once in a lifetime...okay maybe twice in a lifetime so far.

i remember the first time i gave david bryne a serious listen. I was cruising the used cd aisle at manifest, the old one in the honey baked ham shopping center, and i came across the talking heads album naked on disc.

What I loved about manifest back then was that you could look inside the cd case at the liner notes to the albums before you made a purchase, so as usual i flipped through the notes to look at the list of credits and instruments. Being an impatient kid I flipped to the back and saw the instrument listings. There were so many drummers and percussionists listed, mixed in with things like toy pianos and tin whistles that i had to have the album. At the time I was moderately familier with some talking heads cassettes, mostly remain in light, and '77, but this one was unlike either of those. From the opening blasts of mr jones , to nothing but flowers to mommy daddy you and i, this was an eye opening mind bending album. The mixture of world beat percussion would predict a slew of world beat concept albums to follow including paul simon's rythm of the saints, and even to a lesser extent sepultura's roots and other subsequent drum-centric albums. What I did not know at the time is that naked was really david byrne's first solo album, the album he composed and created almost entirely without the other heads. The sounds and ideas on that album have re-occured throughout byrne's solo career. I continue to be moved, inspired and amazed at byrne's ability to meld world rythms, with his artist sensibility. I am a big fan of byrne's artwork as well, especially his photography and artists books, and recently when i was in new york i got to see his bike racks first hand. So that brings me to last night. Last night I had the occasion to see byrne perform for the second time in my life and god willing it wont be the last. The first time i saw byrne perform was in seattle, it was following his glass, concrete and stone album. For that tour, like every tour he does, he created a theme and a staging idea. On that 2004 tour, he had the tosca string section, and his rock band with him. He had all the band decked out in matching luaka bop mechanics outfits, and he strode on stage in striped overalls. The 2004 show was amazing as he had all the keyboard and horn parts of his music transposed to strings.The 2004 show focused on some of his most complex and layered compositions which made the show both technically and musically insane. Well in 2008, like an artist with a 30 plus year career to draw on, Byrne put together a set list and stage arrangement that was something of a mini-retrospective. jettisoned from the setlist are most of his signature songs, replaced with new ones from his most recent record, and peppered in with talking heads favorites from the 70's and 80's. But rather than rely on his name power and reputation alone, Byrne brought his ideas forward. This time the band and byrne, were dressed in all white from head to toe. This striking visual was itself enough, but byrne has added another element to this years tour...modern dance. Along with his four piece band and three back up singers, were three modern dancers, who had choreographed movements for the songs, based partly on byrnes signature hurky jerky dance moves and partly on interpretations of the songs content. The effect is mesmerizing and slightly off putting. It is clear throughout this show that rather than a rockstar phoneing in a perfromance, byrne is an artist doing his best to imagine what a rock concert would be like if he were in charge. Througout the show I found myself continually rediscovering things I like about byrnes music, and although I would love to have heard some more of his sardonic tracks like, nothing but flowers and like humans do, I was content to have dancing dave which was a good counter point to all the doom and gloom in the world. to see a great performance with quality musicians and interesting dancers almost creates enough positive energy to counteract my current condition. I couldn't help but think though, if the dancers were doing the same performance, but to pre-recorded music would the effect be the same? Oh well one things for sure the crowd could not get enough. at one point the applause and cheers were so loud I saw some of the background singers remove their in ear monitors because the audience's din had bled into their monitors. Needless to say the 8 bucks i spent on the used taking heads naked album have more than paid for themselves over the years. like humans do indeed dave.