14/05/03 SHILLER THEATRE, BERLIN, GERMANY

Is Berlin a small town?
Click here for a picture from German Newspaper of the show.

On May 14th I arrived in Berlin by train to go to the Lou Reed concert the same evening. A friend of mine who lives in Berlin picked me up from the station. We still had some hours before the concert, so we went to her house first, and talked about a lot of things but mainly the concert to come. My friend has just gotten the CD of ‘Antony and the Johnssons’ we listen to it twice to get in the mood for the concert. It was the first time I  heard this CD and loved it right from the start. Antony has such a special voice and the lyrics are good as well.

We made sure we went early to the venue. We took a cap so we would have no hassle with busses or something like that. On or way to the venue we had a nice talk with the driver. He asked us where we where going. We said we are going to see Lou Reed. He answered ‘Lou who?’ We told him a bit about Lou, and he asked us to describe what the music was like. He got interested in Lou’s music and asked us which albums he should give a listen. We advised ‘New York’ ‘Set the Twilight Reeling’, and if he liked those he should try ‘Berlin’. He wrote all of that down in his diary.  : -)

When we where allowed in the hall of the venue Lou was still doing his soundcheck, it was fun to hear, and I even was able to see him far away.
The show started, with Lou say Hello. The show was wonderful, the sound great. And I had a good seat not to far from the stage. Lou told the audience at the beginning of Man of good fortune that this was from the album Berlin. It felt special to hear those songs in Berlin.
Vanishing act was beautiful

Setlist:
Sweet Jane - Smalltown - Tell It To Your Heart - Men Of Good Fortune - How Do You Think It Feels? - Vanishing Act - Ecstasy - The Day John Kennedy Died - Street Hassle - The Bed - Reviews Chérie (Fernando Saunders Song) - Venus In Furs - Dirty Blvd. - Sunday Morning - All Tomorrow's Parties - Call On Me - The Raven - Set The Twilight Reeling ... Encores: Candy Says (sung by Antony) - Rock Minuet - Perfect Day

The concert was great, and I had a good view on the stage. Candy says was one of the higlights I love the way Antony sings the song. It is not just singing but a way of expressing the song with his whole body.
The ending of the concert was a bit strange, Lou and band left the stage for the second time after Perfect day, and the lights went on. This was very sudden. I somehow was hoping we would get yet an extra song, like in Copenhagen. After the show we tried to meet Lou but that did not work out.
I had a more then great evening, and I was also happy to know that I still had one Lou concert ahead of me in Amsterdam the next week.

Bettina