WOW! *

* Not The World of Wearable Arts but equally as striking.

I've always been a fan of performance art which is why I love opera I guess. When I was young there wasn't a lot of opportunity to see any great performances but I do remember going to Die Fledermaus, a Johann Strauss II operetta in Wellington in 1966. I was 13.

The music I liked at that time and over the next few years was accessible on records but occasionally some good show musicals appeared on television albeit in black and white. Truly engaging performance art was a rarity though.

In my early university years, apart from seeing Sky Hooks in Melbourne in about 1973, the best performance art group I saw that knocked my socks off was Split Enz. I first saw them perform in Victoria University's Union Hall at about the same time. Phil Judd's 'Under The Wheel' and 'Titus' brought drama and music together in a way I hadn't seen before.

Over the years pop and rock bands and stars who appealed to me had an extra edge to them that, thinking about it, was performance art. Peter Gabriel took Genesis to great heights with quirky and zany performances as did Arthur Brown, David Bowie and many others.

The master, to me has been David Byrne with his performance shows, dance collaborations and films. I was fortunate to see Talking Heads a couple of times in the 1970s and 80s and David Byrne in Auckland in 2018.

I particularly love The Catherine Wheel which is Byrne's collaboration with the Twyla Tharp Dance Group back in 1981. I wish that I'd gone then to NYC to see a performance.

OK ... are you still with me?

What led me to this post was watching again Laurie Anderson's video performance of O Superman.

This is performance art done really well and, at the time - early 1980s I was prepared to go to the Montreux Jazz Festival to see her perform it but did not go because of family issues. As it turned out I don't think that she did turn up but I might have seen Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, John Lee Hooker and other greats in concert.

Stunning and memorable.

Anderson took the 'O Superman' title from Jules Massenet's 1885 opera 'Le Cid.' The first lines being: "O Superman / O Judge / O Mom and Dad".

I prefer Laurie Anderson's 'version'.

I found it interesting listening again to 'O Superman' and 'Under The Wheel' side by side and noticed that Anderson's piece has some musical references to the Split Enz song. Coincidence? Here's another in the lyrics:

"They said you were bright

Had stars in your eyes
They said you were bright
Had all the ideas in your head
Under the wheel
For all those years
Under the wheel
For all those tears
But now they all stand back and shout
Go on you creep, go on get out
Oh my god what are they on about
And I think I'll get on back home to my mother
Yes I think I'll get on back home to my mother x2
It doesn't seem real
The way things turned out
It doesn't seem real
Now your heads full of doubt
But now they all jump back in fear
As if I really care
They just stand and stare
It's not fair...
It's not fair.
It's not fair!!...
Cold and silent you lie in the dark waters of the stream
Shame and suffering have passed
But death, glorious death is just another bed to sleep
Yes death, glorious death
Is just another appointment to keep".