David Byrne is no stranger to the stage; in addition to obviously theatrical productions like Jonathan Demme’s landmark concert film Stop Making Sense, the former Talking Heads frontman has written music for a number of operas and musicals over the years, including Alex Timbers’ celebrated Here Lies Love. Now he’s headed to Broadway himself, following in the footsteps of certain other legendary rock artists who’ve recently made themselves fixtures on the Great White Way.
But rather than going for something stripped down and intimate, in the style of Bruce Springsteen’s monumentally successful Springsteen On Broadway, Byrne is pursuing the spectacle, bringing his expansive, highly mobile American Utopia tour to a limited-run theatrical residency. Here’s our own Erik Adams describing his reaction to the highly choreographed (yet also distinctly minimalist) tour, in which Byrne works his way through large swathes of his discography:
I went into the night expecting to see one of my favorite musicians (and the driving force behind my favorite band) put on a show that would maybe, just maybe, live up to one of my favorite movies. I left having cried every last tear in my body, and with the conviction that I need to get a tattoo of the “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” lamp.
Obviously, we can’t assure you that the Broadway incarnation of American Utopia will fill you with a similar urge for ink. But Byrne clearly intends to make the most of the opportunities afforded by working out of a fixed location: “Parked in a beautiful Broadway theater we can perfect the sound, the lights, the movement,” he wrote in a recent essay about the move. “I thought to myself that this new context might be good—it might bring out the narrative arc a little bit more, to make it just a little more explicit.” Byrne is working with Timbers and frequent collaborator Annie-B Parson on the revised project, which will begin its limited engagement at Broadway’s Hudson theater on October 4, following a pre-Broadway run in Boston that starts on September 11.
29 Comments
I found myself reading an article about Arnold Schwartzeneggerand I found myself wondering why anyone would drop kick himand suddenly I asked myself, Well, how did I get here?
This is not my beautiful Disqus! This is not my beautiful AV Club!
And you may find yourself, living in a clickbait trap.
I’m intrigued. Twenty years ago I went to see David Byrne at an outdoor pavilion show the same weekend Bruce Springsteen was playing the local stadium venue. The net result of this conflation of two massive talents was that we were able to get tickets three rows back from the stage, center.It was a remarkable show, with lots of great Talking Heads songs, but the one that sticks in my memory is the one where David Byrne, backed up with only a single drum line, stood downstage and played and sang “Sympathy for the Devil” on an acoustic guitar. No Mick Jagger stuff, just a terrifying and entrancing build of singing and bruising acoustic guitar, building and building to a hypnotic climax of menace, madness, and music.There was great showmanship, but no artifice at all. I shall never forget it.
I’ll wait for the Tom Tom Club tour.
That sounds good, too.
When did David Byrne turn into Corbin Bernsen?
When he became a dentist.
you don’t think that he looks like jair bolsonaro there? that’s what I thought.
Ye…no?
All I know is I like to think that he carries that brain around everywhere.
Byrne’s handling the brain like he’s a quarterback watching for an open runner.
The brain was the only thing on the stage before the show started, on a pedestal, with a spotlight shining on it.
Dude, that’s not Corbin Bernsen, that’s Carl Sagan.
I’m 6’3″, and maintain a very consistent panda bear shape.
I’m ashamed this only has one other star.
As am I, good sir.
are we sure this isn’t a photo of julian assange?
I once peed after David Byrne in a stall at Terminal 5 in New York City. I am happy to report that he flushed and, as the immaculate state of the floor attested, has impeccable aim.
Thank you for spilling the tea, about him not spilling the pee.
I saw him on this tour in Australia last year and it was an incredible show. Simply incredible. He’s an energetic performer, has a great voice and didn’t stop moving or dancing the whole show.Would highly recommend.
Wow, that’s some horrible hand puppet….
It’s such a great show! I saw him at Sasquatch fest last year, overlooking the gorge at sunset. So beautiful it’s burned into my brain forever.
This was no shit the best concert I have ever seen.
This is the whitest shit I’ve ever seen.
Here Lies Love was really a stage adaptation of a thoroughly developed concept album.
I am so happy for David Byrne! I was fortunate enough to see this show in Tucson and it blew my mind! I was also fortunate enough to see a similar set in Telluride with St. Vincent years ago and it also blew my mind. Their collaberative album from ‘12, Love This Giant, still gets a ton of playtime in my car. The format of the show, with essentially a small marching band that moves around the stage, each song uniquely choreographed, was so entertaining it makes perfect sense for it to be on Broadway. I highly encourage anyone anywhere near NYC to go see it. I sure wish I was back there.
Leaving a wedding in Central Park, slightly drunk on margaritas, my friends and I passed David Byrne on a subway platform. He was studying the map as if he was looking at a work of art in a gallery. I stopped, extended my hand for a handshake (which he graciously accepted), thanked him for the music, films, and books, and got the hell away from there lest the moment be ruined. My friends and I spent the next 2 minutes 40 feet away from him waiting for our train, trying not to notice that David Byrne was staring at us. Lovely man.
I saw the first show at the Count Basie in Redbank last year…I think it was the first after their last ‘workout’ pre-tour show. Anyway, it was a fantastic show. The fact that the musicians were constantly in motion…more than that, really, they danced…was really different, and exciting. It was impossible to stay still, as with much of Byrne’s music, the rhythm in all the songs MADE you get engaged. One of the instrumentalists (the one wearing like 5 different ones) was actually from Redbank, so it was really special for him, and his performance showed it.Really a unique, and wonderful, show.