Laurie Anderson Brings The Republic of Love to the Curran on September 25

Laurie Anderson plays the Curran Theatre on Friday, September 25 with The Republic of Love, a show she built out of a commission from a Vienna festival about the rise of fascism in Europe. The jazz group Sexmob backs her.

What to Expect

Anderson described the origin of the piece in the show’s announcement: “Last spring I was invited to be part of a festival in Vienna. It was a theater, dance, music and literature festival and the theme was the rise of fascism in Europe. They asked me to do a two hour talk on the relationship of government and love. I don’t often get assignments, but this one was irresistible.”

That assignment came from the Wiener Festwochen. It has since taken several forms, all under the same title. The version coming to San Francisco is, in Anderson’s words, “a collection of songs and stories about the current state of America, with some history thrown in.”

The set draws on her own catalog, including “Big Science” and “Language Is a Virus,” which she says carry new meanings in 2026. It also works in words and thoughts from Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, John Cage, Gertrude Stein, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. She calls the result “a celebration of freedom.”

Sexmob is led by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, with Briggan Krauss on saxophone, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. For the Curran date the group expands: violinists and backing vocalists Mazz Swift and Christina Courtin join, along with Doug Wieselman on woodwinds and guitar.

Anderson is a composer, writer, director, visual artist and vocalist. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, along with the Gold Medal for Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and she delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard in 2021. Her album Amelia came out on Nonesuch in 2024 and her latest, Let X=X, was released in May. She currently has two installations at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

Details

When: Friday, September 25, 8pm. One night only. Where: Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Street, between Mason and Taylor.

Tickets: Through the Curran’s box office at ATG Tickets. Getting there: The theater is two blocks west of Union Square. Powell Street station, served by BART and Muni Metro, is about a five-minute walk east along Geary and O’Farrell. The 38 Geary runs along Geary Street itself.

The next booking at the Curran after this one is The Terminator Live on October 9.

For the rest of the month, see our guide to September in San Francisco.

Sources: BroadwayWorld, ATG Tickets, Hoodline.

Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.