Drag, distortion for Lou Reed tribute

With gender-bending dancers and distorted guitars as well as plenty of softer moments, artists remembered rock legend Lou Reed with a full day of celebrations at New York's Lincoln Center.

Reed's widow, Laurie Anderson, organized the free public commemoration of Reed on Saturday entitled "The Bells," which opened with a public lesson by the late rocker's tai chi teacher, Master Ren Guangyi.

Reed, who died in 2013, helped define the underground rock scene but was also known for his love of Lincoln Center, home of the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic.

Stewart Hurwood,longtime guitar technician to late rock legend Lou Reed, performs on July 30, 2016 at the Lincoln Center in New York City, during a full day of celebrations that paid tribute to the rock legend ©Shaun Tandon (AFP/File)

"The Bells" merged the two artistic worlds. Inside a Lincoln Center hall, Reed's longtime technician Stewart Hurwood produced five hours of feedback by adjusting Reed's guitars against a wall of his amplifiers.

Dubbed "The Drones," the wall of sound was so intense that the Lincoln Center provided earplugs to all who entered.

Anderson, herself an avant-garde musician, put together an evening concert -- fans huddled in the rain watched Reed covers by artists including Anohni, the soulful experimental singer championed by the late legend.

Anohni, best known for fronting Antony and the Johnsons, lent her uniquely quivering yet soulful voice to a minimalist, bass-driven version of "Perfect Day," one of Reed's signature songs.

Anderson, known for her unique electric violin, sang with full composure but in mellow, poetic tones on "Doin' the Things That We Want To."

Jon Spencer led a driving rendition of "Venus in Furs," off the legendary debut album by Reed's band The Velvet Underground.

The concert built into "Disco Mystic" as New York artist Kembra Pfahler paraded across the stage with her troupe of gender-ambiguous dancers whose mostly naked bodies were painted violet, pink, red and blue.

Sporting towering black wigs and imposing boots, the dancers stomped around the stage as Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo fired away on guitar.

The show culminated with a sing-along of another classic Reed song, "Sweet Jane," led by Lenny Kaye, the guitarist best known as punk godmother Patti Smith's collaborator.

Reed, alongside the late David Bowie, was one of the most influential artists of his time in bringing an aesthetic sense from the art world to rock music.