Arctic Monkeys Cover Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’

Last night at Liverpool’s Echo Arena, the Arctic Monkeys paid tribute to Lou Reed, who died Sunday, with a spot-on rendition of the singer’s 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side.” The acoustic performance featured Alex Turner toning down his own vocal wild side in favor of a controlled, somewhat somber sounding version. He broke only for a momment, about three minutes in, to encourage the crowd to amp up their “doo-doo-doo-doo’s.” 

Lou Reed: The Rolling Stone Obituary

Tributes for the late Velvet Underground singer keep pouring in. Yesterday, David Byrne, Patti Smith and Metric’s Emily Haines wrote heartfelt rememberances of Reed, exclusively for Rolling Stone. My Morning Jacket, Phish and Pearl Jam have all covered Reed tunes in recent days and musicians including John Cale, David Bowie, Morrissey and Henry Rollins have spoken out about what Reed meant to their artistic careers.

Arctic Monkeys are currently on tour supporting their critically acclaimed fifth album, AM – an album that Turner told Rolling Stone that they wanted to sound like “Spiders From Mars covering Aaliyah.”