Oh, Superwoman...
I've been to see Laurie Anderson many, many times. And everytime I've seen her she has performed her current work, her latest project only. Her fans know her and love her for this as she is an artist. And as an artist she doesn't simply reproduce her art from the past to sell her new work. A painter wouldn't repaint one of their old pictures for a new exhibition. A sculpter wouldn't knock out an earlier statue to get the punters in for a new exhibit. Laurie is an artist and I respect here for that.
When Paul and I took our seats in our box last night - within spitting distance of Ian in his box - we joked about how funny it was that the audience for largely gay. Not your typical gay crowd of course - pseudo types. And how funny it would if she played 'Let X=X' or 'Oh, Superman!'. We laughed - it would never happen.
Laurie was superb. And you've guessed it I'm sure, her second song was... 'Let X=X'. We squealed with delight. She further delighted us further with 'Sweaters', 'Walking And Falling' and a bunch of my other favourites from 'Big Science', 'United States I-IV' and every album since. Mixing the old with the new 'Life On A Wire' tracks was fantastic and refreshing for her shows. I had tears in my eyes when she performed 'Oh, Superman'. There was a chilling resonance to the lyrics like 'Here come the planes/They're Amercian planes/Made in Amercia/Smoking/And Non-smoking'.
So has she sold out? You know what, I don't care too much. I just loved what she did and now respect her for that alone. Maybe we can expect a Greatest Hits CD and remix album too! :)
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