Last night Steven went to see An Evening With David Byrne at Eventim Apollo in London’s glitzy Hammersmith.
David Byrne arrives dressed entirely in blue and proceeds to turn a bare stage into a nervy art pop revival meeting. No amps cluttering the view, no rock star posturing, just Byrne and a troupe who move like a very stylish civic parade. At seventy three he has more twitch than most men half his age and considerably better tailoring.
He opens with Heaven and builds the night brick by existential brick. Ray Suen glides between violin and guitar with quiet precision, Kely Pinheiro anchors the whole enterprise with a bass line that could shift tectonic plates, and Daniel Mintseris straps on a synthesiser like he is about to join a particularly intellectual marching band. They do not so much play as orbit one another.
The screens whirl from department store to cornfield to churning sea. Punk, we are told, is now about kindness. The world burns politely behind them. On My Apartment Is My Friend Byrne offers a guided tour of loneliness in New York and somehow makes it danceable. T Shirt delivers slogans that land somewhere between protest placard and knowing wink. The crowd cheers. Of course they do.
The Talking Heads classics arrive like old friends who still fit into their good suit. This Must Be the Place gets everyone upright. Life During Wartime feels less like nostalgia and more like a news bulletin. By the time Burning Down the House detonates as the encore, the American dream has been lightly toasted.
It is glitzy Hammersmith outside, apocalypse chic inside, and five stars without hesitation.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Setlist
Heaven (Talking Heads song)
Everybody Laughs
And She Was (Talking Heads song)
Strange Overtones (Brian Eno & David Byrne cover)
Houses in Motion (Talking Heads song)
T Shirt
(Nothing but) Flowers (Talking Heads song)
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads song)
What Is the Reason for It?
Like Humans Do
Don’t Be Like That
Independence Day
Slippery People (Talking Heads song)
Moisturizing Thing
My Apartment Is My Friend
Hard Times (Paramore cover)
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads song)
Life During Wartime (Talking Heads song)
Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song)
Encore:
Everybody’s Coming to My House
Burning Down the House (Talking Heads song)
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