You could spend the night before the first day of classes doing anything: packing up your school supplies, fixing your sleep schedule, anxiously checking CalCentral to make sure you know where to go.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re lucky, though, you could spend the eve of the semester\u2019s commencement climbing up to the Greek Theatre to catch David Byrne on the latest stop of his Who Is The Sky? Tour. Those who did attend Byrne\u2019s show Aug. 25 were treated to a night of beautifully abstract stories about the human experience which have become synonymous with the performer.<\/p>\n
This playfulness could be felt before the show even started, as a prerecorded message from Byrne echoed over the speakers encouraging audience members to dance throughout the show \u2014 but to not get too excited and block any emergency exits.<\/p>\n
Although Byrne started the night with \u201cHeaven,\u201d a much more somber track from his Talking Heads days, it quickly became clear why he wanted his audience to feel like they could dance during the show. As he began \u201cEverybody Laughs,\u201d the lead single from his most recent album Who Is The Sky?, Byrne\u2019s ensemble of musicians and backup singers filled the stage behind with energy so infectious it was impossible to not get up and dance alongside them.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody Laughs\u201d also worked as the perfect way to set up the electronic screen Byrne used to change the stage\u2019s backdrop throughout the entire night. During the song, short videos of citygoers in Byrne\u2019s hometown of New York City played, highlighting the tune\u2019s message about the varied nature of humanity.<\/p>\n
For other tracks, the screen provided visual accompaniments to the scenes described in the lyrics. Whether that be naturalistic landscapes for classics such as \u201cAnd She Was\u201d and \u201c(Nothing But) Flowers,\u201d or shots of places specifically mentioned in songs like \u201cStrange Overtones\u201d and \u201cMy Apartment Is My Friend,\u201d the backgrounds emphasized the lyrics Byrne sang to the audience.<\/p>\n
During the most endearing part of the show, Byrne paused during songs and used the screen to show the audience photos he had taken while exploring the city of Berkeley and Alameda County. Although the idea of a 74-year-old showing you the pictures he took while traveling might just sound like the worst part of a family reunion, Byrne\u2019s clear love for exploring the area allowed it to be a moment of collective town pride.<\/p>\n
The segment was one of many moments throughout the show that allowed for Byrne to highlight the community of creatives that made up the team he shared the stage with. Mentions of the hike the group took in the Berkeley Hills were just the tip of the iceberg, as the audience was also treated to closeups of the performers. Wide smiles, playful dancing and whispered exchanges all helped show the audience how much of a community the team really was beyond their matching cerulean suits.<\/p>\n
The chemistry of the collective acted as another aspect of the show that brought it beyond the standards of an average concert. The group\u2019s ability to smoothly transition between acting individually to uniting as duos, trios or one giant figure transformed Talking Heads classics that have been played countless times into entirely new experiences. \u201cPsycho Killer\u201d may have already been unsettling when released in 1977, but hearing Byrne sing it while his crew groups together into a near-monstrous amalgamation was an unexpected and unforgettable change.<\/p>\n
The immersive and effective chemistry also came through in various charming ways, such as during \u201cThis Must Be The Place.\u201d The ballad is already one of the most iconic Talking Heads tracks, but seeing the dancers and band members pair off with one another was a heartwarming reminder of the various shades of love the song has represented for decades.<\/p>\n
Most heartwarming, though, was witnessing the group\u2019s chemistry spread from the stage to the audience. As the night progressed, attendees grew more eager to dance with one another and chat about their favorite songs from Byrne\u2019s expansive discography. After the energetic encore songs, \u201cEverybody\u2019s Coming to My House\u201d and \u201cBurning Down the House,\u201d the buzzing friendliness emanating from those exiting the arena bolstered Byrne\u2019s repeated encouragement to let loose. Ultimately, there was no better way to celebrate the impending return to campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You could spend the night before the first day of classes doing anything: packing up your school supplies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[178085,389,178084,764,178090,159497,88071,178083,178091,26284,44465,178087,143,145,144,178088,178086,168684,178089,178082],"class_list":["post-450097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-nothing-but-flowers","tag-alameda-county","tag-and-she-was","tag-berkeley","tag-burning-down-the-house","tag-calcentral","tag-david-byrne","tag-everybody-laughs","tag-everybodys-coming-to-my-house","tag-greek-theatre","tag-heaven","tag-my-apartment-is-my-friend","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-psycho-killer","tag-strange-overtones","tag-talking-heads","tag-this-must-be-the-place","tag-who-is-the-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}