Review: Laurie Anderson

Photos by Jill Toyoshiba/The Star

Laurie Anderson referenced philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's observation that "life can only be understood backwards" during her performance Sunday at Helzberg Hall.  Accordingly, if the members of the audience of approximately 900 had known in advance that Anderson's appearance would be so thoroughly enjoyable, they would almost certainly have insisted that their friends and associates join them. 

Anderson was a savvy choice for the inaugural performance of the Kauffman Center's Vanguard Series. A master of multiple disciplines, Anderson is an ambitious yet accessible artist.  Best known for her icy electronic-based music, an earthy sensibility tethers Anderson's surrealistic explorations.  She successfully merges an infatuation with technology with the sensibility of an old-fashioned storyteller. 

A series of set pieces with little narrative flow, Transitory Life: A Retrospective of Songs and Stories is a one-woman show in which Anderson tells a series of droll stories loosely based on the concept of time.  Enhanced by brief musical interludes and background sounds, the extended monologue recited and sung by Anderson was an amalgam of standup comedy, travelogues and autobiography.  Topics ranged from trite observational humor to bleak apocalyptic musings.  Delivered with the soothing voice and odd cadence of an airport's public address announcer, the veracity of Anderson's tales was incidental.  

Anderson's best bits began as banal musings on trivial matters before suddenly being transformed into weighty allegories.  A seemingly benign shaggy dog story about her pet turned dark after an aborted attack by turkey vultures threatened the animal.  The dog's sudden realization that danger lurked in the sky, Anderson suggested, was akin to the new post-9/11 paradigm faced by her fellow New Yorkers. 

In addition to a few brief violin pieces and keyboard work that resembled a futuristic version of the somber sounds associated with funerals, the mood on the candle-strewn stage was set by highly effective lighting that subtly showcased the marvelous logistical dexterity possessed by Helzberg Hall.  A less satisfying presentation would be susceptible to accusations of smugness and pretentiousness.  By limiting her performance to just 85 minutes, Anderson wisely averted any needless indulgences. 

Another portion of Kierkegaard's famous quotation proposes that life "must be lived forwards."   With that in mind, many of the people present Sunday will be energetically pursuing another opportunity to experience Anderson's art.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star

Comments

[Penny]

Good review, Bill. It was a riveting show... I'm glad you got good pictures, because from where we sat on the side I could never see her face full-on. Experiencing Kauffman's Helzberg Hall for the first time with Laurie Anderson was a real treat. Lovely chatting with you there...

[erin mcgrane]

great review - great show!

[Mark V]

She is sensational. A keen observer of the human condition,her stories unlike the child whom is bribed for affection and then learns to kiss without feeling are immersed in meaningfulness.. There was genius in self-reference, when how as McDonalds worker she could give people exactly what they wanted. So expectations changed. Or the manner in which she conveyed how in stories the unremembered aspects are fortified with forgetfulness (cries of children in the hospital ward). This was transformative in how perception is altered and even meaningfulness empties out into some moment caught in time (mountains o'er the Green River). In a subtle way perhaps the most enriching concert experience on par only with Peter Gabriel... And that building is an aesthetic masterpiece. What a night!