DAVID BYRNE3Arena, Dublin\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n
There is a white-haired man playing guitar on stage at the 3Arena, but all is not what it seems. The screen behind him depicts him as an otter and his bandmates as a variety of 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.<\/p>\n
Ever since the days of his oversized suits with Talking Heads, Byrne has understood the symbiotic relationship between music and visuals, but tonight\u2019s show is on another level entirely. Touring his latest album Who is the Sky?, the now 73-year-old could probably have sold out the 3Arena if he\u2019d stood static in front of a microphone and banged out the plethora of hits from his five-decade-long career. <\/p>\n
Instead, as with his acclaimed American Utopia tour, the theatricality of this performance \u2013 accompanied by a superb 13-piece band, exquisite choreography and perpetual kinetic energy \u2013 has made it a must-see experience. It\u2019s little wonder that tonight\u2019s long-sold-out show is the hottest ticket in town.<\/p>\n
Urging people \u201cto be present\u201d and limit the amount of picture and video-taking in a preset recorded message, Byrne opens with Talking Heads\u2019s Heaven before introducing several pictures he\u2019d taken of his afternoon in Dublin, including a mountain of shipping containers \u201cstacked like Lego\u201d and a \u201ctropical\u201d palm tree on Sandymount Strand. <\/p>\n
There is a healthy selection of songs from his lengthy career on the set list, from 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 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\u2019s real-life apartment, which he explains became his safe haven during the pandemic. A love song for an apartment? Somehow, it works magnificently.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t need a soapbox to have his message heard. <\/p>\n
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; and Once in a Lifetime, which transforms Byrne and his bandmates\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
The good news is that Byrne will be returning to Irish shores with the same show this summer, when he plays St Anne\u2019s Park in Dublin. He has written a non-fiction book on How Music Works \u2013 but tonight, David Byrne has proven the indefinable, uplifting, soul-saving quality of live performance in the most unique way imaginable. <\/p>\n
David Byrne plays St Anne\u2019s Park, Dublin on June 7th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAVID BYRNE3Arena, Dublin\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 There is a white-haired man playing guitar on stage at the 3Arena, but all is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3265,5252,615,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-346248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-3arena","9":"tag-david-byrne","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}