God In 3 Persons Live

**God In 3 Persons - Live!** is a live performance event adapting The Residents' 1988 concept album *God In Three Persons*. The show features The Singing Resident in the lead role of Mr. X, with original video material by frequent Residents collaborator John Sanborn featuring genderqueer performance artist Jiz Lee as a pair of miracle-working conjoined twins.

The show debuted with a one-off performance at the Transpalette in Bourges, France, and continued three shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on January 24th and 25th 2020. Three further performances of the show (this time in its "final, definitive" version) followed in San Francisco in May and June 2022.

A live album of a MoMA performance was released to crowdfund contributors in September 2020. A special performance of the show in May 2022 was filmed for an upcoming video release (which was also supported by a crowdfunding campaign); the video, simply titled *God In 3 Persons Live*, was released April 21st 2023 on DVD and Blu-ray.

In September 2023, The Residents announced a new God In 3 Persons mini-tour, with five shows taking place across the United Kingdom in April 2024.

## History

### Early attempts

The Residents first considered creating a stage show based on their 1988 narrative concept album *God In Three Persons* shortly after its release, getting as far as composing an overture for the potential show, but abandoning the idea when they instead developed the three performances pieces which became the 1989 tour Cube-E.

The unused "overture" to the show was released as "God In Three Person's Over" in 1989 on *Buckaroo Blues*. The idea to produce a theatrical version of the album remained unrealized for decades, with The Residents instead thinking "it would be a good movie".

President of The Cryptic Corporation, Homer Flynn, revealed that The Residents were working on a new live version of *God In Three Persons* in an interview in early 2016.

### First performance

A truncated preview of the show was performed by the group in association with Bandits-Mages on April 27th 2019 at the Transpalette in Bourges, France, with the Singing Resident in the lead role of Mr. X. Guest performers included long-time collaborator Joshua Raoul Brody, and various performers from The National Art School of Bourges.

For this performance, The Residents appeared in costumes similar to the ones worn during the Ghost of Hope performance in 2017. The show preceded the August release of the pREServed three-disc edition of the original *God In Three Persons* album.

### Museum of Modern Art performances

The Residents performed the complete theatrical performance of *God In Three Persons* three times on January 24th and 25th 2020 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These shows were announced alongside a crowdfunding campaign in October 2019, via Indiegogo. Supporters of the campaign received rewards including merchandise relating to the show, props from the Bourges performance, and tickets to an intimate dress rehearsal of the performance on January 18th 2020 at The Lab in San Francisco.

The 2020 performances were more elaborate than the early version of the show seen in Bourges, featuring an entirely new version of *God In Three Persons* with orchestrations by Brody, and a method to perform in sync with three simultaneous video projections (with videos by artist John Sanborn). The new version of the show omits a number of songs originally included on the album, but opens with a new version of "God In Three Person's Over".

The show also featured set and costume design by long-time Residents collaborator Leigh Barbier. Genderqueer performance artist Jiz Lee starred as the gender-fluid conjoined twins, and the show's narrator Mr. X was again portrayed by the Singing Resident.

### Planned 2021 performances

It was announced in December 2020 that The Residents and John Sanborn were planning to take God In 3 Persons - Live! back out on the road in 2021, with an expanded set list featuring three additional songs not heard in the earlier performances; however the shows did not eventuate due to logistical issues surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

### 2022 American performances

   In September 2021, Homer Flynn announced during an interview with KFAI that The Residents were planning a European tour of God In 3 Persons - Live! for summer 2022, but was uncertain whether the group would be allowed into Europe due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ultimately no European dates were announced; Flynn explained that "the plague gods have not co-operated".

In February 2022 two shows were announced for May 13th and 14th, at the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center in San Francisco. These two shows premiered the "final, definitive" version of God In 3 Persons - Live!, containing all songs from the album (including three excised from the previous versions of the show; "Their Early Years", "Loss of a Loved One", and "Fine Fat Flies").

On May 4th, The Cryptic Corporation announced an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to finance the filming of a private performance of the show on May 15th following the two shows at the Presidio. Perks for campaign contributors included tickets to the video shoot (limited to fifty people only) with a limited edition t-shirt, DVD or Bluray of the show, a poster from the earlier Museum of Modern Art shows, an associate or executive producer credit on the release, and signed CDs or vinyl albums of the *God In 3 Persons* live album. A further "bargain basement" perk was added to the campaign on May 8th; a package of ten plastic "genuine, imitation Fine Fat Flies", in honor of the three songs added to this version of the show. On October 28th, John Sanborn announced that the video, then titled *G3PTV*, was complete and ready to be encoded for DVD and streaming.

Following the Presidio performances, a third Californian show was announced, taking place June 18th at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. This was ultimately announced to be the final US performance of God In 3 Persons.

### Cancelled German shows

In July 2022, three shows were announced at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany on September 10th and 11th, to take place alongside an exhibition of the work of John Sanborn which is running at the Center between July and October.

The shows were cancelled in August 2022, due to "too many COVID related issues that could not be resolved". An additional German Dog Stab! show was announced for February 2023 shortly thereafter.

### European mini-tour

On September 27th 2023, Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation announced a new mini-tour of God In 3 Persons Live, with five shows taking place across England and Scotland in April 2024; tickets for these shows went on sale September 29th 2023. On January 22nd 2024, Flynn announced a further performance on April 10th in Athens, Greece.

## Concept

*God In Three Persons* is a raucous musical composition, fashioned as a propulsive hard rock oratorio with a deep Southern twang. It is sung in a rhythmic spoken-word style, similar to the talking blues, and driven by a bombastic and dynamic score derived, in large part, from the first few bars of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”. The lead character Mr. X narrates and is accompanied throughout by a chorus of voices, singing in high, nasal, “outsider­ country” harmonies.

Beginning with a series of flashbacks, our unreliable narrator Mr. X tells us of his discovery of a pair of conjoined twins he believes to be miracle workers. As they tour the revival tent circuit, the relationship between the twins and Mr. X shifts from paternal to something more sinister, as he becomes convinced one of the twins desires him. Framed by folksy memories, Mr. X pretends that his lurid obsession was simply a regard for the health and safety of these faith healing twins, until his libido bursts like a flood-swollen dam, causing a dire release and realignment of the twins’ connection.

This staged version centres on a live vocalist (one of The Residents performing as the lead character Mr. X) shadowed by an onstage double. They perform inside an innovative series of video projections that depict the thoughts and desires of Mr. X and draws the audience inside his collapsing mental state. Oscillating in style from animated cartoon to film noir, the media staging seduces the viewer as it takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey into the darkest corners of human desire.

## Set list

### 2019 performance

1. Hard & Tenderly
2. The Thing About Them
3. Their Early Years
4. Confused (By What I Felt Inside)
5. Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care
6. Kiss of Flesh
7. Pain and Pleasure

### 2020 performances

1. Overture
2. Hard & Tenderly
3. Devotion?
4. The Thing About Them
5. The Touch
6. The Service
7. Confused (By What I Felt Inside)
8. Time
9. Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care
10. Kiss of Flesh
11. Pain and Pleasure
12. Curtains For Certain

### 2022 performances

1. Overture
2. Hard & Tenderly
3. Devotion?
4. The Thing About Them
5. Their Early Years
6. Loss of a Loved One
7. The Touch
8. The Service
9. Confused (By What I Felt Inside)
10. Fine Fat Flies
11. Time
12. Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care
13. Kiss of Flesh
14. Pain and Pleasure
15. Curtains For Certain

## Dates

### 2019

* April 27th 2019 - Transpalette Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bourges, France (preview)

### 2020

* January 18th 2020 - The Lab, San Francisco, California (dress rehearsal)
* January 24th 2020 - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York
* January 25th 2020 - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York (two shows)

### 2022

* May 13th 2022 - Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center, San Francisco, California
* May 14th 2022 - Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center, San Francisco, California
* June 18th 2022 - The Alex Theatre, Glendale, California

### 2024

* April 2nd 2024 - City Halls, Glasgow, Scotland
* April 3rd 2024 - Albert Hall, Manchester, England
* April 5th 2024 - Town Hall, Birmingham, England
* April 6th 2024 - De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, England
* April 8th 2024 - Barbican Centre, London, England
* April 10th 2024 - Pallas, Athens, Greece

### Cancelled dates

* ~~September 10th 2022 - ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (two shows)~~
* ~~September 11th 2022 - ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany~~

## Related releases

The first release of the God In 3 Persons show was a short video of the French preview performance, released on Vimeo on June 17th, 2019 by the official Bandits-Mages channel.

In January 2020, just prior to the Museum of Modern Art shows, a live album of the upcoming performances was promised to supporters of The Residents' Indiegogo page. The album was released to campaign supporters on September 3rd 2020. In June of 2020, the official John Sanborn YouTube channel premiered a concert film from the MoMA performances. This video has since been unlisted.

A special show with a select invited audience was filmed by John Sanborn at the Presidio Theater on May 15th 2022 for future home video release. The video, said by Sanborn to be the "definitive" version of the God In 3 Persons show, was announced as complete and ready for encoding for DVD and streaming as of October 28th 2022; it was released (titled simply *God In 3 Persons Live*) on DVD and Blu-ray on April 21st 2023.

## See also

* *God In Three Persons*
* *God in 3 Persons Live* (video)
* *God In 3 Persons*(live album)
* Mr. X
* The Twins
* Randy Rose
* Jiz Lee
* Bandits-Mages
* God In Three Person's Over

## External links and references

* Crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo
* Bandits-Mages Present The Residents
* Bourges, France performance at Vimeo
* MoMA performance at YouTube
* The Residents Present God In Three Persons at MoMA

1. ↑ *God In Three Persons*at RZWeb
2. ↑ THE RESIDENTS - in conversation with Jan Sneum - YouTube
3. ↑ Homer Flynn KFAI interview, September 9th 2021
4. ↑ Post to The Residents' official Facebook page, May 4th 2022
5. ↑ "The Residents: God in 3 Persons Video Shoot in SF!" on Indiegogo
6. ↑ Post to The Residents' official Facebook page, May 8th 2022
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "I'm calling it done. G3PTV, the definitive version of The Residents' **God in 3 Persons** is complete and ready for encoding to DVD, and streaming. Closure is sweet." John Sanborn, crossposted to Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group, October 28th 2022
8. ↑ Post to The Residents' official Facebook page, June 14th 2022
9. ↑ Steve Saporito, post in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, August 10th 2022
10. ↑ John Sanborn, post in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, August 12th 2022
11. ↑ https://vimeo.com/342728885
12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V3n6sf9jQQ&feature=youtu.be&ab\_channel=JohnSanborn