Saw this in Portland a few days ago
One of the most memorable concerts I've ever attended, joyous and life-affirming at every possible moment
Byrne's voice is a marvel, he's singing better than ever
Lighting is unreal
Go see it
― Davey D, Thursday, 31 May 2018 19:01 (six years ago) link
and a few lucky(?!) punters got to peep this while he was in town:
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/05/29/20188583/david-byrne-sang-a-prince-song-at-a-portland-karaoke-bar-over-the-weekend
― (I Just) Died In Your Asshat Tonight, Thursday, 31 May 2018 22:34 (six years ago) link
One of the coolest shows I've seen in years.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 2 June 2018 12:21 (six years ago) link
Saw it last night and agree. ^^ Considering going back for a second time tomorrow night.
Full-on peak-80s conceptual concert, Stop Making Sense Pt. 2 and holding its own against the original, with pt. 1’s Robert Wilson influence replaced by Ivo Van Hove’s.
Does away with any traditional band-on-stage setup, instead being both carefully choreographed and playing all over a giant empty space with no grounded instruments.
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 2 June 2018 19:40 (six years ago) link
I likened it to a neo-futurist drumline.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 2 June 2018 21:49 (six years ago) link
Friday tickets were going for $45 on StubHub, and tonight’s are $95-$400, so I think word has gotten out about how exceptional this is. On par with Stop Making Sense, United States Love — those 80s epics.
― ... (Eazy), Sunday, 3 June 2018 23:24 (six years ago) link
I'm in Chicago for work training thing tomorrow said fuck it and shelled out $150 for a ticket, orchestra pit seat looks like I'll be really close (printed face value is $125 doesn't feel too bad) got it from a local broker through Vivid Seats app which seemed to have better prices than Stub Hub but had to go pick it up physically at office
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 3 June 2018 23:38 (six years ago) link
^^ good move imo, plz report back
I am a moron for not going to see this
― sleeve, Monday, 4 June 2018 02:07 (six years ago) link
My first thought after seeing it Friday was that if I had time I would have totally seen it again the next (two) nights.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 June 2018 02:24 (six years ago) link
goddamn, can attest nothing anyone has said is hyperbole.. maybe the most creative staging and choreography I've ever seen. band is just incredible. Byrne's voice and energy level is like the mid 80s, what a show!
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 4 June 2018 03:46 (six years ago) link
You guys have convinced me to buy tickets to this show’s L.A. date!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 4 June 2018 03:56 (six years ago) link
do it!
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 4 June 2018 04:12 (six years ago) link
really wish i'd heard all this praise before he came through the pnw!
― Clay, Monday, 4 June 2018 04:20 (six years ago) link
*sees he's coming to dallas in....fuck thats a long time*
― 21st savagery fox (m bison), Monday, 4 June 2018 04:56 (six years ago) link
Ok, got tix for the SF show. The Oakland shows are already sold out.
― that's not my post, Monday, 4 June 2018 04:58 (six years ago) link
Clay otm
― sleeve, Monday, 4 June 2018 14:01 (six years ago) link
well, he did announce the tour by calling it his most ambitious since SMS ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 June 2018 15:24 (six years ago) link
ok you guys convinced me to get tickets to the forest hills stadium show. 35 years since we last saw him there!
― Thus Sang Freud, Monday, 4 June 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link
Benjamin Clementine (of the Mercury Prize and Benjamin Clementine - I Tell A Fly (!!!!!) ) opened and baffled and/or failed to distract the Chicago audience.
There was no introduction, and I hadn't bought the Byrne tickets, so thought it was the first song or two of the Byrne show itself. And in a way threw the audience a "difficult" curveball (Tune-Yards may do the same when they open later shows).
― ... (Eazy), Monday, 4 June 2018 16:42 (six years ago) link
Just missed his show here, fuck man
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Monday, 4 June 2018 16:50 (six years ago) link
According to Andy Zax, the producer of Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime box set, the band has an enormous cache of completed songs that Byrne is continuingto withhold.
― beamish13, Monday, 4 June 2018 19:48 (six years ago) link
Does it say why he’s withholding them? (Like Lucille Bluth, does he “get off on being withholding”?)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 4 June 2018 19:59 (six years ago) link
I know that he would maybe know, but imo that seems unlikely. First, the band released their stuff at a pretty good clip, and it's not like those albums were bursting with material, even as contemporaries were eventually releasing double and triple albums. Even then, say it was an artistic decision to keep things short, there have been a couple of sets of reissues - Sand in the Vaseline and that Once in a Lifetime boxed set, plus that other boxed set - where unreleased songs might have popped up, but the bonus stuff was pretty scant or just sketches. Googling around, there seem to be maybe a couple of tracks they played live but never put on an album, but I'd be shocked if there were tons of unreleased things that were never played live, never put on a reissue, and escaped being bootlegged.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 June 2018 21:07 (six years ago) link
I've always wondered if Byrne and Bowie had any sort of relationship. Longtime New Yorkers, smart, friends of Eno, arty and erudite ... you'd think they'd be fast friends.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 June 2018 21:11 (six years ago) link
i asked zax about remain in light outtakes at some point and he said there really wasn't that much of releasable quality left over from those sessions (don't know about other albums). the bonus tracks that have come out are fantastic, but they're essentially jams, not completed songs.
― tylerw, Monday, 4 June 2018 21:14 (six years ago) link
JiC otm, I'd be very surprised if there were any fully realized unreleased tracks at all
I recently discovered that the version of "New Feeling" on the B-side of "Love Goes To A Building On Fire" is an earlier version with cool horns and other production touches! Not on YT or I would link it...
― sleeve, Monday, 4 June 2018 21:41 (six years ago) link
re: Byrne and Bowie.
Tina Weymouth made a dismissive remark in the David Bowman biography to the effect that people like them and Brian Eno live in their own spheres and would be happiest if in near-total isolation with artists like each other for company
― beamish13, Monday, 4 June 2018 21:50 (six years ago) link
Didn't Byrne introduce Bowie at the latter's RnR Hall of Fame induction?
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 02:23 (six years ago) link
Yes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GeFtpjuXk0
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 11:49 (six years ago) link
Of course, Bowie wasn't there, was he? Madonna accepted!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D8RLzOHk1Y
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 11:51 (six years ago) link
And Bowie was reckoned to be trying to sing like Byrne on D.J.:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgPUxjQOk-w
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 11:52 (six years ago) link
My gf went with a friend night before last. She's not a particularly big fan of TH/Byrne but she raved about the show. And they even had nosebleed seats.
― On the Wingers of Love: The Kip & Debra Story (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 12:05 (six years ago) link
It was something. Weirdly comforting.
This interview is a tad indulgent, but has some gems in it:
https://www.gq.com/story/david-byrne-talking-heads-icon-profile
Including a link to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adUtlz0GcCg
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 12:09 (six years ago) link
A++++ cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkVC2p4gz1Y
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 12:10 (six years ago) link
Nosebleed seats were fine, because the whole stage was used and the sound was clear. Here was my view from Friday night (Auditorium Theater in Chicago):
http://i68.tinypic.com/2qisrcg.jpg
― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 13:58 (six years ago) link
Yeah, she took some brief videos and it looked like the show was staged to be enjoyed from pretty much any distance. And is it just me, or has Byrne's voice remained magically unchanged for forty years?
― On the Wingers of Love: The Kip & Debra Story (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 14:03 (six years ago) link
did i already miss the nyc part of this tour? Y'all are waking me up here.
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 14:38 (six years ago) link
Seeing him in a month on a festival, guessing he won't be doing these exact shows in that setting. Still, psyched!
― willem, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 14:43 (six years ago) link
Been trying xyzal but th
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 15:16 (six years ago) link
Ha, my unposted fragment of seasonal allergies post that went unfinished came along for the ride, sorry
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 15:17 (six years ago) link
I wish they were playing 'Totally Nude' instead of 'Blind.' Setlist looks awesome otherwise. I don't know much of his solo oeuvre. Is the material from the new album strong?
― afriendlypioneer, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 15:22 (six years ago) link
And is it just me, or has Byrne's voice remained magically unchanged for forty years?
― On the Wingers of Love: The Kip & Debra Story (Old Lunch), Tuesday, June 5, 2018 9:03 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah it's kind of amazing, his voice doesn't really sound different than the 80s...
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 15:26 (six years ago) link
quite nice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByTLLEdL8Og
― piscesx, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 15:46 (six years ago) link
New stuff was nothing special, was really all about the visuals imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 June 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link
Interesting essay: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/angelique-kidjo-interview-myth-of-cultural-appropriation-covering-remain-in-light/
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 7 June 2018 16:38 (six years ago) link
How do you all rate the new record? I haven’t really given it a full listen. Feel like I’m a completist at this point
― Slippage (Ross), Thursday, 7 June 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link
It's nothing special.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 June 2018 16:51 (six years ago) link
Alexa just played “No Compassion,” followed by a live acoustic version of “Heaven” – and I’m not gonna lie, the combo was poignant.
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Saturday, 9 June 2018 01:38 (six years ago) link
First song on the new album is off-putting. After that it gets better.
― Cow_Art, Saturday, 9 June 2018 01:45 (six years ago) link
Angelique Kidjo has just covered all of Remain in Light:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR8jgFGmqvU&feature=youtu.be
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 15 June 2018 13:58 (six years ago) link