Venue:
170 Russell ,Melbourne
Date: 31/01/2026
A celebration of Lou Reed. Note – not a tribute show a celebration. Tribute shows are fine for what they are. Play all the hits, pretty faithful to the original and heck they might even try to look like the band. This was different, established musicians with solid careers of their own playing stuff they like. Pretty close to the original versions but certainly not just the hits. Any Lou show that opens with Rock n Roll Heart ain’t a hits show.
Dave Graney, Melbourne veteran and formerly of the Moodists, Robert Forster of the Go Betweens, Mick Harvey ex Bad Seeds ,Rob Snarski of the band the Black Eyed Susans which included David McComb of TheTriffids and Stephanie Dalziel who I don’t know.
I could tell they were serious when I saw the separate set of toms next to the drum kit,clearly to do the Mo Tucker percussion from the Velvets. A good band of experienced players and off we go. Dave Graney opened with the rocky tracks. Rock’n’Roll Heart was a disappointment of an album and the song itself still resonates for the fascile lines- I guess that I’m dumb, coz I know I aint smart, but deep down inside,I’ve got a rock’n’roll heart. Yep Lou was a wonderful lyricist but this wasn’t one of those moments. Still live and with the sax honking away it was pretty good. Rob Snarski, self-described in his bio as a velvet voiced troubadour is just too damn velvet for me. He milks the melody out of a song like there is no tomorrow. So all the rich ballads Perfect Day, Sunday Morning really got the sugar treatement. I preferred the singers without great voices coz that was what Lou was like. Mick Harvey did the edgey Venus in Furs and Kill Your Sons ( not a tribute band staple you’d think). I never picked Rob Forster for a Velvets fan, thought he was Dylan and the Monkees but he had the first Velvets and immersed himself in it. Second album, not so much. A lot of Lou’s tracks involve repetitive strumming, ridin that grrove and Forster does that a lot too. I though he was best on the night with What Goes On. A lovely rendition of Pale Blue Eyes ( I thought of you as my mountain top, I thought of you as my peak, I thought of you as everything, I’ve had but couldn’t keep, Linger on, Your pale blue eyes) and he got dibs on Sweet Jane.
You’ll never guess the encore. Rock’n’Roll of course! Sweet Jane and Rock’n’ Roll -two of the greatest riffs gifted to rock’n’roll. And who else but Lou would have lines like “despite all the amputations, she could dance to a rock’n’roll station.
Mick Harvey recounted a story. A guy who founded the Australian Lou Reed fan club back in the sixties got to meet Lou – probably on his peak speed-fuelled 1974 tour. So what does Lou say to him? …Waddya want, a medal?
Set 1
Rock’n’Roll Heart
Vicious
Stupid Man
Candy Says
Satellite Of Love
Femme Fatale
I’ll Be Your Mirror
Kill Your Sons
Venus In Furs
What Goes On
I’m Waiting For The Man
Set 2
Sally Cant Dance
Charley’s Girl
I Can’t Stand It
Caroline Says II
Perfect Day
The Bed
I’m Set Free
Street Hassle
Pale Blue Eyes
Walk On The Wild side
Sweet Jane
Rock’n’Roll
The audience:
Boomers, as you’d expect and the grown-up children presumably brought up on Lou’s recordds. A lot of groups of women in 50s and 60’s. Only afew of us seemed to know all the songs but shout-outs for I Heard Her Call My Name and Sister Ray indicated there was a hard core constituency too.
It made me think..
What a catalogue, what a vast array of songs and styles. RIP Lou.
well that is surprising. Not one comment. Thought there were some Lou fans on here.
Actually I did make a comment, but it disappeared. iPhones (Safari) dont like this place it seems.
Interesting set list, I saw Lou do Pale Blue Eyes once late in his career which I wasn’t expecting. I also saw the Velvet Underground once, which I didn’t think I would ever do
the brief reformation tour that Lou sabotaged by reverting to his usual arseholism?
Yes, and it was actually in a football stadium where they were supporting U2. Going against what many have said I loved it and I swear I saw Lou smile at John once. I was very close to the front
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-velvet-underground/1993/st-jakobs-stadion-basel-switzerland-53ca2bc1.html
I was at the Glastonbury VU performance. Lou was a bit grumpy.
I was at the Edinburgh Playhouse gig. The finer points of Lou’s mood escapes me – I was just so astonished to be there at all…
Mind you, it was fairly early in the tour, so maybe he was still enjoying himself.
my favourite version of Pale Blue Eyes, but then again i always feel you can’t go wrong with a bit of Paul Quinn vocals
I see they avoided any mid-period Lou. Not edgy enough?
I’d rather hear I Love You Suzanne or Dirty Boulevard than a cover of Venus in Furs. Some (many!) of Lou’s songs were carried by his voice and swagger, but there’s not much there when you peel that away. On the other hand, he wrote some straight up banging tunes that seem eminently coverable.
well that is where we differ, I find that Mistrial, I Love you Suzanne period really trite. No New York tracks a surprise.
Yes, the Mistrial LP is a bit of a clunker, but I love You Suzanne was a pop banger (a radio hit and number 78 in the UK hit parade).
Lest we forget, Lou started out writing pop music.
New Sensations was a great album – The Blue Mask, too…
Edit: also, pretty much any album with Robert Quine on guitar has an unfair advantage right from the start.
Yes, notoriously Lou would edit out superb work from Quine. Much as I love his work he was such a prick.
The Blue Mask really is bloody good, innit? Turns out I prefer sober Lou to druggy/boozy Lou.
Quine at his best. Waves Of Fear 👍
Lucky that Lou didn’t edit Quine’s superb work on that occasion…🙂
I thought both were a bit patchy but I absolutely love the NS title track. Both albums way better than Mistrial though. Then New York, arguably his best solo album (at least top 3) and then I think a great run with Songs for Drella and Magic and Loss. I also really liked Set the Twilight Reeling and Ecstasy
Of course, you’re entitled to your opinion, dai – but you’re soooo wrong about New Sensations and The Blue Mask. Hey, ho…
All studio albums after Berlin up to New York were patchy. Mistrial was just awful.
Fitter stoke is soooooo wrong
Regularly and frequently – but not about this.
Mistrial is an acknowledged exception – even Fents called it a bit of a clunker!
Sorry, been meaning to reply to this all day. Thanks for posting the review and video, looks a great night.
Lou wrote so many truly beautiful songs. Sometimes he wrote some ugly ones too. His 10-15 best are probably a match for just about anyone else’s.
How do you write Sister Ray and I’m Waiting For The Man and Candy Says and A Gift and Sweet Jane and Oh! Sweet Nuthin and I’m So Free, all in one lifetime? It makes no sense.
Mick Harvey made that comment as he came on after I’ll Be Your Mirror and played Kill Your Sons.
There was a palpable tension in the room when they did Caroline Says II … why is it that you beat me? and The Bed … and this is the place where she cut her wrists.
That would be confronting if you didn’t know the songs and many there wouldn’t have known them. But props to them for playing them.
I enjoy this gig with the great band he had then from 1984. The later is a bit more po-faced but he was having fun with rock ‘n’ roll at this point.
Lou Reed is one of the very few who wrote songs that make regularly me cry. And he wrote several. Just the thought of him and the life he led makes sad. I hope he felt loved in his last decade, at least.
He and Laurie seemed very happy.
He had that liver transplant but I’m sure he kept drinking and swore people to secrecy.
I think that set list conveyed his sadness.
I heard the extent of his drinking afterwards was an occasional glass of wine with his dinner, but who really knows?