I witnessed something very special the other day in the big new concert hall in Copenhagen – “Koncerthuset”.
Two giants from each their side of the musical spectrum so to say, joined forces and delivered a very special coctail of Laurie Andersson eighties performance art and old school rocker Lou Reed with the many many fabulous albums behind him.
Together they performed what must be considered mostly her show.
The setup was far from what you would expect from Lou Reed. No drums, just Laurie Andersson on keys, vocoder, recitation, singing and violin. And Lou Reed on guitar and some handheld fx.
There was also a guy on electronica and keys, but it was hard to see his hardware – he had a synt and some fx and his function was like a mediator between the two others. It worked very well I thought. Most of it anyway.
I love Laurie Anderssons lyrics, or recitations, and her voice is crystal clear and you can hear every word of her political wordings. Very good. Her singing was also really amazing, and quite unusual to hear almost ethnic frasings in a concert like this these days.
Lou Reed also delivered some of his songs, and they did some Velvet Underground together as well.
The concept with those two together works very well, and also with the guy on electronica. Except when he played beats – which he luckyli only did twice – that didnt work out so well.
But it was an inspiring evening, and it made me think of performance and the different roles people has when they perform.
In this setup it was clear, that Laurie Andersson and Lou Reed are so big peronalities, that that in itself saves whatever flaws there could be in the setup. This is not always the case for smaller setups and especially often not for laptop setups. Hmm…once again I must redefine my live setup. It is often so boring to look at one person bend over a screen.
<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>