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David Byrne American Utopia tour

by 49 Comments

Venue:

Birmingham Symphony Hall

Date: 17/06/2018

Anyone who has tickets for any of his UK shows is in for an absolute treat – easily the show of the year and possibly in my top 5 gigs of all time. But first lets talk about opener local girl Laura Mvula. Accompanied only by her long time collaborator on drums, loops, keyboards and occasional guitar she commanded the stage from start to finish. She has a remarkable voice – the closing living singer to Nina Simone.The opening numbers were very electronic jazzy spacey affairs and then she was left alone on stage for Father Father with just her piano. Emotional doesn’t begin to describe it but the final number saw her drummer return to the stage and they played a long drum and voice song with her incredible dancing – it was sexy, rhythmic and heart stopping. Earlier in the set she emotionally told her home town audience that she was last on this stage when she graduated from the conservatoire.She thanked her parents who were in the audience for all the running around to rehearsals for piano and violin and was grateful that they put up with her scraping out endless attempts at Twinkle Twinkle. Still the practise clearly paid off as she got a thunderous standing ovation after her 45 minute set. How many support artists can say that?
Still, the main set beckoned and what a set it was. I won’t say too much about the stage set and the lighting but there were aspects of it that were truly innovative in terms of live performance and it is clear that Byrne has put an awful amount of effort into seeking and achieving a live performance that will live on long in the memory. The band was excellent – 12 musicians on stage including 6 percussionists. None of them sat at all for any of the sow – no conventional drum kit, no wires on show, no speakers visible – just glorious music. In some ways I compare David Byrne to Robert Plant – both revered for their work with their previous bands, both wanting to leave it behind to some extent and both questing for something fresh and challenging. It is true that the loudest applause and the most enthusiasm was reserved for the Talking Heads songs of which there was a fair smattering. However new songs like Every Day is a miracle and Everybody’s coming to my house took on an anthem quality possibly missing from the recorded versions. The finale of Blind and Burning Down the House left the place on the point of combusting and then a double encore pushed it over the top. Joyous doesn’t begin to describe it and I have never seen so many smiling faces as we left the remarkable Symphony Hall. A night to remember.

The audience:

On their feet from second number in I Zimbra. This is the Symphony Hall – you are supposed to remain in your seats. No chance.

It made me think..

Live music should be a spectacle as well as an aural experience. Credit to Byrne for making such an enjoyable show. Oh and he looks in rude health – slim, slightly tanned and his hair longer than it usually is. Oh and he still dances like some weirdo to Once in a Lifetime.

6

Comments

  2. Agree with you Steve, it reinvented the whole rock gig experience. By freeing up the musicians it also invigorated the grey tinged audience and had them dancing in the aisles from the third song onwards. Mr Byrne’s certainly not resting on his laurels. A lot of love for Laura who was great too.

  12. I like Mvula, only seen her with a full band but she’s a class act.

    Look upon ye setlist and envy – Looks very well put together – a few big hits as well as some less obvious TH tracks interspersed with solo stuff.

    https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/david-byrne/2018/symphony-hall-birmingham-england-1beaede0.html

    Sounds great. I’m not an avid follower, so is this a more Talking Heads friendly set than he’d usually do? Did he re-interpret the Talking Heads tunes or play it reasonably straight?

    • The Talking Heads songs were not radically altered just enough to add some extra bounce mainly through the 6 percussionists.This must be the place was particularly brilliant.
      What was revelatory was the 2 numbers from his collaboration with Fat boy Slim. I dismissed this when it was released – on this performance wrongly.

  14. I’m surprised to see him playing the UK arenas in October. I like Talking Heads very much, and though I have enjoyed his solo albums less I still admire his restless creativity. I would never have guessed that he could have a bash at filling the O2. Fair play to him!

    • Some of the tickets for the O2 are over £100. There are still tickets available for Hammersmith tomorrow, the 2nd of 2 nights. David Byrne on top form is worth paying £100 to see, but I think the O2 is over optimistic.

      • IMHO no one is worth paying over £60 to go see and that’s from someone who has payed over £60 many times but no more. I’ll not even get going on the dim witted phone/iPad wielding idiots you have to share oxygen with…

  15. I am surprised at that too @Gatz.
    The Symphony Hall holds circa 2800 people and although full I would be surprised if he fills the Genting Arena in Brum in October which holds 15500. Even with my excellent review.
    Was going to take the wife but the tickets are an extra £20 above the Symphony Hall gig for a much less intimate venue.

  16. Thanks for the review, SteveT.
    I’m disappointed that David Byrne’s American Utopia tour doesn’t have a Stockholm date on the itinerary.
    The last time he visited the Swedish capital it was on that tour he did with Annie Clark/St. Vincent.
    Kaisfatdad and I were lucky enough to get third row tickets at Filadelfiakyrkan, a 2,200-seat venue. Tickets were around £55, I think.
    Byrne, Clark and their big brass band were, of course, magnificent.

    • And, not that I want to upset you, Duke, I have a ticket for Roskilde, where Mr Byrne will be playing in two weeks time. If I manage to get there ( and that is far from certain due to problems with revolting youth), he is one of my must see gigs.

      When I look back at the David Byrne gigs I have seen throughout the years ( two with the Heads, and four solo), he has delivered with a remarkable consistency. I did not enjoy them all, but when he was good he was sensational.

      Thanks for the review, Steve. I intend to read it after I have seen the show. I like surprises!

      • I saw him last night at what used to be Hammersmith Odeon – amazing gig. You won’t get the spectacular stage set at a festival but the band are great. If you can, try and give his new album a few listens before you see him. I don’t particularly like it but the songs from it that he played last night were great live.

    • And I saw him last night in Grand Rapids, MI.
      An incredible concert – the band, the noise , the lighting – hell the dancing. I have never smiled so much at a gig.
      @SteveT – thanks for the recommendation!

  18. Smashing review, @SteveT – He’s playing Dublin in October. I saw some short YouTube clips of the new show and have to say I wasn’t too pushed. It looks a little clinical and mannered – not much room for spontaneity? But your review has given me pause for thought. Come payday I might be looking at investing in a couple of tickets. BTW, one of my gig highlights was DB in Moscow, 1994 – the opposite end of the spectrum to what this show appears to be. The ’94 show was pure rock show – guitars, pounding drums, feedback and long hair. See especially from 4.00 on:

  19. Went last night

    I know it was a choreographed performance but could have done with added Adrian Belew or just some ‘wigging out’ – the groove that was got into for the Talking Heads tunes could have been stayed in a bit longer.

  22. I was lucky enough to get standing tickets in the circle at Hammersmith which were (relatively) cheap compared to some other tickets. I think the nature of the show – the number of performers and the choreography -means there is some benefit to being further back in the theatre.

    If anyone is thinking of buying tickets for shows later in the year I’d very much recommend it. The closest I’ve seen in terms of spectacle was the Pet Shop Boys at the Royal Opera House a couple of years ago – both were excellent.

  25. Went last night in Toronto, got a $170 Orchestra ticket for $50 on stubhub. Fantastic experience and a very enjoyable evening, only liked about 2 of the new songs though, a number were distinctly average. Think I preferred the Songs of Byrne and Eno tour a decade ago, but look forward to seeing the festival version of this show in Ottawa next month.

  26. Saw him at The Manchester Arena last night. It was stunning in a large venue with an almost full auditorium. The whole performance worked brilliantly.

    I last saw him in 1979 with the four piece Talking Heads on their Fear Of Music tour. It was quite a contrast. Still, I Zimbra (not the second song on this night, that was Lazy), the only song common to the two gigs, brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye.

    He’s six years older than me. I wish I had half his energy.

  27. Saw this show on Tuesday night in Sydney – gobsmackingly fabulous.

    The thing is, he’s actually completely turned the idea of a “band on stage” on its head. ALL the instruments are hand held – hence the six percussionists, so the stage is literally an empty box. The choreography is wonderful, often funny, as we expect from DB, and I loved the matching grey suits and bare feet. Also, everybody sang, and the songs of course are so wonderfully quirky, singable, intelligent and joyful.

    There’s a lot of YouTube clips but they don’t actually capture the live experience I had – yeah I know it’s kind of obvious, but there’s something about the immersiveness (©Mousey 2018) of this show that means it has to be seen in the flesh

    Review here by one of Australia’s better music journos

    https://www.bernardzuel.net/single-post/2018/11/21/DAVID-BYRNE-LIVE-REVIEW

    • That’s an excellent review in the link.

      I didn’t see the Stop Making Sense Tour (they only played London and London seemed a very long way away back then). However, I did the see the movie in a huge Surroundsound cinema. Can it be true that tour was better than this? I’m not convinced.

    • Ditto for me in Sydney – gobsmacked, I was grinning like a loon throughout, totally sold, totally impressed… it was like a modern art/modern dance interpretation of Stop Making Sense, but all about the humour. Absolutely loved it.

      Back where we were (about half way), there was a substantial bank of TV cameras, and while a lot of it was going on to the screens either side of the stage, it looked more like a recording for broadcast to me. Dunno if that was the rig they used everywhere. It would be a really welcome big screen high-def experience.

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