Courtesy of the Lou Reed ArchiveDavid Johansen and Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye are among the many musicians and celebrities confirmed to take part in a series of free events paying homage to the late Lou Reed that will be held Saturday, July 30, at Lincoln Center in New York City. As previously reported, The Bells: A Daylong Celebration of Lou Reed, which is being curated and co-produced by Reed’s widow, avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, and Lou’s frequent collaborator Hal Willner, will take place in various locations in and around Lincoln Center.
Among the festivities will be tribute concerts at 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET, respectively. The earlier show will feature performances by Johansen, Kaye, Jesse Malin, Jon Spencer and others backed by a house band that includes Sonic Youth‘s Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley. The later concert, dubbed Lou Reed’s Love Songs, will feature Anderson, Johansen, Garland Jeffreys, Victoria Williams and many more.
At 3 p.m. ET, a variety of celebs will recite Reed’s lyrics, including Steve Buscemi, Kim Cattrall, Willem Dafoe, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Ashley and painter/film director Julian Schnabel.
The celebration will begin at 10:15 a.m. ET with a group Tai Chi session conducted by Reed’s teacher Master Ren Guangyi. Other scheduled events include Reed-related film screenings and a sound installation titled “Drones” that will be created by using Lou’s guitars and amplifiers. The celebration will culminate with a screening of the Schnabel-directed 2008 concert film Berlin.
The Bells: A Daylong Celebration of Lou Reed is part of the 2016 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. For more information about the event, visit AboutLincolnCenter.org.
As previously reported, an expansive new box set called Lou Reed — The RCA & Arista Album Collection featuring remastered versions of 16 studio and live albums Reed released from 1972 to 1986 will hit stores on October 7. The anthology was the last project that Lou worked on before his death in October 2013.
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