Sunday night was the David Byrne show here in Edmonton at the Jubilee Auditorium. I went to this show with Buzzard, Char and Janis. This would be my second time seeing David Byrne in concert. Sadly I had to miss the farewell Slayer concert that was held the same night, but I guess you can't see them all. As much as I want to.
The opening act for this show was an artist from Edmonton, London England by the name of Benjamin Clementine. I had never heard of him before but read a bit about him and he sounded like he would be interesting to check out.
His show started out with just him at a piano singing with a female and child mannequin at the front of the stage surrounded by mannequin body parts. Ok this is weird. He started out alright, I didn't mind the first song. Then another musician joined him on stage, a bass player that also played a little bit of keys and did some vocals.
Then things just got really weird. I'm not even sure how to describe his set. I'm always up for strange/weird music, but this was like something I have never seen or heard before. The music was out there, and then he carried around the child mannequin while singing a song I believe was called "Turkish Boy", by the end of the song Benjamin had carried the mannequin to the side of the stage and dropped it down the stairs to the right side of the stage with it shattering all over the place, weird. Then there was a song that went on forever where Benjamin and his bass player chanted something, not exactly sure what it was. But it went on and on, just when you thought it was done they would start it up again, some people in the audience started laughing, and some just got up and left. It had crossed my mind to leave as well, but I was waiting for him to just say ha, jokes on you. I was enthralled watching, like looking at a car accident. This was one very strange performance. I did stick it out to the end. This was more like performance art then musicianship, in my opinion anyways. Some fucked up shit that's for sure. Way over my head.
After his set while outside during intermission it was some funny listening to people talk about Benjamin's performance. Most people were like myself going what the hell was that. Some had checked out about ten minutes into the set. From what I heard and the people I talked to didn't much care for his set, but it certainly had people talking that's for sure. Very weird.
Benjamin Clementine at the Jubilee in Edmonton.
Next up was David Byrne whom is most famous for being the front man and lyricist for the band Talking Heads, though he much more then that. David Byrne has also worked in film, photography and an author, a very interesting man he is. On this night he is on tour promoting his first solo album in 14 years called American Utopia. The last time he played Edmonton was in 2009 when he was touring for his album he did with Brian Eno. I was never a fan of the Talking Heads or his music until I saw him in concert the first time. So I was looking forward to seeing him perform again.
The show started with just David on stage sitting at a desk with a model of a brain in his hand. This wasn't your normal stage set up. There were no amps to be seen, no drum set, and the three sides of the stage were just beads covering all the sides. David started the show with a new song called "Here", at first I as thinking the music was canned music, but then through the beads came his 11 piece band one member at a time all playing cordless instruments. Drums and keys strapped to each member and a couple that did a whole lot of dancing through out the whole show.
David's setlist was comprised of music from his whole catalog including a good mix of Talking Heads songs, and lots from his American Utopia album, which went over very well. I find that usually when you see an older artist doing new stuff that you are always waiting for his old music, but that wasn't the case with this show. The new music was excellent as is the album. He even did a song from his album he did with St. Vincent, a song called "I Should Watch TV". He probably did about half the "American Utopia" album live. A highlight from the new album a song called "Everybody's Coming To My House" was amazing live too. He closed his set with the Talking Heads song "Burning Down The House" which had everyone singing along. His eleven piece band was amazing, not once through the whole show was there a slow moment, everyone was always moving and dancing, the choreography in the dancing and such was very cool. It was almost like watching a musical.
For the first song of his encore he did the song "Dancing Together" which is song from his album he did with Fatboy Slim in 2010. Then it was another Talking Heads song "The Great Curve". For the second encore he did a song called "Hell You Talmbout", which is song wrote by Janelle Monae. I knew nothing about this song, until now, after researching it. It is a protest song about African American people that have died in encounters with law enforcement. During the song each band member would shout out a name of a person that has been shot by an officer. I didn't much care for the song as it seemed to go on forever, the whole band were in line and drumming along and shouting out the names. I found it to be very long and boring, but figured ok after this things will pick up again, but no, that was it show over. I have to say I was very disappointed with the way the show ended. I thought we would get to hear a couple more Talking Heads songs. Sadly songs like "Psycho Killer", "Take Me To The River" and "Life During Wartime" were left out of the setlist. Other then that complaint, this was a very good show. Just wish I could have heard them songs instead of the way it did end. Have to say though David Byrne sounded great and was in fine form being his quirky weird self. All and all a very entertaining show and well worth checking out. Good times!!!
David Byrne at the Jubilee in Edmonton.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
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