Laurie Anderson

If you are of a certain age, you may well recall the release of Laurie Anderson's highly divisive single 'O, Superman'. Enough people liked it, thanks to John Peel, for it to get to number two in the charts in 1981, but a lot of people just found the repetition - "Ha Ha Ha Ha..." - intolerable. 

At the age of 15, I found it interesting enough, but I didn't buy a copy, as far as can remember, and it would be quite a long time before I came to love it.

And over the years, as I've learnt more about her, I've become more interested in her work, including, for example, the concert she put on for dogs. (Actual dogs!)

I was surprised to learn a few months back that she was bringing a new show, 'Ark: United States V', to Aviva*, running for thirteen nights! Naturally, I bought tickets for the Minx and me. 

And it was an enjoyable show, even if it ran at three hours, but it became apparent after a while but there was no narrative or binding theme: it was more like a collection of sketches, some more interesting than others. 

There were spoken word pieces, songs and music, a section where we all screamed for ten seconds, and even some Tai Chi at the end. But would I recommend it? Well, yes, but you could have left half way through and had the measure of it. 

*The venue apparently designed by people who don't attend gigs