Word: berlin
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...estimated average age of the audience gathered in the futuristic Tempodrom arena in Berlin's western district of Kreuzberg is around 37. They're gathered for a landmark event in rock 'n' roll history: 34 years after it's release, Lou Reed will perform his legendary "Berlin" album in the city which inspired...
When the album was written and recorded, Berlin was divided by its eponymous Wall and struggled with a heroin epidemic amongst teenagers. In other words, it was not a happy place, although it was certainly an interesting one - Berlin, in that era, had become a mecca for some of the most creative heads in rock music. David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Brian Eno found inspiration here for the most interesting chapters of their musical careers. And there are some in the audience tonight who vividly recall the days when Bowie and Iggy shared a flat in the arty West Berlin...
...sleeveless khaki-colored T-shirt, he looks - at least from the upper ranks of the auditorium - more like a Gap model than a 65-year old rock 'n' roll legend. He is joined onstage by an orchestra and a girl's choir, while a video-clip of a Berlin bar is projected onto the backrop. The atmosphere is tense; expectations are high. Does Reed still have "it" or has he "lost it", as the character Sick Boy maintains in the movie Trainspotting. Do these songs still resonate in a Berlin that bears little resemblance to the city that inspired them...
...Reed intones: "In Berlin, by the Wall, you were five foot ten inches tall," a nearly audible sigh of relief seems to go through the audience. At least his voice has still the same distinctive, warm sound. While the singer shares his tales of depression, drug abuse and disoriented expats, the audience for the most part sits quietly in their seats. The choir and orchestra add a strangely upbeat air to the songs, the bleakness of which had irritated critics when it was released. There is not much movement on stage, except a background singer in a red dress gently...
...reform and openness . . . Are these the beginnings of profound change in the Soviet Union? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West or to strengthen the Soviet Union without changing it?" At that point Reagan issued his challenge to Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall...