Lou Reed performed at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park recently. The following is a review of that show.
Lou Reed performed at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park April 24th to a sold out, enthusiastic house.
He’s the strong silent type - someone who lets their work speak for itself. A man of few words who’s come for one purpose, to play his music, his way. Now in his 60s Reed seems to have mellowed a little since his days with the Velvet Underground when he was notoriously hard to get along with. Watching him perform you can see why – it seems as if he has played the whole night out in his head already. He knows exactly how every second of the music should sound and he nonchalantly conducts his band – softer, louder, play that bass line again, pick up the beat. Every song is turned into a mini-opus. Songs like ‘Ecstasy’, one of the night’s highlights are transformed into beautiful soliloquies as Reed weaves his tales like a fine actor delivering a heartfelt monologue.
The musicians backing Reed are insanely talented. Near, if not masters of their craft. You’d think their skill might get them a little wiggle room for improvisation but you’d be wrong. You get the idea he might give it to them if he didn’t already have such a damn good idea in his head of how he could mold the talent around him into a perfect extension of himself. He plays few of his more recognizable songs keeping it down to ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘Video Violence’ on this night in particular, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind and for good reason – every note Lou Reed touched was something extraordinary.
As critics around the country herald Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark Tour for its brilliance in talent, spectacle and sheer scope, you have to suppose that Lou Reed is on the opposite end of that spectrum showing the music world a quiet brilliance that has a way of sneaking up on you. You can see where the years have taken their toll on Lou Reed. It’s hard to tell if his slow shuffle is age or an unassuming attitude. But the absolute certainty remains that his voice is still as clear and recognizably unique as it always was. It could have just as easily been a solo Reed on stage with only his guitar to back him and it would have been just as affecting. He’s a craggy faced warbler and for some he’s a non-entity whose name rings no bells but for a lot of people he changed rock n roll.
