If rock and roll success were measured by influence, perhaps only The Beatles would have a claim higher than the Velvet Underground. Although the Velvets are famous and hailed for being one of the most important groups in history, all that mythologizing can obscure the fact that they were, on their day, also a worthwhile live band.
The group's early shows in small venues and dive bars could be the equivalent of noisy trainwrecks, as the band seemed to push back at the establishment simply by existing. (One famous story had a bar owner approach the group after they'd performed the evil-sounding “Black Angel Death Song” to tell them they'd be fired if they did it again, so of course, they did it again just because.) As time went on the band tightened their playing considerably.
If they lost some of their more adventurous spark when John Cale left the group, the dramatic evolution in Lou Reed's songwriting more than made up for that.Thus, the group's live show has evolved dramatically. Whereas in their early days they'd be dependent on a dark, arty proto-punk atmosphere at their shows, with weird kaleidoscopic light shows projected over the band, as things evolved their ability to switch between menacing extended raveups like “Sister Ray” to gentle, almost folkish songs like “Candy Says” served the group well. Even better were live versions of later songs like “Rock And Roll” and “Oh Sweet Nuthin'”. When the band reformed for live shows 25 years after breaking up, it was on these later songs that festival audiences truly responded to.
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