LOU REED, AFTER & BEFORE THE VELVETS

A concert review (1974) and a look at Reed's Pickwick collection (1964-1965)

Lou Reed: Felt Forum, New York, 1974

Sometime in the 2010s, I got an email from baker in the West Village. He asked if I was the person who wrote the Village Voice review of a very gay-adjacent Lou Reed in 1974; he had saved a clipping of the review. He said he was grateful, because at the time, the review put him more at ease with his sexual orientation. I was happy for him. Seeing Lou at the Felt Forum (before it became The Theater at Madison Square Garden) didn't have the same effect on me: I was still coming to terms with my heterosexuality. In retrospect it should be noted that Lou Reed was on a double bill with Hall and Oates, according to Concertarchive.org. My editor at the Voice,

Robert Christgau

, was only interested in the Lou Reed part of the show. But it does explain the shouts for "We Want Todd" from the audience: Rundgren had produced Hall & Oates latest album, War Babies. I think Hall and Oates were the opening act; "She's Gone" had been released and flopped on the charts; it didn't bec…