Lou Reed returns to Europe to perform
the 35th anniversary of his landmark
album 'Berlin'

UK Ticket Pre-sale from 9am GMT on Thursday 6th March: 0871 230 0333, www.artistticket.com

UK Tickets on sale to the general public from Saturday 8th March at 10am GMT. Ticket Hotline: 08444 775 775, 0870 405 0448 Online Booking: www.aeglive.co.uk

Reed's 1973 critically acclaimed song cycle to feature Reed & band accompanied by string & horn section. Musical direction by Bob Ezrin & Hal Willner / Set design by Julian Schnabel / Featuring the New London Children's Choir

"Berlin is one of the most chilling but absorbing shows in rock history." - The Guardian

"Berlin is the wonder, a devastating reminder of what rock can be." - The Independent

Self-portrait (c) Lou Reed / Animal Lab, Inc..

Lou Reed returns to Europe this June to perform the entirety of his 1973 landmark album Berlin. The European dates will see Reed performing with a 30-piece ensemble including his band, a string and horn section, and a children's choir. The European tour starts June 23rd in Cork, followed by dates in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Belgium and Spain. Due to popular demand for this prestigious show, Berlin will make a special return visit to London, Brussels and Paris. Reed will perform three dates in the UK, including the prestigious London Royal Albert Hall on June 30th. He will also perform 'Berlin' at the Edinburgh Playhouse on June 25th, followed by the Nottingham Opera House on June 26th. Ticket pre-sale for the Nottingham, Edinburgh and London concerts go on sale from 9am GMT on Thursday 6th March via 0871 230 0333, www.artistticket.com.

Tickets for all three UK concerts go on sale to the general public at 10am GMT on Saturday 8th March by calling the ticket hotline on 08444 775 775, 0870 405 0448, or by booking online from www.aeglive.co.uk. (with the exception of the Edinburgh Playhouse concert on 25th June, where tickets will go on sale via 0844 847 2269, www.ticketmaster.co.uk).

The Berlin tour is being hailed as a rare insight into one of music's greatest minds, a labour of love and an integral part of rock history.

Lou Reed performs 'Berlin' at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Sunday 1st July. Photo credit: (c) www.markmawston.com

The Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney called the Berlin concert; "A vindication on an epic scale… Berlin places Reed's natural austerity in a setting that blazes with musical excess and invention."

	Lou Reed: 'Berlin' 2008 European Tour Monday June 23 - Cork Marquee Tuesday June 24 - Belfast Waterfront Wednesday June 25 - Edinburgh Playhouse Thursday June 26 - Notthingham Royal Centre Saturday 28th June - Paris Salle Pleyel Monday June 30 - London Royal Albert Hall Thursday July 2 - Zurich Thursday July 3 - Munich Philharmonie Sunday July 6 - Hamburg CCH – Congress Centrum Monday July 7 - Copenhagen Opera House Wednesday July 9 - Stockholm Annexet Wednesday July 11 - Estonia Wednesday July 12 - Latvia Monday July 14 - Warsaw Sala Kongresowa Wednesday July 16 - Brussels Bozar Wednesday July 19 - Lisbon Tuesday July 22 - Madrid Conde Duque Friday July 25 - Girona Portaferrada Festival Saturday July 26 - Benidorm Bullring

"Reed can't hide the pride he feels that Berlin is finally being hailed as a long lost masterpiece, wrote Paul Morley of the Sunday Telegraph. "He strolls off stage looking as if he always knew that one day he would be feted a devastating master."

Lou Reed. (c) Robert Leslie

The 2008 'Berlin' European Tour follows the 2007 European tour, which, in turn, followed Berlin's original world premiere at St. Anne's Warehouse in New York City, 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 runaway Top 20 hit Walk on the Wild Side.

Sydney Festival, January 2007. Photo credit: (c) Adam Taylor

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. Berlin was a dark concept album about drifting, tormented addicts in love, broken hearted and willfully disabled ex-pats, plotting their own downfalls in the barren outskirts of a divided city in turmoil.

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 Berlin song cycle was performed live in its entirety. Reed and his band were accompanied by a string and horn section and a children's choir, amounting to a 35-piece ensemble.

Photo credit: (c) www.markmawston.com

As in the making of the original album, the forthcoming 2008 European tour will see Reed l collaborating with an all-star creative team including musical direction by the original 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 last year's 'Berlin' European tour, and before that, the New York and Sydney concerts, the forthcoming 2008 Berlin European concerts will be directed and set designed by Reed's friend, the renowned painter and film director Julian Schnabel (recently Academy Award nominated Best Director for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).

Lou Reed performs 'Berlin' at the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, 20th June 2007. Photo credit - (c) www.paulbergen.nl

Lou Reed performs 'Berlin' at the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, 20th June 2007. Photo credit - (c) www.paulbergen.nl

Reed will be joined onstage by friends and favorite collaborators including original Berlin album guitarist Steve Hunter, Mike Rathke (guitar), bandleader Rupert Christie (keyboards), Fernando Saunders (bass, vocals), Rob Wasserman (stand-up bass), Tony 'Thunder' Smith (drums), brass and strings arranged by Hal Willner, featuring the London Metropolitan Orchestra and the New London Children's Choir.

For further information please contact:

Peter Noble & Tracy Gosling @ Peter Noble Consultancy PR Ltd.
Central Ignition
1 Mercers Mews
London N19 4PL
Tel: +44 (0) 207 272 7772
Fax: +44 (0) 207 272 2227
E-mail: peter@noblepr.co.uk | tracy@noblepr.co.uk

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