Mercurial rocker Lou Reed will kick off a month long European tour with a performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics at the Piazza Castello in Turin, Italy. The tour will primarily remain in Italy with March stops in Slovenia, Serbia and the Czech Republic. Reed will be joined by longtime band members Fernando Saunders, Mike Rathke, Rob Wasserman and Tony "Thunder" Smith.

Prior to going overseas, Reed will play two warmup shows in his native New York. On February 11th, Reed will play the New York Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie. Two days later, Reed will take over the hip-hop club Crobar in New York City. The show will mark a return to Crobar for Reed, who played a one-off B-sides only gig there a couple years ago. For now, Reed's two New York shows look to be Reed's only Stateside appearances in the near future.

Labels: Lou Reed