(from Jonathan Demme's movie Stop Making Sense)
I'm speechless after the show-- still one of the most amazing, fun, mind-opening shows I've ever seen. I'd never really heard music like that before, such a mix of rhythm, beat, and styles. It was so intricate and complex, and yet so wild and fun, and I was instantly and forever a Talking Heads fan.
October 2008: I'm a college professor. A friend of mine says that he's interested in getting tickets to a David Byrne show, do I want to go? I say probably not, sounds like fun, but too expensive and not sure I can make it up to Ann Arbor in time. He ignores my response and gets them anyway. Off we go to the Michigan Theater, and... wow.
(from a handheld camera -- not mine! -- somewhere in the Michigan Theater)
Where to start? First, the seats were spectacular: first row, we were leaning on the stage when we weren't dancing in the aisle. Watching Byrne play up close was a lot of fun -- I always had seen him through his videos and his onstage performances as an enigmatic persona, very different and strange. But he was very relaxed and chatty this night, laughing, interacting with the audience, he seemed like a guy who was having a lot of fun with the music.
And there was so much to watch. The show combined music and dance -- he had three dancers on stage much of the time, and three singers who were almost always in motion as well. The motion and music flowed together on stage much the same way as the Heads worked in that concert 25 years ago.
He played a lot of Talking Heads -- essentially the whole first side of Remain in Light. Here's the setlist, in fact. Crosseyed and Painless remains one of my all-time favorite Heads songs, and it was such a treat to see it again live. But it wasn't just Heads stuff, he did a number of songs from his work with Brian Eno as well, in particular Strange Overtones flowed beautifully throughout the concert hall.
So twenty five years has passed. I'm older and a heavier. David Byrne is older and white haired. The concert starts early for all us geezers. But other than that, it's every bit as intense and fun as it was back then. It's a spectacular show -- if the tour comes near you, go see it. You won't be sorry. And, Mark, thanks a million for ignoring me and getting the tickets anyway even after I said no...
3 comments:
great blog! well...it was great when I had the video going. 25 years?! holy moly. I get to know you more and more with each blog. How come you never wanted to hang out back then...or now? :)
Bill, it is because Chris is Rueben Kincaid, and Rueben don't hang out with nobody (intentional double negative)
Long Beach Arena! we tremble when that is where we have to play. I fell down twice trying to deliver the cooler to the front of house mix position because the floorboards over the ice are so wonky. Boy, was I mad at the three laughing security guards! boom, me on the ground. get up like Batman, meant to do that, walk three steps, BOOM again! fisk fisk fisk hisssss
hey, it turns out that getting behind on reading your blog was the perfect plan - it's great reading while waiting for the little halloween monsters.
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