{"id":24441,"date":"2025-10-26T18:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T18:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/24441\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T18:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T18:52:10","slug":"david-byrne-burns-down-the-house-at-the-fox-theatre-the-oakland-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/24441\/","title":{"rendered":"David Byrne burns down the house at the Fox Theatre \u2013 The Oakland Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Byrne is not a guy who\u2019s frightened by a high bar.<\/p>\n

Over a 48-year recording career he\u2019s responsible for two touring shows that are regularly in the discussion of greatest concerts of all-time \u2014 Talking Heads\u2019 1983 \u201cStop Making Sense\u201d outing, documented in a hit film, and 2018\u2019s \u201cAmerican Utopia,\u201d whose Broadway edition became an HBO special. And on Friday night, Oct. 24, he attended Jon Batiste\u2019s stirring performance at the Fox Theatre, letting it throw down a gauntlet for Byrne to live up to the following night.<\/p>\n

And, boy, did he.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s hour-and-45-minute production, supporting his latest album \u201cWho Is the Sky?,\u201d was another aural and visual extravaganza that, like \u201cAmerican Utopia,\u201d was more theater piece than standard issue rock concert.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Byrne performs Saturday night, Oct. 25, at Detroit’s Fox Theatre (Photo by Mike Ferdinande).<\/p>\n

Wholly original in its conception and jaw-droppingly brilliant in its execution, it built off of \u201cAmerican Utopia\u2019s\u201d idea of no stationary performers, with even the keyboardist and four percussionists carrying their instruments and joining the other blue-clad performers (12 in all, including six backing vocalists\/dancers) in moving around the stage in tightly choreographed formations. But while \u201cAmerican Utopia\u201d leaned more into precision, marching band-style movements, Saturday\u2019s took a more fluid, dance approach \u2014 swirling at times, calisthenic at others, all complemented by videos appropriate to the 21 songs and their themes on high-definition screens at the rear of the stage.<\/p>\n

The musical presentation was just as splendid, with a pristine sound mix and a set list that well-fed the Talking Heads heads \u2014 10 songs in total, and only four repeats from \u201cAmerican Utopia\u201d \u2014 and brought out five from \u201cWho Is the Sky?\u201d Like Batiste and his band, Byrne and company delivered joy and ebullience to the Fox, keeping fans up and dancing throughout the night \u2014 which he recommended they do in a pre-show recording.<\/p>\n

It went beyond happy and into the euphoric, and provided a balm for the \u201cHard Times\u201d he sang about in cover of the Paramore song.<\/p>\n

Byrne had a little to say on that note, too. Noting that \u201cHedwig and the Angry Inch\u201d creator John Cameron Mitchell, currently a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, was in the house, Byrne quoted the actor\/playwright\u2019s message that \u201clove and kindness are the most punk things you can do right now\u201d before his troupe performed \u201cWhat is the Reason For It?\u201d Prior to \u201cLike Humans Do\u201d Byrne discussed how, during the pandemic, how some Italians opened their windows and singing for each other \u2014 especially on Liberation Day, when they celebrated the fall of Mussolini and fascism there. He also recounted his own experiences during that time to provide context for the warmly expressed. \u201cMy Apartment is My Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

\u201cT-Shirt,\u201d meanwhile, was accompanied by a series of well-received slogans, including those supporting women and the LGBTQ+ community and, of course, one that declared \u201cDetroit Kicks Ass.\u201d (Byrne was seen biking around the city on Saturday and showed a slide from his visit to the Heidelberg Project.)<\/p>\n

His most overtly political sentiment, however, was saved for Talking Heads\u2019 \u201cLife During Wartime,\u201d which closed with images of ICE personnel \u2014 roundly booed by the Fox crowd \u2014 and violence at protest demonstrations, a reminder that these are indeed hard times to endure.<\/p>\n

Yet Byrne and company were mostly happy to provide a respite from that and help remind us of our humanity. Just about every song was a highlight in itself, from the healing tone set at the start with Talking Heads\u2019 \u201cHeaven,\u201d on which Byrne was accompanied by a just a handful of the troupe as an image of Earth rose above a moonscape on the video screens. \u201cAnd there she is \u2014 our heaven. The only one we have.\u201d Byrne noted afterwards, before the full band came on stage to tear through the new \u201cEverybody Laughs\u201d and a blast of Talking Head\u2019s \u201cAnd She Was\u201d and \u201cHouses in Motion,\u201d which sandwiched a funky, polyrhythmic \u201cStrange Overtones\u201d one of his collaborations with Brian Eno.<\/p>\n

The Eastern European-flavored \u201cIndependence Day\u201d provided an opportunity for clever band \u201cintroductions,\u201d with each member\u2019s first name projected onto the stage and following them as they moved around it. One percussionist was carried aloft during \u201cLike Humans Do,\u201d as was Byrne for the playful \u201cI Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party.\u201d The Heads\u2019 \u201cSlippery People\u201d emphasized its gospel underpinnings, while Heads favorites \u201cPsycho Killer,\u201d \u201cLife During Wartime\u201d and \u201cOnce in a Lifetime,\u201d deployed as a triple-play to end the main set, were bona fide roof-raisers.<\/p>\n

For the encore of \u201cEverybody\u2019s Coming to My House,\u201d performed around a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, Byrne paid tribute to the arrangement created by Cheryl Valentine for the Detroit School of Arts\u2019 Vocal Jazz Ensemble, which he shared on his web site back in 2018. And Talking Heads\u2019 \u201cBurning Down the House\u201d did just that, capping a night that raised Byrne\u2019s bar yet another notch for whenever we see him again.<\/p>\n

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