The Velvet Undertaker: Lou Reed at the Palace Theatre, Manchester

A CURSORY listen to Lou's latest, Magic And Loss, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Tragic Old Toss might have been a better title. Judged against the brutal clamour of the rest of pop and the anger and "attitude" that characterised Reed's work prior to New York, his latest record could seem torpid and self-indulgent.