Laurie Anderson: Republic of Love with Sexmob @ Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, New York, NY 6/26/26
Bill: Laurie Anderson: Republic of Love with Sexmob/amita
Venue: Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, New York, NY
Date: Friday 6/26/26
Door: Free (had VIP +1 hookup)
8pm Laurie Anderson: Republic of Love with Sexmob
Active: Anderson: 1969 (New York via Chicago), Sexmob: 1995 (New York, NY)
Latest Release: Laurie Anderson with Sexmob-Let X=X (Nonesuch, 2026)
Anderson: Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify
Sexmob: Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify
Laurie Anderson brought her new multimedia project Republic of Love to Central Park for a free SummerStage concert with Knitting Factory Jazz band Sexmob backing her. When I initially saw the bill, I thought they were simply opening. Not only are they part of her show, but Nonesuch has just issued a live album with them together entitled Let X=X.
Anderson has a patented presentation, one that precedes and embodies what has evolved into "adult" coffeehouse NPR culture, embraced by an art world stamp. So academic, she cites the quotes she uses in her lyrics at the end of band credits for all to see. I think on some level the REMOVAL of repetition in experiencing this made me enjoy it more. That doesn't mean she is lacking hits over the years and she did plenty of those things like "Big Science" or "Language Is A Virus." Clearly though the show was striving for something bigger than trotting out "O Superman" for an encore. She had her late husband Lou Reed's Tai Chi instructor instead, putting the audience through introductory workout form paces.
The meat of the program was the covers. "Dirty Blvd" by Lou and Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" were deconstructed as recitals. She took on Lou as her own narrative but Bob's lyric was spread out to be spoken by the entire band. It was so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye. You know it's all coming down, but Laurie gives us her matter-of-fact approach without being strident or preachy.
She still is able make a point where needed: the international connection of major cities have long supported musicians and artists where countries and provincial communities never could. She brings it home with a folksy story of being rousted at a hotel in Frankfort, Germany by a party. When she decided to check out what was going on, it turned out to be a large party of people fundraising for NYC Firefighters. "What makes people come together to help people far away that they don't even know?" to paraphase what Laurie pondered out loud.
There is a one-world community that superceeds governments Laurie was talking about that evolved and now various governments actively want to shut down for various reasons including our own. These type of insular governments always existed but it seemed for the time that enable the rise and peak of Anderson's music career in the 80's and into the 90's accelerated rise of internet aided instantaneous communications. It was thought this world would be permanent and generally left alone. Places like Pyongyang or Tehran were looked at as outliers that someday will join the club, since inroads were already made in places like Moscow and Beijing.
The attack on that foundational core standard of looking at the world as a singular place to communicate with, travel to and influence was checkmated by the usual suspects: War, Power and Scarcity and relatively newer ones: accelerated environmental degradation and technology enabling citizens to engage in darker pursuits beyond government controls. Once something like a global pandemic hit, all bets were off and people were left to their own devices to figure out what is the symptom and what is the disease. At least Laurie can dream of a Republic of Love to counter this nonsense and cite sources of a forward thinking humanity in more optimistic times. Maybe at 79 she can see the pendulum start to swing back one last time when people die out and the living, in retrospect, may feel shamed by their actions in the fog of war. Until then you can still seek out Master Ren GuangYi. He is still very much alive and might have more answers for you.
FOR FURTHER REVIEW:
Bob Dylan-The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
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