Tickets for UK concerts on sale Friday March 16th from 9am Ticket Hotline: 0870 400 0688 / Book Online: www.livenation.co.uk, www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Tickets for all other European concerts on sale from Saturday March 17th
Reed's 1973 critically acclaimed song cycle to feature Reed & band accompaniedby string & horn section. Musical direction by Bob Ezrin & Hal Willner / Set design by Julian Schnabel / Featuring the New London Children's Choir
Tickets will go on sale this week for Lou Reed's European premiere of the entirety of Lou Reed's 1973 landmark album Berlin. These rare European concerts will see Reed performing with a 30-piece ensemble including his band, a string and horn section, and a children's choir. The selected European dates begin in Brussels on June 18th, and include performances in Holland, France, Germany, Britain and Italy.
Lou Reed will perform two UK concerts at the London Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday June 30th and Sunday July 1st. Tickets for the London concerts will go on sale at 9am on Friday March 16th.
The Berlin European concerts are being hailed as a rare insight into one of music's greatest minds, a labour of love and an integral part of rock history. “I only do this every thirty years," says Reed. “One time, one time only. You can tell your kids you saw Lou Reed's Berlin."
The European concerts follow Berlin's original world premiere at St. Anne's Warehouse in New York Ciy, December 2006 - the same venue where Reed first performed the Andy Warhol inspired Songs For Drella with John Cale in 1990.
When Lou Reed's album Berlin was originally released in 1973, it was a shock to critics and fans that had just seen Reed reaffirmed as a rock visionary with the runaway success of Transformer, which included the Top 20 hit “Walk on the Wild Side." Instead of producing an album that enhanced his reputation as glam-rock innovator, Reed immersed himself in a highly ambitious, emotionally charged, psychologically exhausting, and utterly compelling work - a dark concept album about drifting, tormented addicts in love, broken hearted and willfully disabled ex-pats, plotting their own downfalls in the outskirts of a divided city.
The New York Times called the album “one of the strongest, most original rock records in years." Rolling Stone named it, “the Sgt. Pepper of the 70s." The same magazine -- among many others -- attacked Reed for the work: “There are certain records that are so patently offensive that one wishes to take some kind of physical vengeance on the artists that perpetrate them. Reed's only excuse for this performance...can only be that this was his last shot at a once-promising career." Reed never performed Berlin live.
Thirty-three years after the release of the album, Reed launched the world premiere of an electrifying theatrical concert version of Berlin at St. Anne's Warehouse, New York City (December 14-17, 2006), followed by three performances at Australia's Sydney Festival (January 18-20, 2006). The entire Berlin song cycle was performed live. Reed and his band were accompanied by a string and horn section and a children's choir, amounting to a 35-piece ensemble.
As in the making of the album, on the forthcoming European tour, Reed will collaborate with an all-star creative team including musical direction by the origi nal producer, Bob Ezrin -- who produced the Berlin album, and record producer Hal Willner, whose most recent works include the Leonard Cohen tribute concert I'm Your Man (now a theatrically released documentary film and an album on Verve Forecast) and Lucinda Williams.
Similarly to the New York and Sydney concerts, the European performances will be directed and set designed by Reed's friend, the renowned painter Julian Schnabel.
Reed will be joined onstage by friends and favorite collaborators such as singer Sharon Jones, bandleader Rupert Christie (keyboards), Steve Hunter (guitar), Fernando Saunders (bass, vocals), Rob Wasserman (bass), Tony Smith (drums), brass and strings contracted by Hal Willner with Steve Bernstein and Jane Scarpantoni and the New London Children's Choir.
Lou Reed: Berlin 2007 European Tour
Monday June 18 - Brussels Forest National
Venue Address: Forest National, 208 Avenue Victor Rousseau, 1190 Brussels
Tickets: 45 / 60 / 75 euros
Ticket Hotline: + 32 (0)70 25 20 20
Online Booking: www.proximusgoformusic.be
Enquiries/Box Office: + 32 (0)2 340 21 23 / + 32 (0)70 25 20 20
Promoter Website: www.livenation.be
Doors: 7pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Saturday March 17th
Wednesday June 20 Amsterdam - Heineken Music Hall
Venue Address: Heineken Music Hall, Arena Boulevard 590, 1101 DS
Amsterdam ZO
Tickets: 56.50 / 63.50 / 69.50 euros
Ticket Hotline: 0900 300 1250 (45 ct per minute)
Online Booking: www.ticketservice.nl
Venue Enquiries/Box Office: 0900 300 1250 (45 ct.p.m.)
Venue/Promoter website: www.heinekenmusichall.nl, www.mojo.nl
Doors: 6:30pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Saturday March 17th
Saturday June 23 Paris - Palais de Congress
Address: Palais des Congrs, 2 place de la porte Maillot, 75017 Paris
Tickets: 60 / 80 / 100 euros
Ticket Hotline #1: GDP ticketing: 0 892 392 192 (0,34/min, number avail from France only)
Ticket Hotline #2: Palais des Congrs ticketing: + 00 33 (0)1 40 68 00 05
Online Booking: www.gdp.fr/
Enquires/Box Office: + 00 33 (0)1 40 68 22 22
Venue/Promoter website: www.palaisdescongres-paris.com, www.gdp.fr
Doors: 7:30pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Saturday March 17th
Tuesday June 26 - Berlin Tempodrom
Address: Tempodrom, Mckernstr. 10, 10963 Berlin
Tickets: 40 / 45 / 55 / 65 euros
Ticket Hotline: ++49(0)1805 - 57 00 00
Online Booking: www.eventim.de
Enquiries/Box Office: +49 (0)30 74 73 70
Venue/Promoter website: www.tempodrom.de , www.prknet.de
Doors: 7pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Saturday March 17th
Saturday June 30 & Sunday July 1 - London Hammersmith Apollo
Address: Hammersmith Apollo, Queen Caroline Street, London, W6 9QH
Tickets: 45/55/60
Ticket Hotline: 0870 400 0688
Online Booking: www.livenation.co.uk, www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Enquiries/Box Office: 0870 400 0688 (0870 606 3400 disabled)
Promoter Website: www.livenation.co.uk
Doors: 7pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Friday March 16th
Tuesday July 3 Lyon - Les Nuits de Fourvire, Grand Thtre Romain de Fourvire
Venue Address: Les Nuits De Fourviere, 6 Rue De L'Antiquaille, Lyon 5, France
Tickets: 45 euros
Ticket Hotline: 04 72 32 00 00 (international +33 (0)4 72 32 00 00)
Online Booking: www.nuitsdefourviere.fr, www.fnac.com
Venue Enquiries/Box Office: 04 72 32 00 00 (international +33 (0)4 72 32 00 00)
Venue/Promoter Website: www.nuitsdefourviere.fr
Doors: 8.30pm
Tickets On-Sale Date: Wednesday March 28th
Friday July 6 Rome - Il Parco della Musica - “Santa Cecilia" Hall
Venue Address: viale Pietro De Coubertin 30
Tickets: 40 / 50 / 70 euros
Ticket Hotline: +39 06 199.109.783
Online Booking: www.auditorium.com
Enquires/Box Office: +39 06 80241281 - 199109783
Venue/Promoter Website: www.auditorium.com
Doors: 8pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Monday March 26th
Sunday July 8 Arezzo - Arezzo Art Festival, Piazza Grande
Venue Address: Piazza Grande, Arezzo, Italy
Tickets: 10 euro
Ticket Hotline: +39 0573 99 46 59
Online Booking: www.ticketone.it, www.boxol.it
Enquires/Box Office: +39 0573 99 46 59
Venue/Promoter Website: www.playarezzo.it
Doors: 8:30pm
Ticket On-Sale Date: Monday March 26th
For more information contact All About Jazz.
