On September 17, 1987, about 100 people went to the Bluebird nightclub in Bloomington, Indiana, with no idea that they were about to witness a truly historic moment in rock history.
Local band Ragin ‘Texans performed that night, but it was two days before Farm Aid III at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, and John Mellencamp stopped by to set up an unannounced rehearsal show with his band.
Lou Reed was also booked for Farm Aid that year, and halfway through Mellencamp’s set, he came out for an extensive jam session on tunes from Reed’s solo career and years with the Velvet Underground. In order to afford it all, John Prine came out of the wings to step up at the end.
The Prine part of the evening was not captured on camera, but an unprecedented video of Mellencamp and Reed collaborating on “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll,” and “I Love You, Suzanne” has just hit YouTube (thanks) Rolling stone reader Mike Rainey for tipping us off.) The video begins with Mellencamp and his band playing hits like “Small Town” and “Paper in Fire” before Reed comes out, around the 4 p.m. mark, because the audience absolutely insane.
Glenn Gass, professor of history at the University of Indiana, was in the crowd that night. He followed Reed in an alley to the musician’s set and told him he was teaching his students about the Velvet Underground; Gass wrote his phone number on a matchbox and invited Reed to speak with the students, never thinking it would happen.
Reed called Gass the other day and said he wanted to do it. “He was very paranoid about it,” Gass said Indiana Daily Student in 2017. “He said he had never done such a thing before. Just was nervous, visibly shaking all the way to class. He was afraid he would go in there and people would just stare at him. “
But Reed slipped enjoying the experience and pitched 90 minutes round. “It was a bit like a dream come true when you’re a rock history teacher,” Gass said, “to get Lou Reed in and spend an hour and a half there.”
It was also a dream come true for the lucky fans on the Bluebird the night before, and now 33 years later, the rest of the world can finally see it for themselves.
