DAVID BYRNE AMERICAN UTOPIA TOUR FULL

The mild-mannered indie god is clad in a gray-silver suit, no tie or shoes, the same costume worn by other dancer-musicians who join him. SEE ALSO: Life, Death, Good Prose: Adam Rapp Makes His Sublime Broadway Debut, ‘The Sound Inside’ So, goes the punch line, the older we get, the stupider we get. We’ll never have more cells in our gray matter, Byrne tells us, as when we’re born they die as we grow. Our spectrumy art-rock magus is revealed at the top of the show contemplating a pink fake cerebellum. A hermetic yet loose-jointed amalgam of dance, concert and TED Talk, the sweet, quirky piece comes across as David Byrne’s literal brainchild. Had I three wishes, after world peace and a Manhattan one-bedroom, my third would be for Talking Heads’ emotional wounds to heal so they could play a kickass, five-hour set of tracks from 77 to Naked.Īt American Utopia, my wish was not granted, but I’m still grateful for the experience. And while I’ve enjoyed many of frontman David Byrne’s solo projects (including the splendid, immersive musical Here Lies Love), I resigned myself never to see one of rock’s greatest, most inventive post-Beatles ensembles in the flesh. Never mind that their eight studio albums had formed the sonic backbone of my teenage angst and pride, the closest I ever got to Heads live was watching Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense over and over as preparation for a high-school Air Band contest (I was drummer Chris Frantz). Perhaps if I had followed through on my longtime fandom, I could have seen them in concert, but no, dammit. Matthew MurphyĪlthough they had been splintering since 1988, Talking Heads officially broke up the year before I graduated college and moved to New York.

After all the joy, the audience was purposefully left with a powerful, meaningful discomfort.David Byrne and the Cast of American Utopia.

That was the final song for the show and Merrill Garbus (of Tune-Yards, the opener) joining him to close out the terrific night. The piece sears the memory black people who died because of violent, racist actions through incantation of names of the lives lost, including Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, and Walter Scott. Before the final song, Byrne noted that he asked Janelle Monáe if he could cover her protest jam “Hell You Talmbout” and (sadly) permission to “update as time goes by”.

DAVID BYRNE AMERICAN UTOPIA TOUR FULL

The full setlist is below as well as someone’s bootleg video of the show.Īnd the show even managed to spiritually connect to one of my other favorite shows of the year.

Standout songs included Talking Heads classics like “Once in a Lifetime” (members of the audience were heard appreciative in their recognition), “Toe Jam” from his collaboration with Fatboy Slim, and “I Dance Like This” from the American Utopia album. At King’s, Byrne did speak about the importance of voting and also explained that yes, the instruments were truly wireless - very impressive given how flawless everything seemed. But there is a lot of feeling even without much being spoken to connect the songs in an arc. Should Byrne add narration or a narrative structure, the show might be more comparable to Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway run or Patti Smith’s recent intimate shows taped for Audible. You don’t need a deep familiarity with Byrne’s work (Talking Heads, solo or other collabs) to see how much fun the band has performing like a marching band, with entirely wireless instruments in a carefully choreographed production. And that brought more of the focus onto him, the musicians and their actions. (WFUV has archived audio from a different stop of the tour that is available for streaming here.)īyrne could have imagined extravagant possibilities to bring his songs on the road (see his Contemporary Color project) but he instead kept it simple and seamless. I managed to attend his show at King’s Theatre in Brooklyn and the quickly registered it as one of my favorite tours of the year. And you realize he’s not expressing trepidation or fear, only excitement.”īyrne should take on that project - the shows will sell out. “I’ve never done anything like that before,” he says, his eyes widening. Byrne is clearly intrigued: he would need to create a narrative arc, to connect the songs, but that doesn’t feel impossible. But this past weekend, in an interview Byrne did with The Guardian, it was noted in the final paragraphs that “there has been interest from the West End and Broadway in turning the American Utopia show into something more permanent. David Byrne‘s American Utopia tour has gone overseas so the buzz around the tour has somewhat died down in the United States.

David byrne american utopia tour