Blah blah blah blah and then Lou Reed played "Walk on the Wild Side" at the Levi's®/FADER Fort last night. Say what you will about Indie Spring Break in Austin and this week being an industry/hipster boondoggle, but you can't really argue with the awesomeness (as in awe-inspiring) spectacle of the Lou Reed tribute last night that climaxed with the man himself joining Moby (?) onstage with a full band to hammer out his classic jam, including a monumental guitar freakout and the white girls singing 'doot doo doot.' Trust us, we knew this was going to happen, were steeled for it, and still managed to lose our shit and yell LOOUUUUUU after he shuffled offstage.
His appearance came after almost 2 hours of tribute (while he sat stage right) by Yo La Tengo, Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon), Dr Dog, My Morning Jacket and Thurston Moore & the New Wave Bandits and others playing a Velvet Underground/Lou Reed song or two each. But, despite valiant efforts to do justice, they all kind of got sonned by the 66-year old who is literally morphing into the Yoda of punks, which he acknowledged before leaving the stage by raising his sinewy arms and saying, "I…love…punk…rock…and I was the first one." Probably so, and he still manages to be the coolest one too. And PS, old music dudes, do not attempt to tribute yourself. Only Lou is allowed to pull that shit.
Stay tuned for the video.