Dan Fost reported on the confrontation between Lou Reed and the audience at the Web 2.0 conference, and described how I got the audience up and dancing “in a desperate attempt to save the show.”
Dan described the events correctly, but not the motivation. I’d actually missed Lou’s badmouthing of the audience after the first two songs — I was outside, finishing up an interview with a Japanese magazine — and came in at the third song. I started dancing because I liked the music, and thought the audience needed some encouragement to get involved. I often find that people need “permission” to let themselves have fun. That’s why a lot of people drink — it’s a mental trick that lets them get over their inhibitions. But you can also get people going just by showing them that it’s OK. And that’s what I was doing. I wasn’t about to let people sit in chairs when we had Lou Reed live. I was bummed that Lou didn’t get in the spirit and come back for an encore, though. Pictures. Videos.