Posted by 
I very much regret never seeing the Talking Heads live. It especially pains me because I could have seen them back in their prime, as I lived just a few kilometres away from the old annual Police Picnic where I could have also seen bands like Blondie, Iggy Pop, The GoGo’s, and of course The Police back when they were all super-cool. Sigh. I had a friend who went both years and raved about the shows but I berated him loudly and ignorantly for listening to such crap (music which I, of course, had barely heard). My gawd, I was such an idiot.
Anyway, seeing David Byrne was the next best thing so on October 30th, 2008 I hopped in the car and drove to Montreal where I took in what proved to be a truly excellent and downright exceptional concert at Metropolis, a great room in which to see such a great performer.
I had been listening to his new album quite a bit. I liked it and I was happy to hear some of it live at this show, but truth be told I was even happier when Byrne rocked through the better-known Talking Heads hits. Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House, Take Me To The River…it was all so good, and David Byrne played the part of the paranoid, stunned, and stunningly superb rock star fronting a solid band of bare-bones specialists perfectly.
The show featured about a half-dozen interpretive dancers who synched their bodies to the musical gyrations of our large-suited host (who looks so skinny he gives off the big-suit vibe even when his clothes are well-fitting). I’m not usually much of a fan of the art of dance but I really enjoyed the quirky, jerky, mathematical motions David Byrne’s rhythms put these dancers through. It was a further feast for the senses in those few moments when the awesome music just wasn’t enough. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear I was watching a performance in a nightclub on the Starship Enterprise; it felt like a concert from some shining Utopian futurescape.
In summation: the choreography was absolutely stellar, Byrne tweaks and spasms exuded the confidence of an American David Bowie, and the energetic and generally ecstatic Montreal crowd was a joy to be a part of.
He closed the concert with the best of his new songs, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. In retrospect it seems fitting as I drove back to Ottawa to a veritable flurry of activity, but that’s a story for another day.
Todd Man Out 