They started the tour in Edinburgh a few days earlier and the Forum was probably booked as a ‘warm up’ for the next night’s gig at Wembley Arena - i was against the big box venues, which I didn’t think respected the VU vibe - so I really wanted to see them at the couple of thousand capacity venue. I actually didn’t see Luna or the VU enter the stage, i must have missed the first minute as I was drinking at the pub over the road and they came on earlier than i thought - yes shameful i know! As I entered I heard ‘We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together’ I wasn’t expecting that tune at all but it sounded great, slightly ragged but It was just amazing to finally see and hear those 4 people play on stage together.
OK lets start with what I remember as the good bits - Moe and Sterling played brilliantly throughout. Moe was faultless and the power in those drums was great to hear, she is truly a machine with a big heart. Sterling played some classy lines & riffs through out although under stated, he looked surprised by the enthusiasm and seemed genuinely happy to be on stage. I was so glad that both got their recognition for the important roles they played within the band (and their payday). Moe got one of the biggest cheers of the night for ‘Afterhours’, providing one of the lighter parts of the night.
Cale was elegant and looked cool - I loved his vocals on the Nico tracks, it worked well - the pounding piano and viola parts were fantastic to hear live. I wondered before the gig how Cale would cope with the songs from the last 2 albums but he played very well switching instruments and adapting those tunes with style and ease. Cale’s persistant pounding away on the piano during ATP was one of the highlights of the night together with the menacing string slashing of ‘Venus In Furs’.
‘Hey Mr Rain’ was another tune that was great, slightly mad but all the more powerful for the chaos, Lou played some great guitar on this - this was as close to hearing that improv we love as we were going to get.
The more disappointing parts were Lou’s vocals - his phrasing and repetition of some of the lines, it didn’t work well and a few times they seemed to be Lou’s backing outfit rather than the original band, maybe some of the rough edges had been smoothed out in rehearsals under Lou’s strict control of sound.
The songs whizzed by and I pretty much got to hear what I wanted to hear - with the exception of SR and WGO. I couldn’t believe they played ‘Black Angels Death Song’ & ‘The Gift’. Maybe what I really wanted was 20 mins of 1966 improv jamming but with Lou’s control freak nature & lack of spontaneity this was never going to happen even if Cale had made soundings in the press that this was his intention with the gigs. So we ended up with a slightly more Greatest Hits side of the VU, but that was still OK with me for main part. The jokey ‘Velvet Nursery Rhyme’ - didn’t seem to fit into the evening that well and was completely throwaway. The gig ended with ’Coyote’, while exciting on the night to hear a new song, Lou did seem annoyed when we all started howling along at a loud volume!
All in all it was a great gig, maybe the ones at the start of the tour fared better than the later ones, where there were problems. Despite the mixed reviews that the tour received i'm personally glad i got to see those 4 on stage together making some noise.
During the gig I lost my friend and while waiting outside for him, I started chatting to a few fans who were gathered at the side of the venue, (maybe i met some members of this forum??) sometime later the band came out and got into a mini bus. There weren’t that many waiting so items were passed inside and they signed. I had nothing on me but my ticket so they all signed that, a fitting end and a wonderful souvenir that i’ve treasured for all these years.
