March 29, 1996
A walk on the mild side

TORONTO -- Who was that guy doing the Lou Reed impersonation at Massey Hall last night?

He looked like the real thing - wiry, scowling, carefully draped in black from neck to ankle.

He sounded like the real thing - someone who's given to shouting when he can't locate the right note, has trouble SPEAKING on-key, and generally runs the gamut of emotions from A to A minor.

But the real Lou Reed would never dream of saying something as hackneyed as "Hey, Toronto, how ya doin'?" He would not end every single song by jumping up and slashing the air with the neck of his guitar. And he would certainly never shrug off two of his most enduring early songs, Waiting For The Man and Vicious, in an embarrassing Green-Day-meets-Las-Vegas-style medley.

Yet all of that and more did indeed go down last night, to the general delight of an almost sold-out house of 2,700.

After opening with what, on other tours, would have been his encore, Sweet Jane, Reed pounded his way through a suitably bumpy 19-song, 110-minute survey of his career.

Peppered with classics such as Walk On The Wild Side and Satellite Of Love, along with eight songs from his recent Set The Twilight Reeling album, he spiced up the evening with a trio of genuine surprises, all from the '80s: New Sensations, Video Violence, and Doin' The Things We Want To, the latter featuring a stunning bass solo from longtime collaborator Fernando Saunders.

But while there were moments of genuine passion - notably NYC Man and the unabashed ode to new love Laurie Anderson, Trade In - they were outweighed by the kind of awkward rock-star moves that Reed used to excel at ridiculing.

At least he remains as unpredictable as ever. After all, who would've thought that, at 54, Lou Reed would turn into a professional rock star?

Here's the complete Toronto setlist:

Sweet Jane

NYC Man

Dirty Boulevard

New Sensations

Waiting For The Man/Vicious

Set The Twilight Reeling

Doin' The Things We Want To

Hang On To Your Emotions

I Love You Suzanne

Video Violence

Trade In

Egg Cream

Strawman

Riptide

Encores: HookyWooky

Sex With Your Parents Part II

Walk On The Wild Side

Satellite Of Love

The Original Wrapper