To l’Ancienne Belgique this evening to see Mr Laurie Anderson, aka Lou Reed, on his ‘Vu to Lulu’ tour. Reed is seventy and, frankly, it shows. He is slightly doddery on his legs and is cossetted by the loving roadies. Clearly, this is a body that has been lived in – a lot. I feared the standard formula for ageing rock stars: tight backing band, maximum amplification, reduction to three power chords, occasional inaudible vocals. But Reed is feistier than that. Once the crowd was warmed up, the R&R (Heroin, Waiting for the Man) gave way to his more lyrical, studied work (culminating with Walk on the Wild Side and Sad Song). Sweet Jane came in the encores.  I’m glad I went. I saw Reed a long time ago, in Bologna in 1980, and was disappointed (I recall long waits between songs and obscure material, with a moody Reed wearing glasses and reading his lyrics).  This concert more than made up for that. Friends meanwhile texted me the latest news from Kiev (phew!).