{"id":3366,"date":"2016-11-13T22:24:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-13T22:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennywilson.org\/?p=3366"},"modified":"2016-11-13T22:24:41","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T22:24:41","slug":"the-velvet-underground-nico-at-50-a-new-york-extravaganza-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/2016\/11\/13\/the-velvet-underground-nico-at-50-a-new-york-extravaganza-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"The Velvet Underground & Nico at 50: A New York Extravaganza in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is 50 years since The Velvet Underground & Nico<\/a><\/em> album was recorded. A major new exhibition in Paris tells the story of the group which created it and of the New York scene which produced them. Parisians hold the Velvets in particular esteem and, as\u00a0Allan Campbell\u00a0notes, the city itself has often been the scene of key moments in the Velvets\u2019 history, not least a legendary appearance at Le Bataclan.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico at Le Bataclan, Paris, 1972 | Mick Gold \/ Redferns \/ Getty Images<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a cold January evening in Paris. Outside Le Bataclan<\/em> an estimated 2,000 disconsolate rock fans are milling around in front of the ornate Chinese-style theatre on the Boulevard Voltaire. They are ticket-less and unable to gain access to a concert which would later be considered the venue\u2019s most famous; a title only lost on Friday 13 November 2015, when dreadful events unfolded at an Eagles of Death Metal show.<\/p>\n

For the first time since the demise of the original Velvet Underground<\/a>, co-conspirators Lou Reed and John Cale with \u2018chanteuse\u2019 Nico were to perform a one-off acoustic set at Le Bataclan for the benefit of French TV show Pop 2 and one thousand grateful fans.<\/p>\n

It was 1972; Nico<\/a> was already a veteran of three solo albums; Cale had made his debut with Vintage Violence, remixed a Barbra Streisand album and cut an LP with minimalist composer Terry Riley<\/a>, while Reed – surprisingly – was yet to release a solo album.<\/p>\n

In fact, on the night of the Paris concert he should have been at the Portobello Hotel in London for a \u2018listening party\u2019 for his debut LP, Lou Reed, with no less than Lillian Roxon, then the leading rock critic in the US.<\/p>\n

Despite what Melody Maker described as \u201ca minor ‘speed-freak riot’ in the foyer”, the Bataclan concert was a languid, beguiling affair but not quite as languid as the ensuing live album, which had been mastered at the wrong speed.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s on-off love affair with US culture was nothing new; notably, r\u00e9alisateurs<\/em> Jean Luc Godard and Jean Pierre Melville had already expressed it on screen. But with the Velvets, the relationship seemed to become more geographically specific.<\/p>\n

In return for the Statue of Liberty, New York had belatedly returned the favour by sending its dark emissaries to the City of Light. And the French, who had after all defined noir, seemed especially appreciative.<\/p>\n

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John Cale and Lou Reed at Cafe Bizarre on West 3rd Street, New York City, 1965 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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John Cale, Maureen Tucker and Lou Reed at Cafe Bizarre on West 3rd Street, New York City, 1965 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lou Reed, John Cale & Nico at Le Bataclan<\/em>, Paris, 1972<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1990, when the Velvets reunited – spontaneously, it seemed – once again it would be in Paris. This time it was at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain<\/em>, which had mounted an Andy Warhol multi-media show and invited key members of his Factory crowd to attend.<\/p>\n

It was expected that Reed and Cale would play something from their Warhol tribute album, Songs for Drella<\/em>, but they were soon joined onstage by band mates Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kicked into Heroin<\/em>, which we hadn\u2019t played in twenty-two years\u201d, said Cale, \u201cAnd it was just the same as always. After I got off stage \u2026 I was on the point of tears\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the location for this rapprochement suggests, it seems that Parisians have always viewed the Velvet Underground as a work of art and not just because of their association with Warhol.<\/p>\n

Now, with the 50th anniversary of the recording of their debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, the city has again come good for the Velvets with an extensive celebratory show at the Philharmonie de Paris<\/em> entitled The Velvet Underground: New York Extravaganza.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Making of an Underground Film, a report about Piero Heliczer’s film Venus In Furs, with the Velvet Underground performing Heroin, was broadcast on December 31, 1965 on the CBS Walter Cronkite Show. \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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Curated by Christian Fevret, founder of Les Inrockuptibles<\/a><\/em> music magazine, with art director and producer Carole Mirabello, the exhibition places the Velvets at the centre of New York\u2019s post war avant garde, probably the only environment which could have produced such a group.<\/p>\n

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Paris, don\u2019t forget what you taught the rest of us: if you keep an open heart it will beat forever. Goodnight.<\/div>\n
John Cale<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Music and visuals tell the VU story, taking in Reed and Cale\u2019s first meeting in 1964 to their first show with Nico<\/a> at the annual dinner of the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry (Hotel Delmonico, New York, 1966), then their appearances at Warhol\u2019s legendary Exploding Plastic Inevitable<\/a><\/em>\u00a0multimedia show and then on to the group’s eventual disintegration.<\/p>\n

Even after all these years, the music and photographs of the Velvets scintillate.<\/p>\n

John Cale returned to Paris to open the exhibition, with full band, string quartet and guests including Pete Doherty, Mark Lanegan and Lou Doillon. Cale, in a nod both to the city\u2019s recent pain and its ability to inspire, reportedly concluded the concert with these words:<\/p>\n

\u201cParis, don\u2019t forget what you taught the rest of us: if you keep an open heart it will beat forever. Goodnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Velvet Underground: New York Extravaganza<\/a><\/em> is at the Philharmonie de Paris until 21 August, 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nico and Lou Reed at The Castle, Los Angeles, 1966 \u00a9 Lisa Law<\/em><\/div>\n
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The Exploding Plastic Inevitable: Photograph on back cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico album<\/em><\/div>\n
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Story behind the album cover<\/a> [recordart blog]<\/p>\n

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Left to right: John Cale, Gerard Malanga, Nico, Andy Warhol, New York City, circa 1966 | Photo by Herve Gloaguen \/ Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/em><\/div>\n
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John Cale at Hotel Delmonico, New York, 1966 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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The Velvet Underground & Nico with Andy Warhol, Hollywood Hills, 1966 \u00a9 Gerard Malanga \/ Courtesy Galerie Caroline Smulders, Paris<\/em><\/div>\n
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John Cale and Lou Reed at Cafe Bizarre on West 3rd Street, New York City, 1965 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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The Velvet Underground at Cafe Bizarre on West 3rd Street, New York City, 1965 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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Lou Reed at The Castle, Los Angeles, 1966 \u00a9 Lisa Law<\/em><\/div>\n
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Edie Sedgwick and Gerard Malanga on stage with The Velvet Underground at the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry annual dinner at the Delmonico Hotel, New York, 13 January 1966 | Photo by Adam Ritchie \/ Redferns<\/em><\/div>\n
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John Cale at The Castle, Los Angeles, 1966 \u00a9 Lisa Law<\/em><\/div>\n
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Lou Reed at Hotel Delmonico, New York, 1966 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n
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Nico at Hotel Delmonico, New York, 1966 \u00a9 Adam Ritchie<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It is 50 years since The Velvet Underground & Nico album was recorded. A major new exhibition in Paris tells the story of the group which created it and of the New York scene which produced them. Parisians hold the Velvets in particular esteem and, as\u00a0Allan Campbell\u00a0notes, the city itself has often been the scene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,7,13,16,35,36,48,58,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-andy-warhol","category-art","category-audio-video","category-counterculture","category-film","category-music","category-new-york","category-review","category-subculture","category-the-velvet-underground"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}