DAVID BYRNE : AUSTIN CITY LIMITS 2018

  1. Here
  2. Lazy
  3. I Zimbra
  4. Slippery People
  5. Everybody's Coming To My House
  6. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
  7. Once In A Lifetime
  8. Toe Jam
  9. I Dance Like This
  10. Every Day Is A Miracle
  11. Road To Nowhere
  12. Burning Down The House
  13. Hell You Talmbout

Label : no label

Venue : Austin City Limits Festival, Zilker Park, Austin, Texas, USA

Recording Date : October 5, 2018

Length : 61:14

Quality : Soundboard recording (A+)

Concert Review (Austin Chronicle) : Emerging quietly and alone on the massive Austin City Limits main stage set up with only a small table and wooden chair, the Talking Head sat down and held up a model of man's center of intellect: "Here is a region of abundant details. Here is a region that is seldom used." Then he launched his Friday afternoon set behind "Here," closing track to this year's American Utopia. Byrne, 66, followed with an hourlong dive into the subconscious behind primal, percussive rhythms and his cerebral, almost absurdist lyrics. Even as the band swelled to eight members on "Lazy" and then 12 with "I Zimbra," the show remained minimal and precise, all instruments strapped to the players as they marched around the stage in free-flow formations. The 13-song set rested heavily on Talking Heads favorites, revving midway with "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" and "Once in a Lifetime" as the band sweat through their matching gray suits and the funky, stripped-down, New Wave rhythms increasingly entranced behind Byrne's charmingly awkward vogues. Likewise, the double shot of "Road to Nowhere" and "Burning Down the House" sent the crowd into a dancing frenzy. Yet Byrne saved his most powerful statement for last - a cover of Janelle Monáe's "Hell You Talmbout." The full band shouted a litany of names of African-Americans slain by police, demanding recognition and atonement as Byrne shifted focus from the subconscious to collective conscience.

Concert Review (Front Row Center) : David Byrne's performance at ACL Fest was an utterly delightful set of contrast and juxtaposition. The largest of the ACL Festival stages was reduced to about half its size - to a three-sided room with chain-curtain walls. A small table and chair sat center stage. David Byrne quietly took his seat and hoisted a model of the human brain for all to see. The cerebral beginning paved the way for the spiritual physicality that was to follow. Byrne's band consisted of twelve barefoot musicians, each sharply dressed in a light grey suit. Tightly buttoned up and yet loose. The walls that constrained the box in which they performed swayed as bandmembers brushed against them proving that walls needn't be restrictive, that chains needn't bind you. The sparse, empty stage that contained no amplifiers, monitors, mic stands or equipment of any kind was overflowing with nonstop rhythms and musical intensity. And the strictly choreographed moves of the entire performance somehow remained fluid and organic, chaotic and yet structured.Leading this fantastic spectacle was David Byrne, with his own delightfully gawky dance moves and gyrations. The set was heavy with smartly arranged Talking Heads classics mixed with a few Byrne solo compositions. An unexpected highlight was the jaunty "Toe Jam" by Brighton Port Authority - on which Byrne sang the original vocal. The set wound down with a raucous crowd-pleasing version of "Burning Down the House." And then, in a final act of juxtaposition, he closed the set with a protest song written by Janelle Monáe, who would be occupying the same stage 48 hours later. Devoid of any instruments sans voice and percussion, "Hell You Talmbout" brought the performance to a dramatic conclusion, reminding us that we still have a long way to go as a society. The song primarily consists of the chanted names of black Americans killed by law enforcement or racial violence, followed by "Say his name" or "Say her name." It is not a song of anger or accusation. It is a song of tribute. It is a song of thought. Music is power. The groove keeps going, but it's not all fun and games.

Concert Review (Grateful Web) : David Byrne's stage set-design was simple, hanging chains from the floor to the ceiling, creating a room, minus a fourth wall, where the audience watches the show. David Byrne walks out, alone, wearing a face mic and a grey suit, to sit at a table where a model of a brain sits. The rest of the show includes other band members entering the stage through the curtains of chains, wearing matching suits, dancing choreographed dances, playing and performing alongside the former frontman of The Talking Heads. David Byrne, being the former frontman of, The Talking Heads, didn't leave Paul McCartney alone in playing songs popular from a time a few decades past while including some of his more recent work, incredible as ever. It truly seemed the audience felt solidarity at the moment they sang and danced along to, "This Must Be the Place," singing, "Home is where I want to be, I guess I'm already there."