Thursday, 18 January 2007 at 20:00
Lou Reed’s Berlin is a project that brings to life an album which is at once deeply influential and chronically misunderstood. Recorded in 1973, Berlin was the visionary, follow-up ‘concept album’ to his popular hit record, Transformer. Although Berlin became a cult favourite and was reissued, Reed has never performed the album live.
Sydney Festival and Arts at St. Ann’s (New York) have joined forces to present a theatrically realized concert version of Reed’s stylized rock paean to life outside the circle. From Beerhalle staccato to the embers of a final ‘Sad Song’, its orchestrations are filled with the lyrics of the broken hearted and willfully disabled… the drifting tormented addicts of love formalizing their own downfalls in the outskirts of the divided city.
Berlin features the legendary Lou Reed on vocals, accompanied by a band made up of his long-time collaborators. The live score will be augmented by a 20-piece chore of young voices led by none other than Antony of Antony and The Johnsons. Musical direction will be shared by Bob Ezrin, who produced the album in 1973 among other seminal recordings including The Wall, and Hal Willner, the producer behind the 2005 Sydney Festival spectacular Came So Far for Beauty.
The concert will be directed and designed by 1980’s New York art-scene phenomenon and film-maker Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls).
Lou Reed will be playing at the State Theatre.
Here's a link for the article & for ticket info.
It seems Lou will perform the same material in Wroclaw (Poland) on 13th March.