THE HANGOVER REPORT – Martin Creed’s WORDS & MUSIC performance celebrates human limitations

IMG_8924To accompany his current large-scale exhibition at the increasingly essential Park Avenue Armory, British artist Marin Creed (who won the Turner Prize in 2001) and his band are appearing in a handful of performances, one of which I caught last night.

Mr. Creed starts the performance with an amusing, befuddled monologue in which he attempts to articulate what goes on inside our heads. He elliptically explores such concepts as “feelings”, “thoughts”, and “words”, failing to fully put together a coherent argument. But perhaps that’s the point; who really knows how the human brain truly and completely works? At one point, he hilariously equates one’s psyche to a party where you hate all the guests and can’t escape – well, perhaps temporarily by sneaking out the kitchen and entering the back door.

Just when you think Mr. Creed’s monologue is starting to get frustratingly circular, the “music” portion of the program begins. His band is comprised of five wonderfully game members – Creed himself on lead vocals and guitar, Onome Djere on backup vocals, Laurent Estoppey on saxophone, Anouchka Grose on guitar and lapsteel, and Serge Vuille on drums. Somehow, the music – a fun and energizing mix of folk and punk – makes Mr. Creed’s sassy and sometimes surprising musings easier to digest, as if suggesting that our thoughts have more in common and are more attuned to music than they are to word-based concepts. The audience, at first unsure how to respond to Mr. Creed’s antics, ultimately warmed up to him and gave him a rousing ovation by the end of the evening.

RECOMMENDED

 

MARTIN CREED: WORDS & MUSIC
Off-Broadway, Performance/Concert
Park Avenue Armory
1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)|
Through June 11

Categories: Music, Off-Broadway, Other Music, Other Musings, Theater

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