DAVID BYRNE
3Arena, Dublin
★★★★★
A white-haired man is playing guitar on stage at 3Arena, but all is not what it seems. The screen behind him depicts him as an otter and his bandmates as a variety of other animals, mimicking their every move as they roam the stage in unified choreography.
At another point he is pogoing through fiery lava; at another he strolls through a grassy meadow or stands on a lunar landscape. This is no ordinary gig. But, then again, David Byrne is no ordinary musician.
Ever since the days of his oversized suits with Talking Heads, Byrne has understood the symbiotic relationship between music and visuals, but tonight’s show is on another level entirely. Touring his latest album, Who Is the Sky?, the now 73-year-old could probably have sold out 3Arena if he’d stood static in front of a microphone and banged out the plethora of hits from his five-decade-long career.
Instead, as with his acclaimed American Utopia tour, the theatricality of this performance – accompanied by a superb 13-piece band, exquisite choreography and perpetual kinetic energy – has made it a must-see experience. It’s little wonder that tonight’s long-sold-out show is the hottest ticket in town.
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Urging people “to be present” and limit the amount of picture- and video-taking in a recorded message, Byrne opens with Talking Heads’s Heaven before introducing several pictures he’d taken of his afternoon in Dublin, including a mountain of shipping containers “stacked like Lego” and a “tropical” palm tree on Sandymount Strand.
A healthy selection of songs from his lengthy career is on the set list, from the sublime Talking Heads cuts And She Was and Slippery People to Strange Overtones, one of his many pioneering collaborations with Brian Eno.
There are several newer tracks from Who Is the Sky?, an album made with the New York avant-garde jazz ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra, too. One of them, My Apartment Is My Friend, is set against the backdrop of Byrne’s real-life apartment, which he explains became his safe haven during the pandemic. A love song for an apartment? Somehow, it works magnificently.
On other tracks, the visuals augment the songs in a more serious manner. T-Shirt, another recent collaboration with Eno, shares a backdrop of slogans, from Make America Gay Again to No Kings; a poignant Life During Wartime shares harrowing footage of protests and Ice raids. Byrne doesn’t need a soapbox to have his message heard.
Still, it is the Talking Heads tracks that most readily bring the crowd to their feet. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) is a glorious celebration, Psycho Killer a restless, jittery combustion of energy. Once in a Lifetime, which transforms Byrne and his bandmates’ blue suits into flickering TV sets, is outstanding.
By the time Burning Down the House brings a thrilling show to a close, almost two hours have passed in what seemed like minutes.
The good news is that Byrne will be returning to Irish shores with the same show this summer, when he plays St Anne’s Park in Dublin. He has written a nonfiction book on how music works – but tonight David Byrne has proven the indefinable, uplifting, soul-saving quality of live performance in the most unique way imaginable.
David Byrne plays St Anne’s Park, Dublin on Sunday, June 7th
