There has been no shortage of musical legends visiting Cardiff recently, but tonight feels extra special. Erstwhile Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is back in town – the first of two stops here this year – with a sold-out Utilita Arena show, off the back of his recent album Who Is The Sky?
Entering the room before he begins, the crowd is greeted by the sounds of birds as curved screens onstage show the surface of the moon. After a short voiceover advising us that dancing is allowed, the man himself appears – flanked by three of his backing band – for a beautiful version of Talking Heads’ Heaven led by violin and cello, during which the Earth appears on the horizon behind him.
The rest of his band then appear, instruments strapped to them, for the joy of Everybody Laughs; in a continuation of the perpetual motion Byrne’s performances have become known for, each member moves perfectly in line with the music. “It’s nice to be back here,” Byrne says. “The weather is nicer than last time,” before introducing And She Was. Even just a few songs in, this is less a concert and more a conceptual theatre production – scaled up to the areas Byrne commands – and it’s wonderful.
Naturally, there is a lot of Talking Heads tonight: Houses In Motion, Slippery People and the pure perfection of This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody). Solo cuts are mostly drawn from Who Is The Sky?: T Shirt (during which T-shirt slogans like ‘I Heart Cardiff’ are projected behind the band), What Is The Reason For It? and Moisturising Thing.
A run of Psycho Killer (with a suitably Hitchcock-esque intro), Life During Wartime, and an incredible Once In A Lifetime finish the main set, before Byrne returns to introduce an arrangement of Everybody’s Coming To My House – created by a Harlem preacher, it’s performed under a single lightbulb in the middle of the stage.
Burning Down The House ends the evening, and underlines what has been a genuinely special show. On this showing, a ticket for David Byrne’s summer show at the Castle has become an absolute essential – a live spectacle only he could pull off.
David Byrne, Utilita Arena Cardiff, Mon 2 Mar
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS photos TIM ALBAN
