Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys Pay Tribute to Lou Reed

Rob Slater on October 29, 2013

Those bands who didn’t take the stage on Sunday night to pay tribute to Lou Reed took the opportunity last night to do so, as multiple surprise covers surfaced this morning. The first comes from British indie darlings Arctic Monkeys, who played the Echo Arena in Liverpool last night. During the encore, the band came out to debut a cover of Reed’s classic “Walk on the Wild Side.” Watch the delicate and thoughtful performance below.

Arcade Fire also worked in some Lou Reed material during their mini-set at Capitol Records in Los Angeles, CA last night. Broadcast on NPR, the band played their new cut “Afterlife” (fitting song for a posthumous tribute) and managed to interpolate a couple verses of Reed’s “Perfect Day” and “Satellite of Love” as they transitioned into the final track on their just-released Reflektor, “Supersymmetry.” You can listen to the audio of the whole performance on NPR. The Lou Reed material occurs at the 17:20 mark.

The Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire joined the list of Pearl Jam, The Black Crowes, Neil Young and My Morning Jacket as bands to pay tribute to the fallen rock icon recently.