Laurie Anderson

Beacon Theater, 74th & Broadway, New York, NY

Friend and ex-college roommate Glenn had a pair of tickets to the show and offered me one. She was absolutely terrific, doing band and solo versions of her songs and pieces.

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Some of the memories of the show now mingle with what I recall from her great concert film Home of the Brave (my VHS copy of which was bizarrely, and humorously, screwed up at the factory to contain a show by comedian Louie Anderson), although I'm fairly confident that neither Adrian Belew nor William Burrough were present this night at the Beacon.

I do distinctly recall a piece that Laurie performed using three microphones; one she used for her normal voice, one was for her classic pitched-up-with-a-harmonizer voice, and the third had a chorus vocal effect. It was wondrous to watch her, all by herself on stage, trade vocals as different people and be her own backup singers on the chorus.

I must admit, I was also excited to go to my first show at the Beacon after having a memorable bootleg of The Replacements taped at a Beacon show.