NPR: Lou Reed Live

Lou Reed Live

by Bob Boilen
REFRESH PAGE TO SEE THE BLOG LIVE FROM 9-11PM EASTERN TIME

11am
It's been a long day already.
we have been eager to record Lou Reed at the 9:30 club.
we had a 48 track truck ready, we were going to record it, give him the sound files ... he would mix it then approve it for us to webcast.
last night an email came and Lou had changed his mind. He just didn't feel up to it, cold coming on or just not feeling right.

Then today Lou suggested we do an "old school" style recording. Live to 2 track.
the list of gear was very specific. we came pretty close.

5:05pm
Neal Tevault (our engineer) and I walked into the 930 club, Lou is on stage laughing, in a good mood.
he talked about the mic he wanted us to use, (a Royer stereo mic) we and the 9:30 club called all around town for it with no luck.
He came off stage we shook hands and said he'd buy the mic if we could find it and he'd add it to his collection.
still no luck.
our mics seemed to make his engineer happy.
we are recording the soundcheck and hope for approval.
if all goes right at the end of the night Lou will approve our recording and we can make it available.
we shall see.

5:40pm
I am currently at the Lou Reed soundcheck. He's playing Ecstasy and it sounds real fine, and I'm in heaven.

6:00pm

We got approval to record the show. At the end of the night we will give the recordings to Lou and he will decide if we can put the show online for you.
We are taking pictures and will post them when teh show goes up.
I'll be here updating this blog all night.

8:50pm
The thousand people that have tickets are entering slowly.
Lou Reeds ambient cd Hudson River Meditations is playing in the background

9:05
Lou slowly takes the stage
How ya doing and the crowd went wild...
first song

1 MAD
from Ecstasy 2000
good guitar battle going on...lots of energy

2. SWEET JANE
VELVET UNDERGROUND "LOADED" LP 1970
oh my
he sounds so good
didn't play the Heavenly wine and roses verse...and he dropped some words, but it was good

3. I'M SET FREE
VELVET UNDERGROUND 1969
with accordion...
wow
Lou's guitar sounds great...also the acoustic guitar and tambourine are the right touch here.

4. ECSTASY
ECSTASY 2000
Great meandering guitar and bowed bass at the top of the song
what a great band...i'll get all the names and post it

5. I'M STICKING WITH YOU
from the Velvet Underground collection called VU 1985 (thanks for the correction GB)

you may know this from Juno

6. POWER OF THE HEART
I think this is a new tune...i don't know it.
moody, nice acoustic guitar and a quiet tune...at least right now.

7. I WANNA KNOW
from the Raven 2003
words adopted from Edgar Allen Poe
potent and done with so much conviction.

8. HALLOWEEN PARADE
from the New York album....nice rant at the top of the song about how in NYC there was a Halloween Parade and how so many friends disappeared from the parade from AIDS....Then went on to rant about how we spend money mowing down other people in other countries.....how did we get from this to that he said

9.VIDEO VIOLENCE
Mistrial 1986
not a fave of mine...but a chugga chugga rocker...

10. GUARDIAN ANGEL
The Raven 2003
sweet with lyrics by Poe

11 MAGIC AND LOSS
from Magic and Loss
one of my favorite Lou records from the past 15 years

"there's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even it out"
I feel the end of the set

ROB Wasserman, bass
Michael Rathke, guitar
Steve Hunter,guitar
Sarth Calhoun, electronics
Kevin Hearn, keyboards accordion, mandolin
Tony "Thunder" Smith, drums

ENCORE TIME!!
took a while for the band to retake the stage...could be that long walk to the mens room upstairs :)

12. PERFECT DAY
Transformer 1972
One of the best songs from his best known record.
You're gonna reap just what you sow...
I've played this chord progression hundreds of times...it is so good.

and what a great show
we hope to have this show on our site....
as the sound of the Hudson River Meditations plays in the background

we give the sound files to Lou for approval.
stay tuned...and good night.

Thursday April 24
still waiting for our man.
bb

Friday April 25
Lou doesn't care for the recording, as much as a recording done of Asbury Park show.
I told them we would listen and decide.

Stay tuned.

We are grateful for Lou Reed offering us the Asbury Park show.
We will post it online May 6th or 7th.

http://www.npr.org/liveconcerts

5:48 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Thanks for blogging this! Almost as good as being there (well, not really, but it's still nice).

Sent by Jordan Hirsch | 9:05 PM ET | 04-22-2008

Thanks, Bob. I caught Lou Reed back in 2004, Anthony performed with him and it was a great show. I hope to hear tonight's show on your site - I'm curious about the accordion on I'm Set Free.

Sent by Pablo | 11:02 PM ET | 04-22-2008

ooh man, can't wait.

what's the plan for publishing shows via podcast this summer? i discovered your podcasts about a month ago and i've been eating them up. please keep up the great shows, and publishing them often
we have a treat or two in store for the summer. I can't divulge until the ink is dry, but we'll keep you happy.
bob

Sent by jeff judge | 11:33 PM ET | 04-22-2008

Nice job! I really look forward to hearing the live podcast of it. I'm glad that Lou ended up agreeing to be recorded. It sounds like it would've been an amazing night.

Sent by Jesse Atkinson | 12:13 PM ET | 04-23-2008

Wow, what a hot band he had!!!

Sent by Craig in NJ | 4:36 AM ET | 04-24-2008

I'm Sticking with you is from The Velvet Underground VU, A collection of Previously Unreleased Recordings released around 1984-85. The liner notes say the song was recorded 5/13/69 (Sterling, Lou, Maureen and Doug). The Velvet Underground & Nico was from 1967.
I stand corrected...i'll make the change..thanks

Bob

Sent by GB Kuntz | 6:48 PM ET | 04-24-2008

Wow- must have been amazing to spend some time with Uncle Lou getting ready to record the concert. It's good to see that a musician in this day and age is still concerned about putting out quality sound, but interesting that the plans went from a 48 track recording to a 2-track recording. Anyway, I'm hoping that it get's the thumbs up as I would love to hear this.

Sent by dk | 11:12 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Really appreciate this. Saw the show last night in Norfolk. Same play list. I loved Power of the Heart. Would have loved to have heard Vicious.

Sent by Joe | 9:24 AM ET | 04-26-2008

FYI, the "Live Electronics" guy is SARTH Calhoun.

Thanks for that, I'll fix it.
bb

Sent by GG Allin | 10:27 AM ET | 04-27-2008

I saw the show last night in Knoxville TN. at the beautiful Tennessee Theater. Long time listener, first time concert. It was even better than I imagined. I've never felt the urge so strongly to just run down the aisle and leap up on the stage in the middle of the show. I just wanted to give the big guy a hug. However I restrained myself and just applauded till my hands hurt.
Same set as the 9:30 club. I sure hope you are able to post the concert.

bob

Sent by David Stinnett | 7:26 AM ET | 05-01-2008

i saw him at asbury park...i just love him!!! wish he did perfect day though!! that's my favorite

Sent by lou fan | 3:57 PM ET | 05-03-2008

Great way to get through a Saturday afternoon tackling a university assignment. Thanks Lou Reed and NPR.

Sent by Ian (Melbourne AU) | 11:36 PM ET | 05-09-2008

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:	» List of local stations (PDF)
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
May we contact you with information about NPR programming and services? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)