David Byrne delivers tightly choreographed, politically charged show in Brisbane

Dressed head to foot in iridescent orange, David Byrne and his 12-piece band performed a two-hour, incrementally built show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre that drew on the Stop Making Sense/American Utopia template, the review said. The 73-year-old former Talking Heads frontman and his troupe occupied a vast, uncluttered stage and remained in near-constant motion.

The concert opened with Heaven, from Talking Heads’ 1979 album Fear of Music, and used large video backdrops — first the Earth, then an empty department store and a cornfield for (Nothing But) Flowers, and ocean imagery for Slippery People. Musicians wore portable kits so the group operated more like a marching band, and the lineup was described as impressively multiracial and gendered.

On Heaven Byrne was joined by core band members Ray Suen (violin, later guitar), Kely Pinheiro (cello, later bass) and Daniel Mintseris (a synthesiser worn around his waist); other percussionists entered wearing bits of kit. Pinheiro was singled out as the set’s musical fulcrum, adding a harder groove to Houses in Motion and using cello as a lead instrument on Psycho Killer.

Solo songs included My Apartment Is My Friend, noted as one of a pair from his new album Who Is the Sky?, and the ironic T-shirt, which delivered slogans such as "Make America Gay Again" and "Everyone Watches Women’s Sports." Nearly half the set was Talking Heads classics, with This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) bringing fans to their feet.

Key Topics

Culture, David Byrne, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, American Utopia