What gig did you go to last night? (4 Viewers)

The whole concert was a bit like a musical dance piece in an art gallery but without the air of someone telling you you're liking it wrong. No amps on stage, everyone is on radio mics with their instruments strapped to them; they're doing choreographed movement for the whole show start to finish. Even the songs off the new album that in fairness aren't amazing sounded really good live.

I suppose it's rare to see a big concert by someone in their 60's who is trying hard to engage in now rather than just a sing along of the hits.

He ended with this song

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


as if he didn't want to let you off the hook with a final feel good piece.


I'd seen it in London so i knew what to expect (one song different this time) and the rowdy love-the-sound-of-their-own-heckles irish crowd is 1 part part endearing and 9 parts PLEASE SHUT UP ALREADY but even they couldn't ruin it.


The show itself is the best concert performance i've seen in a long time though. My only comparable show in recent years for me would be Dexys, which was also very theatrical, albeit in a very different way.

almost 10 years since the NCH show!
 
Last edited:
worth a watch

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
Really enjoyed it (my dad did too).. I appreciated the band intro / instrument breakdown at the beginning of Born Under Punches where they convince you that all the sound is actually live, there's something about the wireless free-roaming setup with no cables or amps in sight that makes you think a good deal of it could be pre-recorded. It's somewhat amusing that they needed half a dozen people to effectively replace one sit-down drummer - more for the choreographer to play with I suppose. The songs off his new album are decent enough that they didn't drag the momentum down. Really great versions of I Zimbra and The Great Curve, I thought.
 
Her show in the Olympia last year was incredible, but no matter how hard she tries she can't really do "human". Same choreographer as well I believe.

Also a lot of her show was on rails while David Byrne went to a fair amount of effort proving that his wasn't.
 
Last edited:
Great show. Didn't realise he did so many TH songs so I was ecstatic with Slippery People and Born Under Punches. The intro bit to BUP was phenomenal.

The show was slightly marred for me by the fact that there was a totally pissed absolute fucking idiot right beside us. Throwing herself around the place, almost punching my missus in the head (by accident), spilling her drink all over the gaff, crawling around on the ground trying to find her phone, berating people around her for not dancing when she thought they should be, etc etc. You get the picture. Eventually she shagged off, probably because she needed to puke, and everything became much better. Also, being in a fully seated venue for a show that really demands that you dance is just annoying and frustrating. Standing up and shuffling on the spot doesn't really cut it.

To continue with my negativity, I don't think it was as good as the NCH show. And I don't mean that in a "well if you think that was good you should have seen her when she played the Sugar Club" kinda way. I thought the choreography was more interesting on the other tour .... it veered more towards a dance performance as opposed to a (really cool) rock show where the musicians were choreographed. It's great that he does this stuff but I expected it to kick this up to a whole different level and I don't think it really did.

Still though ... amazing. The "band" were incredible. The setlist was brilliant and .... it's David Byrne. Please ignore everything I just said that wasn't along those lines.
 
Great show. Didn't realise he did so many TH songs so I was ecstatic with Slippery People and Born Under Punches. The intro bit to BUP was phenomenal.

The show was slightly marred for me by the fact that there was a totally pissed absolute fucking idiot right beside us. Throwing herself around the place, almost punching my missus in the head (by accident), spilling her drink all over the gaff, crawling around on the ground trying to find her phone, berating people around her for not dancing when she thought they should be, etc etc. You get the picture. Eventually she shagged off, probably because she needed to puke, and everything became much better. Also, being in a fully seated venue for a show that really demands that you dance is just annoying and frustrating. Standing up and shuffling on the spot doesn't really cut it.

To continue with my negativity, I don't think it was as good as the NCH show. And I don't mean that in a "well if you think that was good you should have seen her when she played the Sugar Club" kinda way. I thought the choreography was more interesting on the other tour .... it veered more towards a dance performance as opposed to a (really cool) rock show where the musicians were choreographed. It's great that he does this stuff but I expected it to kick this up to a whole different level and I don't think it really did.

Still though ... amazing. The "band" were incredible. The setlist was brilliant and .... it's David Byrne. Please ignore everything I just said that wasn't along those lines.
had the exact same experience with drunken arseholes. People talking too loud, people telling the people talking too loud to shut up, then tense situations arising cos of that. And I also got a drink spilled all over me.

Irish crowds are the worst.
 
To continue with my negativity, I don't think it was as good as the NCH show. And I don't mean that in a "well if you think that was good you should have seen her when she played the Sugar Club" kinda way. I thought the choreography was more interesting on the other tour .... it veered more towards a dance performance as opposed to a (really cool) rock show where the musicians were choreographed. It's great that he does this stuff but I expected it to kick this up to a whole different level and I don't think it really did.
Obviously the NCH where i was about 5 feet from David Byrne the whole time was a different experience to being up in the rafters this time, what I like is that he does an entire new show.

Even my absolute favourite artists have a tendency to have a number of set-pieces to their show that they bring out now and then over 20+ years, adding and subtracting and usually trying one or two new things on a tour. With David Byrne it's a totally different show to what we saw before.

Even a song like Once in a Lifetime, where the dancing is riffing on a very well worn groove at this point, they expanded upon a different bit of the dance routine to what they did back in the NCH. Or Burning Down the House, that song had the least dancing maybe out of all of the songs in the whole show, the exact opposite of what you'd expect. He keeps it interesting. I don't feel "yeah, check, seen him once, that's enough" like you get with some (still great!) artists.
 
Last edited:
I was at The Folk Awards last night, in Vicar Street. Nice way to see a whole load of artists in one go. I was sitting in the artists area and was probably surrounded by folk legends etc but I didn't recognise any of them. At one point I was chatting to someone and a woman just stood beside the other person. I thought they were pals. When I'd finished talking "the stander" moved through and sat down. I had no idea she wanted to get by, didn't say "excuse me" or anything. Anyway, 10 minutes later she was onstage getting an award.
I finally heard acts i'd heard about but never heard. Lankum, Landless, Andy Irvine were great so were other people whose names i can't remember right now. Finally saw Saint Sister who got a massive reaction but I felt weird about them. Sure, they played well and sounded brilliant but I've heard Joanna Newsom. Is that fair?

After that I walked around to Drop Dead Twice and caught a half an hour of The Cosmic Dead. Exciting live experience. I wouldn't listen to them at home. Shockingly my first time in DDT venue. I like it a lot.
 
After that I walked around to Drop Dead Twice and caught a half an hour of The Cosmic Dead. Exciting live experience. I wouldn't listen to them at home. Shockingly my first time in DDT venue. I like it a lot.
What were they like? Raging I missed it but dying a with a dose.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

  • Cornu Ammonis
Activity
So far there's no one here

21 Day Calendar

Mohammad Syfkhan 'I Am Kurdish' Dublin Album Launch
Bello Bar
1 Portobello Harbour, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland
Mohammad Syfkhan 'I Am Kurdish' Dublin Album Launch
Bello Bar
1 Portobello Harbour, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland
Gig For Gaza w/ ØXN, Junior Brother, Pretty Happy & Mohammad Syfkhan
Vicar Street
58-59 Thomas St, The Liberties, Dublin 8, Ireland
Bloody Head, Hubert Selby Jr Infants, Creepy Future - Dublin
Anseo
18 Camden Street Lower, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland

Support thumped.com

Support thumped.com and upgrade your account

Upgrade your account now to disable all ads... If we had any... Which we don't right now.

Upgrade now

Latest threads

Latest Activity

Loading…
Back
Top