John Cale setlists
Touring in The Nineties
He plays with the reformed Velvets and reinvents himself as a composer of movie soundtracks.
The Velvet Underground 1990 reunion at Jouy-En-Josas
The Velvet Underground reunites for a rendition of Heroin at an Andy Warhol exhibtion at Jouy-En-Josas, France (June, 15 1990):
"We kicked into Heroin, which we hadn’t played in twenty-two years. And it was just the same as always. After I got off stage … I was on the point of tears."
A surprise Velvets reunion falls short at New York University (December 5, 1992), when Maureen Tucker doesn't show up.
Final Drella
The last ever performance of Songs For Drella happens in Tokyo (August 6, 1990). Once more Maureen Tucker comes out for for the Pale Blue Eyes encore.
Scoring Iphigenia in Tauris
Cale's first ever score for a ballet, Iphigenia in Tauris, is presented at the Merce Cunningham Studios in New York (January 16-19, 1992).
The Velvet Underground 1993 reunion tour
The impossible happens in 1993. The Velvet Underground reunites for an European tour. One fan goes as far as to declare: "The Velvet Underground are back. There is a God". They support U2 on a couple of stadium dates and are on the bill of the Glastonbury and Roskilde festivals. The three shows at L'Olympia in Paris are taped and filmed for a live album and live video.
Plans for an American tour and an Unplugged session for MTV are shelved when the bickering - mostly done by angry faxes - between Cale and Reed starts again.
"There was a sudden feeling that whatever was happening for the three others was certainly different from what was happening for Lou. This was not a band. Moe, God bless her, looks at all this and laughs and says, "This is all boy stuff." Which in a way it is, she's absolutely right. But I had certain principles which I wasn't prepared to turn my back on. It was the end of a very fruitful relationship. A poisoned one - but it had been fruitful."
Life Underwater
American director Zoe Beloff collaborates with Cale in the creation of "an hour long B/W 16mm Film/3D Side/Music live-performance piece (...) commissioned by The Arts at St. Ann's." Cale and the Soldier String Quartet accompany screenings of the film on April 22 and 23, 1994.
Greenwich Delusion
In 1994 he embarks on the Greenwich Delusion tour with Bob Neuwirth, Soldier String Quartet, B.J. Cole, Sam Butler and Taye Giraud promoting Last Day On Earth.
Recording "The Unknown"
A live performance of the soundtrack for The Unknown is recorded at the Théatre de La Colline, Paris, France (December 5, 1994).
This started out as a commission for The Giornate del cinema muto de Pordenone in Italy for a screening of the classic silent movie The Unknown on October 15, 1994. Also performed in Brussels (October 18, 1994) and Lyon (December 8, 1994).
Opening the Archa Theatre in Prague
On June 5, 1995 he performs at the festive opening of the Archa Theatre in Prague, collaborating with the Japanese dancer Min Tanaka.
In the course of the evening, a word about the not-so-easy communication of different cultures sounded in the opening short speech of the director of the Archa Theatre Ondr(ej Hrab. John Cale had a relatively easier situation, as he only introduced his music to a confrontation - a momentary reaction for Tanaka was precise. For the greater part, Cale alternated the pre-recorded compositions with live performances of a piano repertoire including his most recent works (Chinese Envoy, Broken Hearts,...) and one (completely disharmonic) guitar solo to a pre-recorded composition. At first it seemed that the expression of the much more proportionate in the shadows of the intensity of expressions of the milder and entirely more abstract Min Tanaka was exposed to a confrontation of everything that came into his world from elsewhere - the gradually brought attention to a stronger experience that was strongly built on communication. The absolutely concentrated Tanaka (for several years, he was holder of the title Best Dancer in the Empire) gradually wandered through the evening. He started with barely visible movements, and near the end, he was already responding to the rhythm of the piano. At the end, John Cale acknowledged that the evening emerged from both sides: the meditation, the supple improvisation on the borders of harmony and disharmony was a magical approach to the exact imprint of the present moment.
The show was filmed by Czech TV and broadcasted in 1995.
Sterling Morrison dies
Sterling Morrison dies August 30, 1995. When The Velvet Underground are inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame by Patti Smith on January 17, 1996, the three surviving members reunite for the last time to play Last Night I Said Goodbye To My Friend, a tribute for their guitar player.
Walking on Locusts
After the release of Walking on Locusts in 1996, his first rock album since 1985, he hits the road with a full backup band.
Ballet for Nico
On October 4, 1997 the music composed by Cale for a ballet for Nico is premiered at the Rotterdam Schouwburg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, working with choreographer Ed Wubbe. Wubbe & Marco Goecke created a choreography for Songs for Drella in 2011 for Dutch ballet company Scapino. They considered asking Reed and Cale to come over and play on stage, but thought better of it. Nobody would be watching the dancers then.
On tour with The Creatures
In June, July and August 1998 he performs a string of dates with The Creatures, basically another name for the core members of Siouxsie and The Banshees. The two acts play with their own bands, sitting in with each other as the shows progress.
What's Welsh for Zen tour
The John Cale Trio (with Mark Deffenbaugh & Lance Doss) plays three shows to promote the release of his autobiography What's Welsh for Zen.
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Dead Agents
Dead Agents is a four day mixed-media presentation at London's ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) - (April 24/26/27/28, 1999). It includes live footage of the John Cale Trio in Prague, an exhibition of b&w photos taken by Eve Vermandel, readings by Cale from his autobiography What's Welsh For Zen, a collaboration with American DJ Adam Dorn, and readings of selected lyrics from his back catalogue.
The new piece Dead Agents is based on poems by Leo Marks from Between Silk and Cyanide. Astrid Williamson handled the backing vocals for Dead Agents. Each night ended with the screening of a film.
Songwriters Circle with Nick Cave & Chrissie Hynde
Takes part in the BBC program Songwriters Circle with Nick Cave and Chrissie Hynde. He plays Thoughtless Kind, Fear Is A Man's Best Friend, Dying On The Vine and Ship Of Fools. Cave and Hynder join him for I'm Waiting For The Man. It is filmed at the Subterania Club in London. It is broadcasted on September 7, 1999.