David Byrne

Dude has not lost it.

He sounds as amazing as ever, jealous of anyone who saw the st Vincent tour

also yes I saw this show in SF, front-row, it was astounding. I'd seen him three times before, I guess on tour for Uh-Oh, the s/t album, and Feelings....this was definitely the best of the three. A legendary tour, I'm assuming some of it was filmed? THis would rival Stop making Sense.

Haven't seen the current tour (but saw Byrne w/ St. Vincent; and saw Talking Heads in early 80s), just some video clips. Do you folks love the way the musicians are marching band style with no drum set on floor? the use of shadows and dancing? The mix of Talking Heads old songs and new Byrne ones?

So the presentation makes this more than just a greatest hits tour? His latest album doesn't wow me.

Shadows and dancing is a good way to sum it up. Newest Byrne does nothing for me, but I was so entranced by said shadows and dancing it didn't matter.

He's coming at the end of September but tickets ain't cheap.

I'd say might be worth it! I didn't pay, but in retrospect I think I would have.

I saw the first of three shows, and even though I knew the other two would be identical had i been free I would have considered shelling out.

it's worth it. I paid way too much for my tickets and don't regret it.

I bought tix secondary market on saturday, show was last night. the venue is within 10 minutes walking distance of my apartment (as opposed to 1 hour on subway trip to Manhattan, such as what I will do tonight to see Wayne Kramer and the four younger dudes = MC50), beautiful recently renovated art deco theater. 2 tickets were 3x face value.

Worth every penny. "Crosseyed" "Born Under" and above all "I Zimbra," as well as many other songs. how he could afford to do this show with presumably little tour support from Nonesuch is barely fathomable. and the 11-12 musicians that do not stand around, concentrating on playing the tunes well, much less doing standard rock stances, instead doing coordinated dance routines, each completely different per song, and playijng the shit out of each, is astounding. the value that each of those musicians provide to him is priceless: i cannot imagine that he is paying them very much. He played a few solos! He said that somebody asked him if they generate samples, tiriggers: "I don't have anything against stuff like that, but every sound you hear is created by these folks."

i think the only thing missing was Psycho Killer, really.

xp hehe yeah I was imagining DB in the rehearsal room after finally nailing all the songs with his killer band and then he's like: all right, that's it! Now let's do it again but this time running around with your instruments doing complex dance routines!

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to thread!

would really love to see him on this tour but tickets here are extremely expensive unfortunately

http://prince.org/msg/7/194019?&pg=2
See post from AQUABOOGIE about 777-9311

haha, good one

I am very glad I listened to you lot and went to the show in London last night - I have never seen anything like it and I don't expect to anytime soon.

Thumbs up!

"I'll show you how to do it, and y'all can do it later"
https://youtu.be/gsunqofq27I?t=185

I love how Byrne always looks like he's struggling to recall the most rudimentary choreography moves he's been taught, and then that look becomes *his* look and it somehow works.

Apologies if this veers too close to self-promotion, but anyone in/around London might want to know that I'm promoting a screening of True Stories at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square next week (Weds March 8th).

Full details and tickets here: https://princecharlescinema.com/PrinceCharlesCinema.dll/Seasons?e=81
We've got a fanzine for every ticket-holder, plus an actual cassette mixtape for the first 50 people through the door and vinyl giveaways etc. Format junkies might be happy to hear that we're showing the film on 35mm!

Spam ends.

Byrne announces Broadway residency from October through January.

I think this is great. I thought the Springsteen show was OK, but I couldn't imagine seeing it more than once (not even on Netflix). But the Byrne show, as soon as I saw it my first thought was, man, I wish I could see this again.

<3 <3 <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga97sIZlr1c

I assume that's the one he references in the show?

yeah i think so. plays at the end of the DVD as well

it was great to rewatch this on DVD. I loved the live show but it was marred slightly by the man in front slowly walking backwards into me for the WHOLE SHOW despite me doing subtle elbow nudges into the small of his back.

(and before anyone asks, I'm referring to an audience member, not DB doing his Psycho Killer dance)

(and before anyone asks, I'm referring to an audience member, not DB doing his Psycho Killer dance)

Saw him in a doc recently; it was kind of startling how he's aged (not that he looks bad, just as a general "we're all heading there" reminder).

Yeah, we watched SMS not long before AU and it was a bit of a shock. That said, I hope I'm at least half that sprightly when I'm whatever years old

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/13/david-byrne-profile-interview/

DENVER — They have gathered for David Byrne’s funeral, sitting in a bright room facing a coffin that’s been customized to also serve as a piano. A childhood photo of the deceased rests on a stand nearby. A guest book, too. But before anyone can tear up, the coffin lid opens and up pops David Byrne. Except it’s not the wiry singer of “Psycho Killer” but a 6-foot-2 Black actor named donnie l. betts who peppers the assembled with questions: “Am I still dead? Am I still me? Am I alive again? Am I still David?”

A few rows back the real David Byrne, the white-haired singer who did indeed once front a rock band called Talking Heads, rolls into a chortle. He has seen this coffin thing many times. It still gets him.

“It’s just funny to have the actor come out of a coffin that looks like a piano,” he says. “I don’t think of it as being myself.”

Byrne is here in Denver putting the finishing touches on “Theater of the Mind,” a sprawling project that’s part installation, part performance piece.

hmmmm

More from that article--

He talks of making 1984’s “Stop Making Sense,” the Jonathan Demme concert film of the band’s carefully choreographed road show. The Byrne who oversaw the production, with its detailed lighting cues and the appearance of his iconic, oversize suit, was not the soft-spoken “DB” found in the “Theater of the Mind” rehearsals. He says he changed, in part, after working on 1986’s “True Stories” film. That production taught him to learn to trust others and delegate authority. That could also help relieve the intense pressure he felt to make everything perfect.

“Before that I thought, ‘Nobody understands what I want to do,’ ” he says today. “I have to be the boss guy. ‘No, don’t do it that way. You’ve got to do it this way. No, you f---ing idiot.’ And I might have been right but you don’t have to deal with people that way. You can sort of include people and make them part of your vision or idea.”

Does he long to make peace with Frantz and Weymouth and try one final farewell tour? No. Byrne talks of feeling physically ill from the tension while the band was recording their final album, 1988’s “Naked.” ...

Of the anger directed at him by Frantz, he remains perplexed.

“Like I said, I know that I wasn’t the easiest person to work with,” he says. “But I guess a part of me just says, that was a long time ago. Can you just move on? Surely you’ve got better things to do.”

I haven’t read Chris Frantz’ book where he criticized Byrne .

Surely you’ve got better things to do.

If ever there was a person with nothing better to do, it's Chris Franz.

According to Franz, Byrne said he wasn't going to read the book so that he wouldn't have to respond when asked about it.

Smart.

They really don't let it go. You'd think having a major hand in creating one of the most sampled songs -- a dance and hip-hop touchstone -- would make them reconsider giving such a damn about what Byrne did in the Heads.

Byrne acknowledges his flaws but I guess Frantz wants a direct apology and a Talking Heads reunion tour

Franz is so weird bc he never misses a chance to absolutely torch Byrne (the book is OTT brutal), and then in the next breath he'll be like "I don't know what David's problem is that he doesn't want to get back together with us and do a TH greatest hits world tour, he's such a weird alien."

It is weird — would Weymouth even want to do a reunion? I got the impression she hates Byrne even more!

Franz is so weird bc he never misses a chance to absolutely torch Byrne (the book is OTT brutal), and then in the next breath he'll be like "I don't know what David's problem is that he doesn't want to get back together with us and do a TH greatest hits world tour, he's such a weird alien."

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open),

Byrne said something similar a few years ago, something like, "Why would I want to hang out in a studio with people who were ripping me to shreds yesterday?"

Didn't Byrne ostensibly "fire" the rest of the band at some point? That doesn't exactly engender feelings of "band" at all.

Byrne talks of feeling physically ill from the tension while the band was recording their final album, 1988’s “Naked.” ...

This is funny bc I even remember a bit from the book where Frantz goes on abt what a romantic time he & Weymouth had recording & partying in Paris, and in an aside says something like "David said recording the album was a terrible experience for him, but who knows why, he's just a weird contrarian." Like if you a) can do a whole record with someone and not pick up on that and b) when they come to you and tell you, you roll your eyes and dismiss them bc you and your wife had fun, like yeah, maybe you all were not meant to be in a band together anymore?

Franz's view of Byrne in Remain in Love is less what Byrne may take it to be — about being a dictator — than that he took more credit than was his due and was/is profoundly avoidant. Byrne's claim of having been a dictator ca. Stop Making Sense and subsequently not reading Franz's book seem consistent with this view.

The relationships are so messed up, I imagine it's too complicated at this point to explain why some actions are illogically at odds with others. Obviously Byrne no longer has any issues revisiting the band's work - the Broadway show is based mostly on that music - but I'm sure any reunion would only lead to more uncomfortable conflicts and he doesn't want to go through that anymore. At the same time, I can see why Chris and Tina want to reunite the band - they're proud of that work, it continues to find many new fans, and they want to enjoy that in the best way possible while they're still physically able. Imagine wanting that and seeing everyone flock to Byrne's show with others playing the music that you helped create - you'd probably think "I should be up there!" But there's been too much bad blood and too many angry words exchanged. I can't imagine any history of that just evaporating at this point - they may reunite for another one-off if they get something like a Kennedy Center honor, but that's about it.

It is weird — would Weymouth even want to do a reunion? I got the impression she hates Byrne even more!

I saw a story somewhere--maybe on ILX?--about how when Rhino was prepping the Once In A Lifetime box, the label got everybody together in a conference room for a meeting (Byrne might have been on speakerphone), and one of the label people tells the band how hard a sell the box will be with no tie-in press or performances from the band. Weymouth responds that they understand the problem, and "...if we need to tour, we'll tour." Byrne then flatly responds, "There will be no tour."

End of discussion.

That might've been me, I've posted that story. Going as far back as 1999, Weymouth and Frantz have wanted to tour, but I think Byrne's constant and growing refusal may have just led to more resentment in response.

FWIW, try digging around their promotional appearances for the 15th anniversary restoration/reissue of Stop Making Sense. All four appeared together to promote it, and it left an impression because it was the first time I read anything about the band, they were completely new to me. During a joint press conference (I think in San Francisco?), someone asked if they would like to reunite, and both Weymouth and Frantz enthusiastically said YES while Byrne and Harrison awkwardly remained silent. Then there was a weird thing, I think on the same day, where Byrne did his own interview with some major publication (maybe EW or one of the trades?) and the same interviewer had to interview Weymouth, Frantz and Harrison as a group separately. It was during this interview that I remember Weymouth saying Byrne didn't understand or appreciate the value of friendship, and that kind of explains a lot.

Oh wow, the whole thing is on YouTube - I've only read reports from this, I've never actually seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFdvd62hSGI

Lmk if you find a specific timecode for the reunion question...!

Re: the interviews, it wasn't just one publication, it was apparently set up that way for everybody the following day:

From the San Francisco Examiner:

"...it was no surprise when interviews granted to herald the wide release of the film starting this Friday were given in two halves: Byrne in one hotel conference room, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison in another. It was an interesting succession of chats - one that left no doubt that this is one band that will never play together again."

I still don't know which publication got the quote I remember from Weymouth unfortunately.

As the description of the YouTube vid points out, this is *after* the whole lawsuit / "No Talking, Just Head" thing... which is kinda remarkable (and, like, no wonder!)