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| Lou Reed's European Tour Lou Reed announces the European tour premiere of his landmark album Berlin. Reed's 1973 critically acclaimed song cycle to feature Reed & band accompaniedby string & horn section. Musical direction by Bob Ezrin & Hal Willner / Set design by Julian Schnabel / Featuring the New London Children's Choir. The selected European dates begin in Brussels on June 18th, and include performances in Holland, France, Germany, Britain and Italy. Lou Reed will perform two UK concerts at the London Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday June 30th and Sunday July 1st. Tickets for the London concerts will go on sale on Friday March 16th. The Berlin European concerts are being hailed as a rare insight into one of music's greatest minds, a labour of love and an integral part of rock history. “I only do this every thirty years,” says Reed. “One time, one time only. You can tell your kids you saw Lou Reed's Berlin.” The European concerts follow Berlin's original world premiere at St. Anne's Warehouse in New York Ciy, December 2006 - the same venue where Reed first performed the Andy Warhol inspired Songs For Drella with John Cale in 1990. When Lou Reed's album Berlin was originally released in 1973, it was a shock to critics and fans that had just seen Reed reaffirmed as a rock visionary with the runaway success of Transformer, which included the Top 20 hit “Walk on the Wild Side.” Instead of producing an album that enhanced his reputation as glam-rock innovator, Reed immersed himself in a highly ambitious, emotionally charged, psychologically exhausting, and utterly compelling work - a dark concept album about drifting, tormented addicts in love, broken hearted and willfully disabled ex-pats, plotting their own downfalls in the outskirts of a divided city. The New York Times called the album “one of the strongest, most original rock records in years.” Rolling Stone named it, “the Sgt. Pepper of the 70s.” The same magazine -- among many others -- attacked Reed for the work: “There are certain records that are so patently offensive that one wishes to take some kind of physical vengeance on the artists that perpetrate them. Reed's only excuse for this performance...can only be that this was his last shot at a once-promising career.” Reed never performed Berlin live. Thirty-three years after the release of the album, Reed launched the world premiere of an electrifying theatrical concert version of Berlin at St. Anne's Warehouse, New York City (December 14-17, 2006), followed by three performances at Australia's Sydney Festival (January 18-20, 2006). The entire Berlin song cycle was performed live. Reed and his band were accompanied by a string and horn section and a children's choir, amounting to a 35-piece ensemble. As in the making of the album, on the forthcoming European tour, Reed will collaborate with an all-star creative team including musical direction by the origi nal producer, Bob Ezrin -- who produced the Berlin album, and record producer Hal Willner, whose most recent works include the Leonard Cohen tribute concert I'm Your Man (now a theatrically released documentary film and an album on Verve Forecast) and Lucinda Williams. Similarly to the New York and Sydney concerts, the European performances will be directed and set designed by Reed's friend, the renowned painter Julian Schnabel. Reed will be joined onstage by friends and favorite collaborators such as singer Sharon Jones, bandleader Rupert Christie (keyboards), Steve Hunter (guitar), Fernando Saunders (bass, vocals), Rob Wasserman (bass), Tony Smith (drums), brass and strings contracted by Hal Willner with Steve Bernstein and Jane Scarpantoni and the New London Children's Choir. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |