John Cale enlists stars for rare Velvet Underground concert

John Cale of Velvet Underground fame will enlist younger artists including Pete Doherty for a rare performance of the legendary band's first album.

The Philharmonie de Paris, the year-old music hall in the French capital, is putting on the concert April 3 as part of a retrospective on the Velvet Underground, the massively influential New York band that brought an artistic aesthetic to rock.

The Philharmonie said the concert would mark the first time that Cale would play 1967 album "The Velvet Underground & Nico" from beginning to finish since he left the band a year later amid differences with the band's co-founder Lou Reed, who died in 2013.

"Offering a (re)interpretation of the Velvet Underground's mythic first album, 'The Velvet Underground & Nico,' two and a half years after the death of his collaborator Lou Reed marks a perilous and passionate undertaking," the Philharmonie said.

Announcing the lineup on Thursday, the Philharmonie said that Cale would perform with Pete Doherty and Carl Barat of punk-inspired English rockers The Libertines.

Also performing with Cale will be Animal Collective, the experimental US band that has also shown the influence of the Velvet Underground by employing lengthy stretches of noise as harmony, and Mark Lanegan who brought his distinctive scratchy voice to the Seattle grunge band Screaming Trees.

Other performers will include Nick Franglen of British electronic duo Lemon Jelly and the French singers Etienne Daho and Lou Doillon.

The Velvet Underground's debut album, with lyricism that delved into drug use and non-traditional sexuality, featured the German model and singer Nico as a vocalist, with iconic pop artist Andy Warhol designing the cover.

The Welsh-born Cale, who turns 74 next week, has remained active since the Velvet Underground as an avant-garde composer and is known for his electric viola.