David Byrne: American Utopia Tour

Durham Performing Arts Center – When tickets for this show came up, I begged Jon to get them on pre-sale knowing it would be in high demand. Yep, sold out. Cheap Seaters, pre-sale is the way to go and in the case of David Byrne, it was a show made for the Cheap Seats!

Wow – Wow – Wow – This was a great concert. So great that I dashed out of bed on little to no sleep after our midnight ride home last night, full of the energy of the night before. I had to get it down in the blog-sphere.  This is my humble assessment of the show.

Each song was a piece of performance art set in the simplicity of a box defined by floor to ceiling string curtains. I felt I was peering into the coolest shoe box diorama – ever.  Our cheap seats were in the upper section, pretty center to the stage. Cheap seats were the best seats in the house – I honestly think the people in the front row didn’t get half of the impact of this stunning evening.  I brought my binoculars for close up viewing.

Even this morning, I am still encased in the beauty, the intellectual stimulation and the arousal of my long time love for what the Talking Heads and David Byrne have brought to my musical soul. Shit – this stuff is deep and beautifully ugly.

The show from start to finish was incredible (am I gushing?). It started simply with a desk, a model brain and David sitting at a desk in the flood of a spotlight. Here.  No band in sight so you assume that the music is canned to allow for the dance and light effects. No, baby, NO! This was live music. Out of the string curtains emerged the band and two dancers (in matching grey suits). From there is was a combo of drumming circle/drum line, conga line kaleidoscope of music and movement. Stunning is a mantra in my mind. By the time he was onto the third song, Lazy, the place was in full sway. This was amazing.

I just saw P!nk flipping through the air singing and landing right in front of me barely two weeks ago – it brought me to my feet in pretty wild amazement of her energy (hang tight – blog post coming soon), but this was unlike anything I have ever seen.

The setlist included a sprinkling of Talking Heads hits, but was mainly the American Utopia album. Typically it is a turn off to be fed the new music by such an icon, but this is in line with the talents and likes of Robert Plant – the new stuff is as good if not better than what has been leading up to this. Worth purchasing the whole CD – be old school and listen from end to end! My only wish is that the second encore song was included on this new album.  I love the collaboration with Brian Eno on this album and this will be the closest I ever get to a Brian Eno concert (I don’t think that even exists and, if it does, please let me know – I will crawl over lava to get there.)

Obviously, DB is a brilliant artist and collaborator. Look at his catalog. Listen to his catalog – collaborations with everyone from Brian Eno and St. Vincent to Sharon Jones and Fat Boy Slim. Relevant, topical and engaged in the present. Very engaging and inspiring. That is all on that.

I tried to capture the sets as best I could on my iPhone. I’m including the zoom ins and some regular shots so you can see how it played out. The visual effects were remarkable. You can see by my pictures that there was variety and texture in this very simple set. Everybody in the band, the dancers and David Byrne were all part of the texture. Check out the long shadows in Blind – see picture below.  Bodies lying on the stage – I Dance Like This. The chalky texture of Like Humans Do. Every song was a work of art. Every song was live with choreography, music, dance and singing. A feast for the senses, all in this little diorama set in front of us…especially us in the Cheap Seats. BTW, when you click the link for Hell You Talmbout – you will see that being up high gave us Cheap Seaters the richness of all the voices in the venue rising up to us and the vantage point of looking from above. Yep, I’m gloating and wallowing in how the Cheap Seats were the best seats last night.

Stamina – I thought Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters held the all time record for most songs with full throttle without a break, but I think Dave needs to share the pedestal with DB – this was like watching a two hour flow of choreography and singing with a few scattered moments where DB spoke with the audience. By the way, he comes off as humble and human as Tom Petty – and that’s surprising since he seems to come from the same unicorn stock as David Bowie. He plugged his tour’s connection to an organization that registers voters – he sited voter apathy as something he cares to change. Classy way of getting his point across without pulling everyone into a partisan politics scuffle. Like at the Roger Waters concert last year, I assume there were few conservatives here by bBack to stamina – this was a physical performance where one missed step would be obvious – it was flawless, even energy all the way through to Hell You Talmbout (Janelle Monae cover) that is still beating in my heart. (see the link below in the setlist.)

I was told by a friend in Asheville that this was a mind blowing concert. I was a bit skeptical (I do go to quite a few concerts). This was not an exaggeration by any means. Long Live Rock and Roll – punk, funk, performance art and all!

I want more, please. I am lucky to have tickets to see him this fall in Louisville, KY. It will be at an outdoor venue, so it could be a totally different experience. Stay tuned.

I think I am going to be playing a lot of DB and the Talking Heads stuff for a while…with an even greater appreciation.  What took me so long to see him? SMH

Setlist

Here
Lazy
I Zimbra  (Talking Heads song)
Slippery People (Talking Heads song)
I Should Watch TV  (David Byrne & St. Vincent cover)
Dog’s Mind
Everybody’s Coming to My House
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)  (Talking Heads song)
Once In a Lifetime (Talking Heads song)
Doing the Right Thing
Toe Jam  (Brighton Port Authority cover)

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)  (Talking Heads song)
I Dance Like This
Bullet
Every Day Is a Miracle
Like Humans Do
Blind (Talking Heads song)
Burning Down the House  (Talking Heads song)

Encore 1:

Dancing Together
The Great Curve (Talking Heads song)

Encore 2:

Hell You Talmbout (Janelle Monáe cover)