Lou Reed to warm up at Wolverhampton Civic Hall

American music legend Lou Reed has chosen to play Wolverhampton Civic Hall this Friday, July 1, 2011, as a warm-up gig for himself and his band ahead of a stint of European and festival dates.

Reed and his band are due on stage at 8.30pm.

The 69-year-old, who is married to musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson, will also be appearing at the Hop Farm Music Festival in Kent and London's HMV Apollo Hammersmith before heading off for a string of appearances in France and, Italy.

Reed, who formed legendary 60s band The Velvet Underground with John Cale, has also scored noteable solo hits with songs including Walk On The Wild Side and Perfect Day.

Regarded as one of the founding fathers of punk, for over four decades Reed has worked in a variety of styles from experimental rock, art rock, noise music, drone music and folk rock, and including poetry and spoken word recordings.

Over the years he has collaborated with a number of incredibly varied artists, including his wife Anderson, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Gorillaz, The Killers and Nick Cave. His most recent collaboration was a full-length recording with heavy metal stalwarts Metallica which is yet to see the light of day.

Reed has also found fame as a photographer and actor. He has released two books of his photography, 2003's Emotions In Action and Lou Reed's New York, which was published in 2006.

As an actor he has appeared in films including One Trick Pony, Blue In The Face and Get Crazy and in five films as himself – Permanent Record, Faraway So Close, Closure, Prozac Nation and Palermo Shooting.

In 2001 Reed hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when incorrect reports of his death from a drug overdose were broadcast by American radio stations, following a hoax e-mail which claimed to be from the international news agency Reuters.

Most recently Reed contributed vocals to the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, on the song Some Kind Of Nature, co-wrote and performed music for a Chen Style Tai Chi instructional DVD and co-produced Laurie Anderson's 2010 album Homeland.

Reed has also toured with the Metal Machine Trio, the band he formed in 2008 to play ambient, free and improvised instrumental music and noise.

Lou Reed's new live DVD, Lollapalooza Live will be released on July 19. Filmed at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago in August 2009, it includes a mixed bag of crowd pleasers and rarities, including a 15-minute mid-set section of instrumental noise performed by the Metal Machine Trio.

Tickets for Friday's concert are £35 plus booking fees from Midland Box Office on 0870 320 7000 or online at www.wolvescivic.co.uk