I understand - I mean, I (seriously) wouldn't pay $50 to see the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen. Their music never meant to me what Lou's did at its best. That's the third leg of the equation. If you're a casual Lou fan and like mostly Rock and Roll Animal, yeah, $55 is too much and I'd skip it.

Damn straight. He's the guitarist's guitarist, the songwriter's songwriter.

All right. I have to give credit to Lester Bangs for the title of this post, which came from a LR interview.

If you're The Outfield and you're playing the local fair, you HAVE to "All The Love in th World" but Lou shouldn't have to play anything. Neither does Dylan. Dylan has his own way of playing the oldies to keep them interesting to him though.

The older I get, the less I really care about seeing music live. There are alot of issues with it... as this thread suggests.

I saw Lou when he was touring to support New York -- holy jeez, that was almost 25 years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, his band was tight and Lou was in good voice, but his own performance varied through the set, depending on how he felt about each song. He clearly engaged on the new album's songs (he played all the New York songs, start to finish), and on his other then-recent material ("Legendary Hearts" was particularly good).

But he was clearly sick & tired of playing "Sweet Jane," "Walk on the Wild Side," "Satellite of Love" and "I Love You Suzanne." And the way he sang those songs, it was as if he was determined to make sure his audience felt the same way about them as he did.

Agree with Totaji about Lou and Dylan. Van Morrison and Neil Young are in the same category. Even R.E.M. stopped playing "Radio Free Europe" in concert after the Eighties ended.

Personally, I went to that show in 1989 looking forward to hearing songs from New York and some of his other Eighties selections. (That was a pretty rich decade for the man, IMO.) Much as I love the Velvets, I would've been content for Lou to leave those songs on the bench. The way he played them that night, I left the theatre wishing he had. Still glad I went that night, though.

is lou reed good? what a stupid question.



Post Edited (03-10-13 21:08)

Quote

is lou reed good? what a stupid question.

I agree. However that most certainly wasn't the question that was posed.

Let's try asking a similar question:

"Is Brigitte Bardot hot nowadays?"

Actually it turns out the question was academic anyway:

[www.soundspike.com]