In all fairness, no one really knew what to expect when the legendary Lou Reed, his wife, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, and saxophone guru John Zorn took the stage at the Montreal Jazz Festival, but it's fairly safe to say that no one expected to be told to "get the f--- out" of the Salle Wilfred Pelletier where the trio performed.

That foul-mouthed direction came from Zorn after a second long-winded song ended and frustrated audience members let out some resounding boos. A mass exodus of confused concert-goers followed.

At a press conference earlier this morning, Reed gave little away about the evening's performance. It would be improvisational, he said, because according to him, that's the only way it could ever work.

But did it work? For those who were drawn to the event by Reed's name on the bill, they got a different kind of "Walk On The Wild Side," that's for sure.

Reed, Anderson, and Zorn arrived on a sparse stage, took to their instruments and immediately immersed themselves in a musical narrative...only it was like the background music in a suspenseful horror flick that never revealed the killer's face. Instead, the musicians -- each clearly a master of their own instrument -- continued in a nonsensical fumble. As emotionally rousing as the culminating sound was, it was severely lacking direction and too often sounded like the animal kingdom gone astray.

Despite undeniable chemistry between the three, it was as though they were having a private party -- some audience members drank the champagne and mingled about the conversation, while others felt unwelcome and decided it was time to go.