Pop : Reed Acts on Right Impulse

It’s no surprise that Lou Reed would volunteer to headline a concert championing filmmakers’ right to have their work shown as they intend it.

Along with Los Lobos and Chris Isaak, Reed played Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium in a benefit for the Artists Rights Foundation. The organization opposes unauthorized tinkering (via colorizing and other technical means) when films go into broadcast or video circulation.

Among many other things in a sometimes erratic but basically brilliant career, Reed has been an ardent lover and chronicler of the artistic impulse.

One could have placed bets on which songs the New York-based rocker would play to reflect the evening’s purpose. The foremost candidate was “Doin’ the Things That We Want To,” a memorable salute to artists who revel in their creative freedom. In it, Reed, a prime mover of frank and brutal rock since his 1966 debut with the Velvet Underground, applauds the “frank and brutal movies” of director Martin Scorsese.

Reed didn’t play that song, but he lived up to it. His 55-minute set indulged his own desire to try something different, even if that meant largely ignoring his own songbook, and consequently the expectations of fans hoping to savor old favorites.

It made for a fresh and hard-charging show as Reed spent most of his 10-song program honoring others: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, Kurt Weill, Victoria Williams and Smokey Robinson. Of course, he and his crisply muscular, three-man band put their own spin on those tributes, radically reconstructing most of them.

A suitably twangy, clackety-beat medley of “Mystery Train” and “That’s All Right” found Reed getting the jump on acknowledging the 40th Anniversary of Presley’s 1954 recording debut. A long, stormy and sardonic reading of the Dylan obscurity “Foot of Pride” reprised Reed’s performance of the song at a 1992 concert marking the 30th anniversary of Dylan’s first release. Reed also previewed his contribution to an upcoming Pete Townshend concert tribute, tearing down “Now and Then,” a fervent and winsome love song from Townshend’s recent album “Psychoderelict,” and putting it back together as a light, swinging blues.

Playing to a house that was far from full, Reed won cheers but also faced a dissident faction that voted with its feet or called out for more expected fare. He maintained his equanimity and dry sense of humor, and gently explained late in the set that “benefits are kind of fun--you can be a little looser and not have to do something you would have to do in an official show.”

With the house lights on, Reed finally rewarded the faithful with an encore of “Sweet Jane,” not a bad classic to have if he’s letting you have just one. The crowd loved it, and judging from his playful, swaggering delivery, complete with trademark hipster asides (“Watch me now!”), it was all right with him, too.

Los Lobos preceded Reed with a a prime performance. Isaak, the opener, looks like a movie star, has hopes of becoming one, and was at his best singing steamy, sultry songs that sounded like miniature films noir. He was less convincing with the rockers.

David Crosby began the proceedings with a talk that vigorously set out the issues addressed by the Artists Rights Foundation. Crosby, whose late father Floyd was an Oscar-winning cinematographer, also sang two unrecorded songs: one heartfelt and deeply personal, but shapeless and droning; the other, about wanting to take in life with the acuity of a camera, was far more focused.