Photo: Candice Marshall

“My name is David. I’ll be your waiter tonight.”

David Byrne and his white-clad band file onto stage as generous applause resonates throughout the Convention Centre’s shrunken space – modified to contain the thousand or so attendees who’ve gathered to witness the former Talking Heads frontman. Byrne is talkative from the outset: he acknowledges that this tour is based upon the two albums that he and Brian Eno collaborated on, 1981’s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and 2008’s Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, but hints that he and the band will revisit some old favourites. The latter album has been described by Byrne as adhering to a newly-created genre, electronic gospel; lead single Strange Overtones opens the show, and its smooth, humble delivery lulls us into a false sense of security.

But wait. Three dancers join the band, who launch into an energetic reading of the heavily rhythmic Heads classic I Zimbra. It’s during this song that our eyeballs are treated to the full effect of eleven performers – Byrne and his ten-piece collective – In motion. The concert immediately dispels any pre-disposed notions of what a rock concert should represent and instead resembles a complete musical production. Far from distracting the eye from the musical output of Byrne and his band, the three dancers soon command our attention as their choreographed interactions with the lead man and three back-up singers provide frequent comedy. Their presence primarily coincides with the characteristically energetic Talking Heads material, which is touched upon more often than we dared hope: in all, eleven of their most notable songs are faithfully recreated, including the first five tracks from the widely acclaimed 1980 release Remain In Light.

It’s during fifth song Houses In Motion that small groups begin to congregate in the venue’s aisles to dance energetically to the Heads’ highly inventive post-punk compositions; this trend continues throughout the set, which is masterfully paced to intertwine the energetic, polyrhythmic older material with the majority of tracks from his most recent release. These newer creations find Byrne at his most introspective and optimistic; the likes of The River and Life Is Long are strong songs that highlight the man’s impressive vocal range and sense of melody.

Once In A Lifetime and Life During Wartime are sensational; sparse set closer I Feel My Stuff finds most of the band dropping instruments to perform an amusing Thriller-like dance, before building toward a powerful climax. But damned if they’re done yet – we’re all having too much fun. The encore break finds security powerless to control the hundreds who swarm to front of stage before Take Me To The River and The Great Curve, wherein Byrne and band are inexplicably adorned with white tutus. A stunning rendition of Burning Down The House precedes a third and final encore that consists solely of Everything That Happens, which provides effective closure to an enlightening and highly entertaining chapter of Byrne’s career. Were he really our waiter, tonight’s two-hour production would have earned him an enormous tip.

ANDREW MCMILLEN

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