On October 17th, David Byrne (of the iconic alternative rock band Talking Heads), played the second of three nights at the historic Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia. He was on tour after releasing a new album, ‘ Who is the Sky?’ With the NYC-based Ghost Train Orchestra. They played a mix of Talking Heads songs and songs from the aforementioned new album and earlier solo Byrne albums.
The show had no opener. It was a dazzling setup, with different backdrops projected onto the the show space. Byrne and his band were all wearing cobalt blue jumpsuits, dressed identically. They had wireless instruments and microphones so there were no amplifiers or other clunky elements on stage. He was surrounded by a dozen or more musicians and they all danced too. The opening song was ‘Heaven’ by Talking Heads.
A highlight of the set was Talking Heads classic ‘And She Was’ and Byrne introduced the song with a little anecdote about a high school friend who would go lay in a field and take LSD. It was interesting to find out the backstory behind this one. The backdrop would change with every new song, from a cityscape to a field to dark red lighting. Midway through the set they covered ‘Hard Times’ by Paramore which fit well in their setlist. They closed the set with ‘Once In A Lifetime’ by Talking Heads and in the encore came back to play ‘Burning Down The House,’ another Talking Heads hit.
It sounded wonderful on stage and you could tell Byrne and his band were having a true blast dancing and singing all of the songs, and the audience was too. Although the Met is a seated formal theatre, everyone was out of the their seats dancing. This show was one of the best I’ve seen all year and spectacularly choreographed and arranged.
Photos by Jay Leiby
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