David Byrne brings mix of quirky art and music to the Fox Theatre
In 1975, David Byrne was a former art school student who moved from Baltimore to New York to concentrate on music.
He formed Talking Heads, a quartet that combined offbeat lyrics, pop, new wave, rock, funk, disco and African rhythms, and started performing in underground clubs. His vision was to turn their sounds and his quirky imagination into fine art.
Fifty years later, Byrne — the quartet’s lead singer and guitarist — isn’t exactly a museum or gallery curator, but he has mastered turning a stage into an original mixed media work. His latest creation is his solo “Who Is the Sky?” tour, which made a stop at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on Tuesday, with a second performance slated for Wednesday night.
“Who Is the Sky?,” Byrne’s ninth studio album, was released in September and features Ghost Train Orchestra, a New York-based chamber ensemble he started collaborating with two years ago. Each song explores the human condition and encourages unity.
For 90 minutes, Byrne and Ghost Train Orchestra — dressed in bright orange clothes — worked the stage in much the same fashion as the cast of “American Utopia,” the otherworldly entertainer’s 2018 tour and 2019 Broadway production-turned-HBO film directed by Spike Lee. They played instruments without amps, froze in place and used synchronized (but minimal) choreography.
Byrne transported the audience to alternate worlds with the sounds of chirping and projected images, including aerial views of the Atlanta suburbs, Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York City skyscrapers, monochrome colors, a foggy forest, the moon, ocean, cornfields, Alfred Hitchcock-like silhouettes and spiky animated characters.
Sociopolitical messages like “No Kings” formatted in the fast-food restaurant Burger King logo and font, “Atlanta kicks ass,” and “It feels like we keep going in circles” flashed between the visuals.
But the music was still front and center. Byrne opened the show with the 1979 Talking Heads “Heaven,” before easing into “Everybody Laughs,” “Who Is the Sky”'s opening track about universal human emotion.
The Grammy, Tony and Oscar-winning composer and musician known for blank stares and wearing oversized suits treated the audience to other “Who Is The Sky?” selections like “My Apartment is My Friend,” his ode to creating in his inner sanctum. The Scottish-born multi-hyphenate paced the stage while showing the audience the inside of his New York pad.
“Moisturizing Thing,” a song about embracing a youthful appearance, came with large-scale images of a lavish bathroom.
Byrne, 73, also performed songs created with frequent collaborator Brian Eno, including 2008’s “Strange Overtones,” and the new song “T-Shirt,” as well as the solo “Like Humans Do” and “Independence Day” and a cover of rock band Paramore’s “Hard Times.”
But most of the evening was spent on Byrne and Ghost Train Orchestra time-traveling with Talking Heads classics.
“Life During Wartime,” which was recorded in 1979, was accompanied by footage of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with protesters and civilians.
The audience rejoiced, sang along and danced in the aisles to “And She Was,” “(Nothing but) Flowers,” “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody),” “Houses in Motion,” “Slippery People,” “Psycho Killer” and a slower version of “Once in a Lifetime.”
Byrne, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, closed with 2018’s “Everybody’s Coming to My House” and Talking Heads’ 1983 signature tune “Burning Down the House” for an encore.
“Who Is the Sky?” is Byrne’s continuation of turning his nostalgic but contemporary grooves and artistic curiosity into fun, thought-provoking escapes and musical experiments.
IF YOU GO
An Evening With David Byrne - Who is the Sky Tour. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $65 and up. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St., Atlanta. foxtheatre.org
About the Author
Christopher A. Daniel is a Black Culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is an Atlanta-based, award-winning journalist, cultural critic and ethnomusicologist. He previously taught courses at Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia State University.
