post and illustration by chris duffy
It is all I hoped it would be. It is electricity. It is a drug. It is another state. It is funk. it is soul. It is rock. It is classical. It is gospel: the Gospel according to David Byrne.
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I was the third person in line for the free show last evening in Prospect Park, just a meditative jaunt from my home in Crown Heights. I arrive at the gate at around 11 a.m. to find two other early birds buried in their books on the bench right outside. I join them for almost eight hours of sun-burn and chilled breezes that sweep through the indecisive climate. Rain seems eminent and the moment I expect a cloud to burst the sun flings itself from behind the curtains.
My arms and neck are slightly pink as my roommates join me in line. As they stake my spot, I search the surrounding area for cheap ice cream, to no avail. There is a sound check at 4:30 p.m. and I rush back towards the park as the blistering funk of ” Life During Wartime” echoes from the bandshell. I catch the rest of the sound check on a giant screen set-up next to the fenced up lawn for all the people unable to enter the seats or lawn of the venue. Mr. Byrne wears a cap and t-shirt as he shimmies through a teasing song cycle.
The line behind me snakes along the path over a distant hill and out of sight. As 6:30 p.m. approaches the line is condensed into huddles of anxious fans anticipating the opening of the gates. Finally we scatter inside and snag some pretty good seats right in the middle, a few rows behind the first-class seats reserved for the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival donors.
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The show begins with Mr. Byrne declaring a raffle for a free bike decorated with memorabilia and signed by the band. Whoever has parked in the designated bike parking area nearby the Bandshell is automatically in the running for it. I regret not biking from home.
Then the music starts and those of us in the seats are confused as to whether we should remain politely seated or relent to the twitching desire of our bodies to get up and move.After several songs, we give-in, and soon the entire sea of flesh is swaying and dancing in awkward invisible two foot long boxes of allotted personal space. The turn-out is unsurprisingly tremendous. Still, the sight is boggling. I cannot see an end to the heads when I stand on my chair and gaze around my surroundings like a periscope.
The music is amazing. The band is exceptionally tight and well-rehearsed after touring behind theses songs for the past few months. The dancing becomes exhausting as Byrne pulls out a mixed bag of songs from his recent collaborative release with Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today as well as a couple tunes from their art-rock masterpiece My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Interspersed among these songs are scrumptious Talking Heads nuggets inspiring some of the most enthusiastic dancing, howling and overall crowd energy I have ever witnessed, and participated whole heartedly in. ” Burning Down the House” receives a jubilant reception upon its first distant twitter of notes, as does ” Once in a Lifetime”, Byrne hopping right into his cracked preacher mode.
There are eventually about seven encores after the exhausted band repeatedly returns to the stage four times, once all in shimmering white tutus. They play a rousing version of ” Take Me to the River” with much help from a still hyper audience craving more. Seats are banged each time the band exits the stage creating a thunderous roar that ripples through the sea of flesh beckoning for more music.
Finally a short-of-breath Byrne bids a ‘goodnight’ to the audience. He has been dancing and gyrating all evening to his music along with the dancers who cover the stage in their creative, avant-garde bodily movements. Small, insignificant raindrops trickle here and there as I realize I must figure out how to claw through the other bodies starting to herd and stream form the venue. I’ve just witnessed one of the best shows I’ve ever experienced. And it cost me a two dollar donation.
God, I love this City.
One Comment
I agree, the show was truly a magical event. Those kinds of nights don’t come often, and I’ll never forget that one.