The Daily Swarm

National Post:

Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Friday) “Play some music!” yelled one disgruntled punter after the trio’s first foray into wordless, droning electric sludge. Alto saxist Zorn responded, “If you don’t think this is music, get the f—k out of here!” A number of people took him up on his offer, while several others took the opportunity to boo between pieces…

Guardian:

The nature of the concert shouldn’t really have been a surprise. After all, Zorn is one of the world’s leading avant-garde musicians and Anderson is preceded by a reputation for, er, eccentricity. Reed was once, yes, a wry urban troubadour – but that was decades ago. Recently he has been touring his controversial album, Metal Machine Music – a work so noisy and abrasive that for years many thought it was a joke.

Some comments, via Spinner:

I was dumbfounded. This is what happens when people start to believe their own bullshit. I have never been witness to such a load of self-indulgent narcissistic crap in my life. I want that less-than-an-hour of my life back. And my 80 bucks.

I didn’t know anyone was booing – I thought they were chanting Lou, Lou, Lou.

You can get your money back. We did.

I have a lot of respect for all three artists (I’m a fan of each in many contexts), but tonight’s performance was a pretentious swindle. I’m up for virtually anything musically, but this was amateurish and painful. Furthermore charging nearly $100 for such tripe is scandalous. Mr Zorn, I appreciate your wanting to take chances and encouraging your fellow musicians to explore, but do it on your own dollar. This was completely in-cohesive garbage spontaneously arranged in a steaming pile on the main stage at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Most importantly, the sound levels in the room were outrageously high. I have spent significant time as a professional musician and I’m familiar with what 100+ decibel sounds like. In the upper levels, concert goers were exposed to levels in excess of reasonable concert levels which left many people plugging their ears out of pure self preservation. Whoever was mixing the house tonight made an unlistenable performance physically painful and potentially dangerous to peoples’ hearing.

Best of luck to each of these artists. I ask only that you actually develop something of merit before you unleash it on unsuspecting audiences. Also, I would like to thank Mr Zorn for his “If you don’t like it, get the f*** out of here” comments. First, it was sage advice that I took to heart. Second, good for you for not taking any lip from the crowd!

Finally, I’d like to thank the gentleman with the courage to speak up (boo) when the emperor indeed had no clothes on this evening; his honestly and non-conformity in an intolerable situation is refreshing!