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Omer
= Cult of Ray =
275 Posts |
 Posted - 05/30/2003 : 07:50:16
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This is a sort of shortish review of the Lou Reed concert in Antwerp, Sunday the 25th of May 2003. All in all, it was a really good concert. Not great, really good. By far the best thing was the really varies set list, with songs from the first Velvet album, Berlin, the late 70s/early 80s, as well as more recent stuff (New York, Drella, Ecstasy and of course the Raven). The great disappointment is the lack of a drummer proper, and the synthetic drums played by Fernando. The singer, Anthony, can be exed without and noticeable consequence to the act, but Jane the Cellist is simply marvelous.
Sweet Jane
From the first chord, this really set the concert going. Great to hear. However, the version was not particularly good, because it was not really rockin’. The intro was way, way, way too long, and the instrumental pieces not really interesting. Still, fun to hear.
Smalltown
Real fun to hear, with Reed’s already infamous introduction of Mike Rathke as playing a piano – there’s no piano here, so figure it out, he tells us. Funny thing – when Reed gets to the ‘Only one good thing about a small town’ line, I screamed “you fuckin’ hate it”, and Lou went like “I can’t believe you said that, there are children in the audience”. Nice and strange outro to the song. But I do wish we’d have heard a different Drella song, because they also did this in the Ecstasy tour.
Tell It To Your Heart
good. Not much to comment on this. Not really a surprise because I knew he played it in 2002.
Men Of Good Fortune
When Lou declared this it was quite shocking. A really nice version. I do wish I would have listened to Berlin before the concert again.
How Do You Think It Feels?
The guitar intro (played very well by Reed, who also did a great solo), made everyone go crazy. However, Lou’s voice is past singing this. I’m not criticizing his new voice, which I love, but ‘How Do You Think It Feel’ requires more ‘normal’ singing, and Lou’s just not up to it.
Vanishing Act
First song off the Raven. Most striking thing about this tune was the remarkable lightning, that left Reed bare in a darkened stage. However, the song was to repetitive.
Ecstasy
wonderful song, marred by really bad guitar from Lou. He really should’ve not played guitar on this one, like he did in the ‘Ecstasy’ tour. He completely destroyed the quiet, brooding tension of this tune. However, the ending, with guitar and bass from Fernando was really good.
The Day John Kennedy Died
Now, THAT was a surprise. Completely unexpected. Not a song I’m overly familiar with, but lovely.
Street Hassle
Took me a while to recognize it. Quite different than the album version I thought, but good. Fits the atmosphere of ‘Poetry’.
The Bed
Brilliant. Far, far, better than the original. Lou’s older vocals are perfectly suited for this early day tune. He completely nailed this one down.
Revienne, Cherrie (by Fernando Saunders)
No, no, no,no a thousand times no. Fernando proves he can sing, but that’s no excuse for this pathetic little piece of bad soul pretending to be a song.
Venus in Furs
One of the unarguable highlights of the concert. The Solo by Jane was, as everyone have said, truly remarkable. My only complain is that it should’ve come at the very end – as it was, the applause hurt the magic of the song a bit.
Dirty Blvd
Not bad, but it suffered from a long intro, and from Fernando on the fake drums. Not nearly as good a version as on ‘Perfect Night’ or the ‘Ecstasy’ tour, but it certainly got a crowd reaction, including from me.
Sunday Morning
Beautiful
All Tomorrow's Parties
Rivals with ‘Venus’ as the highlight of the night. Complete reworking if the tune into something with a slightly African rhythm, hard rocking and frightfully good. The Tai Chi Monk, though, was redundant (he would later make repeat, and equally unnecessary appearances throughout the night – just a weird man fighting in a pijama)
Call On Me
another, good but unremarkable song off ‘The Raven.
The Raven
Could’ve been good, but way too long. It really does not lend itself for musical interpretation, at least not in the epic way Reed tried to work it with. Some really tense bits throughout, though.
Set The Twilight Reeling
Very good, although not as good as the version from the ‘Ecstasy’ tour. Still a great set closer.
Candy Says (Antony on vocals)
More than anything else, unremarkable.
Rock Minuet
Weird song for an encore, but not bad. It’s hardly my favorite song in Lou’s cataloge. After it was over, I knew they’d be back for:
Perfect Day
Really good. Better than the 2000 version, probably because the song doesn’t need drums and the Cello really added to it. Antony was not bad on it either. It was melodic and powerful, and all in all, a good way to close the show (although I wish we’d been lucky enough for another encore#61514;
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