Lou Reed's "At Coney Island": A 1976 Live Album

At Coney Island is a live album by Lou Reed, released June 12, 1976, on RCA Records. Recorded at the Paramount Theatre, Brooklyn (not Coney Island itself), it captures Reed's "Rock and Roll Animal" touring band—Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, Prakash John, Pentti "Whitey" Glan—running through Transformer, Berlin, and Velvet Underground material.

Track Highlights

• "Sweet Jane" (extended, 9+ min)
• "Heroin" (slow, harrowing)
• "Walk on the Wild Side"
• "Rock & Roll"
• "I'm Waiting for the Man"

Context

Reed's commercial peak: Sally Can't Dance (1974) hit #10. The band was tight, the arrangements muscular. But RCA released it only in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand—never in the US or UK. It became a pricey import cult item.

Legacy

Expanded editions (2003, 2014) added rehearsals and alternate takes. The title? Reed liked the poetic friction: a gritty Brooklyn theater, a mythic amusement park name. "Coney Island" = the dream. "Paramount Theatre" = the reality.