Photos by Mel Brunelle (@mel_brunelle) and Auditorium Theater, Chicago
Review by Stephen Bloch
Some concerts are pretty straight forward. The band arrives on stage 15-30 minutes late and they play songs from their current release along with a smattering of their hits from the back catalog. They have simple lights, a drum and guitar solo, and they leave the stage for a couple of minutes and then return for their encore. David Byrne’s shows aren’t that simple. Saturday night’s show at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater felt less like a mere rock show and more like stepping through a looking-glass into an alternate reality : one where time, movement and music are intertwined into an everchanging organism.
The show was a fantastical tour of curiosities: bright lights, animated images and thematic videos were accompanied by unexpected rhythms and a cast of characters (musicians, dancers, percussionists) all swirling around a central genius. This was much like visiting Willy Wonka’s factory. Our golden ticket was accompanied by a head and heart full of anticipation and promise for the future.
While Byrne’s current tour has a similar stripped down vibe much like the Utopia Tour, there was something very different happening. The Utopia tour was in a very unique situation in that it began before COVID and ended with a long residency in New York after COVID. The “Who Is the Sky?” clearly came out of a lot of reflecting that Byrne did during his time in NYC during COVID and his experience was deeply integrated into the album and even more so into the concert experience. He talked about it and had imagery that paired up with his thoughts. Pictures from Italy where people went to their open windows to sing to their neighbors that they couldn’t break bread with absolutely resonated and gave a glimpse into the mind of Byrne. He is a very avid biker and also described what it was like to ride around during COVID on NYC streets with little to worry about other than the health of his city and the world around him. The idea of hearing NOTHING was a foreign to him as a hair out of place. His apartment was his salvation and we got a 360 degree view of it. Videos and pictures were as much a part of this show as the music, but that’s what we were there for.
This music was sublime. Pristine arrangements and bold vocals were all that we could hear, even with 3500+ people singing in unison. About one third of the show was from the new album and the remaining songs came from the entire Talking Heads catalog as well as a handful of tracks from his solo work. It’s impossible to identify show highlights as this performance had to be taken in a whole. What really did stand out is the harmony that existed between the songs, dancing, lights, and videos. You couldn’t look away. You couldn’t stop listening to the music or Byrne’s storytelling. “Psycho Killer” had dancing with a robotic quality that seemed to fit with the tension that likely exists within the heads of serial killers. Lush green grass underfoot (it almost looked like everyone on stage was levitating) and neighborhoods with big backyards were an obvious match to “This Must be the Place”. Seeing images of war torn streets and ICE raids in our own country paired with “Life during Wartime” brought gasps from the audience and maybe a bit of anger, but in a good way. Lots to think about. Closing with “Burning down the House” was likely a call to action.
David Byrne is a national treasure. He’s an artist with no boundaries or limits. We all should be hoping that in the next iteration of his work we get all of splendor and even more hope.
