what does a washed-up ass sound like? Someone who can't write their way out of a paper bag maybe?

yes elwoods comments make more sense when you look at his blog and see that his idea of a "kick ass show" is The Police's final concert, MSG

This really was an awful show. Zorn's horn sounded incredibly harsh, like nails on a chalkboard, and Lou was just playing simple, repetitive guitar chords over the agonizing horn.

No vocals. Everyone there really wanted to leave - many did - and nearly half the audience literally had their fingers in the ears for the entire duration of the show.

I can imagine the scenario as Mr. Elwood describes it. For sometime now I've wondered why Lou Reed persists. He's done great things, I admire him, but I would never want to sit in a room and listen to him now. To me, he always sounds terribly bored, even when he's really into what he's doing.

the origional hipster..

Ok, someone who was actually at this show and knew what it was all about needs to step in here so I will do that.
Anon 6:31 is a stupid shithead who is lying through his teeth. The audience was not walking out nor holding their fingers in their ears. Most people there loved the show because they knew it was not going to be Lou playing Velvets material but instead him playing free form noise with Zorn. It was Zorn's night. Lou was his guest.
I saw this other moron Elwood after the show. He was running around the place screaming "FUCK YOU LOU" etc etc. Read his blog. Him and 6:31 are 2 of the dumber Lou Reed fans out there if not the same person. If they don't get the Lou they want they scream bloody murder. Elwood crows about how this is his 5th Lou show and the first was the St Ann's Berlin show. Ooh dude you really are an expert who should comment about Lou's performances.
The show was great. They played together wonderfully as usual. Lou's playing was far from repatitive. Mike Patton was an added bonus not to mention the encore with Ikue and Zeena on stage as well.

I was also at the show and 6:31 was right on the money. Everyone was nervously looking around like "What the fuck is going on here?" And much of the crowd - especially the many middle-aged concertgoers - had their fingers in their ears and a look of sheer agony on their faces.

Plus, the drinking policy "Per the Artist's Request" - segregating everyone to a bar in a whole other room entirely, where you couldn't even take your drinks outside the bar area - was worse than All Points West.

This entire night was a complete debacle, and anyone who says otherwise is too all-over-Lou's-jock to know what's what anymore.

"Zorn's horn sounded incredibly harsh, like nails on a chalkboard, and Lou was just playing simple, repetitive guitar chords over the agonizing horn."

Sounds like punk rock to me. Wish I had been there.
Have you never heard Zorn play before?
Have you never heard the Velvet Undergrounds first album, or god forbid, Metal Machine Music?

Ok you didn't like it, wah fuckin wah, go back to listening to Arcade Fire or Jesse McCartney or whatever sort of bland dessicated dogshit music makes you feel safe.

Hahaha, anon 7:41 -- I love the stupid posters who didn't even attend the show, yet have some sort of obligation to put in their incredibly obnoxious two cents, without a hint of context.

Funny though 7:41 was not at the show but nailed it perfectly. I'm telling ya people. The Anon comments on here saying the show sucked are almost for sure the work of the same person. Probably this Elwood dope. Look at Lori's pictures above for proof. The ones where you can see the crowd. Does it look like anyone has their fingers in their ears? Does it look like the place was empty? Looks like a crowd really into a performance.

Give it up Anon dude. The show was great. Sorry you did not know what kind of show this was going to be but you are most definitely in the minority but do me a favor and keep saying how it was a debacle and the crowd was agonizing because I also took pictures from a few different vantage points and a number that includes a rapt crowd and it would give me no greater pleasure then to post them and show what a lying piece of shit you are.

This show was quite interesting to me, I was entertained and it was nowhere near the uninspired suckfest one anonymous troll is making it out to be.

It was, in all seriousness, terrible.

There was an interesting cross-section in the crowd. The people up front about 7 or 8 deep did indeed seem to be into it, although they were probably just excited to be that close to Lou.

Meanwhile, virtually all of the people comprising the 2nd half of the crowd, mostly older folks, were really not into it, and indeed had fingers in their ears. Many people seemed to vacate to the bar area for the entirety of the show, while I'd say about 100 out of the 500 some-odd people there left very early. And this show was not a sell-out.

I suggest people research a show before showing up if they are that clueless, which so many of the commenters here are. The headline read Lou Reed & John Zorn. It never read Lou Reed Performs His Hits. There was actually a great description of it up at brownpapertickets.com where the tickets were sold, so every person who bought a ticket should have known what to expect. That being said it was an amazing show and Mike Patton set it over the top. They were on stage for less than 90 minutes, you can't go without booze for that long? How can you compare that to a day long festival with beer restrictions? Fucking cry over it.

i wasnt there but going by the descriptions it sounds better than wolf eyes anyway

It was terrible. Experimental doesn't necessarily mean good. It was just ~80 mins. of painful noise, and Lou's guitar lines were elementary at best. Lou could take a dump onstage and his legions of dedicated fans would praise it as some sort of "experimental project/fascinating commentary on the state of the music industry."

Godawful. And $75 for around 80 mins. of Lou and Zorn basically jamming out onstage? Bleh.

Between the ridiculous drinking policy, the strange, inaccessible performance, and the high, $75 ticket price, this entire evening felt like a big "Fuck You" from Lou to the masses.

http://elwood-theonlylivingboyinnewyork.blogspot.com/2008/08/music-thoughts.html

wow, look at those bugs.

Oh will you look at this now. The one anon moron(Elwood) now changes his tune because the photos prove him wrong. Now its only the people in the back(the ones not showed in the photos above) who left early or were holding their fingers in their ears.

It is funny though that when Lou and John and Laurie played the same kind of show at The Stone months ago there were none of these fools there. Do you think that might be because they knew the Stone is a showcase for experimental work from artists.

This guy is just pissed because he came expecting to hear White Light/White Heat.

Pathetic.

Okay, let's just say it out loud and get this over and done with:

No one give a flying fuck about who thought what about this show.

Next!

on the comments section of his own blog "Mr Elwood" insists that he didn't mean to give the impression that it was a "bad" concert! too funny really

"Oh will you look at this now. The one anon moron(Elwood) now changes his tune because the photos prove him wrong. Now its only the people in the back(the ones not showed in the photos above) who left early or were holding their fingers in their ears."

The only person who seems to be commenting over and over is you, the one sticking up for this horrible show that you obviously are affiliated with.

"Pathetic."

call your unhappy customers who paid $75 pathetic. you'll definitely last in the business world.

This show was BAD. Very bad.

o ho wait a minute, on his blog "Mr Elwood" has apparently now deleted the comment by the guy who called him on his crap and his own hilarious reply to that comment! Blog strong!

this mr. anonymous is an angry fellow.

Hip...Hip-Hop... Hip-Hop Anonymous?

dan deacon > lou reed

I went with an open mind, but man it was terrible. If some people liked it, good for them. I truly can't imagine.

10:28 - it's always been about "fuck you" from lou to his audience, 1966 to now. "my week beats your year." sometimes the audience follows; most of the time, they don't. and in 1969, nobody was following. it's what makes him unique.

the drinking policy seems pretty reasonable. if lou had played carnegie hall, you'd find the same restrictions.

Why would Lou play Carnegie Hall? Stupid.

Did he play the Moog guitar?

metal machine music = extraordinary
this show: "cacophony". 10:21 nailed it on the head, a big "fuck you" to us. would work well for the g.bay detainees though! that's that.

i think that lou is very bad

"metal machine music = extraordinary...this show: "cacophony"

oh, well, I wonder which are the parameters to define the difference between the two. I must be missing something, but I'd have payed a lot to be there.

I love Zorn, I love when music gets radical and people get disturbed.

Reed and Patton are just the worst kind of clods by now but their saving grace is that they care about making new sounds for themselves, not for anyone else. That tends to annoy and alienate people. Zorn's always been a legendary prick but he never offers anything except his longterm devotion to vex and challenge the listener. These are necessary things in a beige world - at the very least, you've gotten $75 worth of enjoyment from their respective works and if you went there not knowing what to expect - tough. That's why the good Lord Jesus Christ gave you curiosity. And the internet. And pornography. But not gay pornography, that's just wrong. As are half the commentators about this performance.

Next tempest in a teacup, please!

2 Things. Is that Wasserman turning the page for Lou? Are those Sarah Palin's glasses?

I have to say Zorn kicked Lou's ass. If the purpose of the show was to have Lou provide backup guitar for Zorn's sax, then it was moderately successful. If the purpose was an equal collaboration between the two, it was not successful.

Phantom Orchard, on the other hand, were amazing.

People were indeed holding their fingers in their ears to the right of the stage in the front (one girl was facing away from the stage with her fingers in her ears). This was probably due more to Zorn's sax playing, which I loved, than Lou's guitar playing. There were a good amount of walkouts.

Whether this was due to misplaced expectations, total lack of appreciation for artsy noise music, or just a subpar show, is up to each individual in the venue.

And while I'm already out on this limb - I hardly ever review a show, I don't think I'm really qualified, so feel free to throw your digs my way - I'd say if Bill Laswell had been there he could've saved the show.

Mike Patton is a god. This Elwood blog is a joke.

Will you guys please keep arguing, I'm bored at work.

real world brooklyn cast member joins shitty local pop punk band Shiragirl

great review Lori. I wasnt there but I'm sure I would have loved it. You guys have to expand your horizons a bit.

also I dont blame anyone for fingers in ear stuff, they should provide earplugs at the door IMO, I got lot of hearing damage and wear plugs for practically every show I see.

Elwood guy is kind of like a babe in the woods, guy came to NYC and is wonderstruck. Look at how he is star struck at meeting Lou Reed in his other post. I saw Lou Reed many times around the city, and never occured to me to ask him for a photo or autograph, its just something you dont do right? its like you see thurston in a bar you dont bug him do you?? that is what is so fucking cool about this city, thurston sitting alone in basement at Midway sipping a beer before a gig and no one even notices (or pretends not to notice) him all night. Elwood, be more like that.

I was hoping Zorn would not be noisy, and that he would, in fact, just play the sax solo from "Walk on the Wild Side" while Lou strummed softly. man, was I surprised! THAT was $75 poorly invested!

always bring earplugs. always.

I never bug Thurston, I always bug Lee! heheh

Whoever said the crowd looks to be enjoying themselves in the pictures needs glasses; the crowd looks bored out of their gords. Look at the second picture from the bottom - the girl in the back is almost asleep. Everyone else is expressionless.

Show was terrible. Just terrible.

If you saw John Zorn on the bill and didn't know to expect that genre of performance, you didn't deserve to be there.

Brooklyn Vegan you really are an idiot!!! Stick to ya Sting & Phil Collins mate - Zorn woulda loved lookin out to meet your pathetic distressed faced & twisting his sax deeper into your middle of the road brain - Every scream a temple!!! every note the unfolding of your pathetic gnosis!!! the black empire is his kingdom - you have no idea what music is- you are simply a consumer of products!!!
you idiot!!!!