Secret Meeting score: 93
by Philip Moss
Photography by Joanna Bradke
A lone desk sat on the empty Manchester Apollo stage, and in the middle of it sat a brain. Then, darkness. When the light returned, Mr David Byrne is sat. Holding the brain, he opened his set with Here – the closing track from this year’s new album, American Utopia– ‘Here is an area of great confusion… Here is many sounds for your brain to comprehend’. He couldn’t have encapsulated what was to follow over the next two hours any more succinctly.
For his new show, Byrne had previously stated that he wanted to produce a live performance like no other. The concept being that his band would not be restrained by their instruments being rooted to the spot, but instead they would roam free around an entirely empty stage. Barefooted and wearing an identical grey suit to him, his band appeared one by one, each adding another layer to the monochromic, kaleidoscopic, carnival vibe that would cover the breadth of his forty plus year career, which includes collaborations with Fat Boy Slim, The National Theatre Company and St Vincent. But from the first notes of his his 2002 hit with X-Press2, Lazy, his band were like programmed robots, tightly choreographed into formation as its heavy rhythmic drums – a feature of Byrne’s work dating back to the 1970s – sparked ripples of movement through the Apollo crowd.
Combining elements of theatre, Love This Giant – where Byrne became infatuated with a light screen – recalled imagery from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the keyboard riff from Talking Heads’ This Must Be The Place set off the first of many mass sing-a-longs of the evening, while recent single and co-write with Brian Eno, Everybody’s Coming To My House, was a cacophony of percussion and driving rhythms that more than stood up to the greatest moments from his charismatic and illustrious career
Such is Bynre’s confidence in the show that arguably his biggest ever hit, Once In A Lifetime, was thrown in mid set and saw him controlled like a puppet, flung back and forth across the stage. It must also be noted that at 66 years old, his voice is as energetically spirited as it ever as been and the music more than holds up against the superb piece of live installation art that backs it.
During the encore, The Great Curve – taken from 1980’s groundbreaking Remain In Light – was a showstopper performed in all its shambolic, sprawling glory, before the show was closed with a cover of the Janelle Monae protest song, Hell You Talmbout – which listed the names of a number of African Americans who have died in law enforcement and racial related violence. A fitting end to a heavily charged set of powerful, intellectual pop music.
On new album, American Utopia, Byrne tackles the concept that we should find reasons to be cheerful, despite the political and social unrest that exists in the world. And while that may seem difficult at times, for two hours, Byrne’s innovative, minimalist encapsulation of a near perfect live production provided a microcosm of utopia for everyone present.
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