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David Byrne is at a point in his career where his past puts the butts in the seats. But it's the present that drives him.
The choppy dancer, full of high strung bursts of energy, who was kicked out of the Rhode Island School of Design for shaving his hair onstage to a piano accompaniment, is currently touring again with new material.
If you don't know who Byrne is, he was the lead singer of the popular '80s band, the Talking Heads. Byrne now continues to record and tour new material, but most of the crowd that shows up comes to hear songs that were recorded when they were eating cereal and watching the "Smurfs."
Many still feel that the music created in the '80s, should stay in the '80s. Too bad for those people, because Byrne and other bands such as Duran Duran and The Cure are appealing to a younger fans who barely remember the decade of the DeLorian.
Opponents of the sound that Byrne and company created in the '80s are quick to refer to a lyric from the popular Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime" when referencing the band. You've probably heard the song before: "same as it ever was."
You Make the McCall recently caught up with David Byrne's live show in Nashville, Tenn. The concert seemed to be the only non-country event in town. Go figure.
The venue for the evening was a flashback to a time of bright colors, bad clothes and completely rhythmless dancing - otherwise known as the Ryman Auditorium (the former home of the Grand Ole Opry).
Despite its odd look, the Ryman is one of the greatest places to see a show in the United States. Inside wooden "pews" and an even older wooden ceiling make the place an intimate, loud crap-kicking time. Even beautiful stained glass windows filter in the Nashville lights. The only bad thing was all the rest rooms were closed due to a water main bust.
As the show began, Byrne walked quietly onto stage with his hair in a self-contained mess of white spikes. He wore a pair of train conductor print overalls. Burne introduced himself and the other perfomers, which now include the six-piece Tosca strings band.
The first thing I noticed about Byrne, aside from his shaky hands when he spoke to the audience, was the sheer power of his voice. He fluidly changes from highs to lows all while maintaining a funky African, French troubadour tone. Byrne is truly passionate about his singing and the product is crystal clear vocals.
His new material is explorative and at times hit-or-miss. Byrne is obviously really enjoying the string section now more than ever, and this might explain the conductor pattern on his trousers. After warming up with songs from his new album "Growing Backwards," Byrne kicked the party up a notch, opening up the Talking Heads catalog.
As soon the first chords of old favorites such as "Psycho Killer" and "Life During Wartime" were strummed, the crowd jumped to their collective feet, stuck their hands in their pockets and resurrected the flopping dance from the '80s.
Byrne responded by jumping around like a crazy man between the drummer and the percussionist. His dancing was a cross between a Spanish mamba and an impersonation of a tyrannosaurs rex. Or maybe he just really needed to use the bathrooms that were out of service.
Byrne covered a range of artists all the way from Cole Porter to Jimmy Hendrix. During his ode to Hendrix, Byrne conducted the string section through a piece that would make Jimmy open his hazy eyes in amazement. This was a standout moment showing that Byrne lives to combine the classical sound of strings with the fury and energy of rock and roll.
Byrne's onstage energy eventually caught up with him as the night rolled to an end. Everybody came to see him perform, but he didn't bask in the spotlight when he pulled the band together for the curtain call.
Following the plenty of Talking Heads songs and string stroking, the crowd shuffled out of the haven from country music with a feeling that they got their money's worth. As we stumbled around looking for a bar that wasn't crowded with ten-gallon hats, I thought that maybe the critics of the Talking Heads were right. The music might have been "same as it ever was," but that's still pretty damn good.
