David Byrne

Back to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre!

I am an extremely casual Talking Heads fan. In ye olden daies of Napster and willy nilly filesharing, I randomly grabbed a copy of the song “Once in a Lifetime” and it blew my mind. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard, with shimmery music, a directionless two chord loop¹ (until the guitar kicks in, at least), and paranoid, obtuse lyrics. It’s a pop song and an art song. I love it.

TV and radio taught me “Pyscho Killer” and “Burning Down the House”. That’s where my Talking Heads knowledge ended, until a friend of mine got me to watch Stop Making Sense a few years ago. My incredibly basic take: It’s good.

So we went to see David Byrne on tour. Dude’s in his seventies, and his show involves him and the entire ensemble moving around the stage for a full two hours. All the musicians have to carry their instruments, including the drummers, and they’re not excused from the choreography. It was kinda funny to see Byrne and a few other older musicians on stage, while everyone else was much, much younger. The walls and floor were giant screens, and there was software to track the positions of the performers and tweak the video feeds in real time. It was very impressive, in a way that unfortunately isn’t caught all that well in still images.

But that’s what you’re gonna get.

We’re flying through the suburbs!

And jamming in the city!

And in … outer space? Note the spotlights and names tracking everyone.

This is a version of MAGA I can get behind. Apologies for the terrible stitching.

The lighting and video were going wild, but you’d have no idea from this single image.

Take your bows, eh!