Photo from the concert
The other concerts of David Byrne in the Archa Theatre
Byrne is more than Talking Heads
Thursday's concert of David Byrne in Prague's Archa Theatre was perhaps better than his first concert on Wednesday. His accompanying trio - Todd Turkisher on the drums, Paul Socolow on the bass guitar and the fantastic Mauro Refosco on the vibraphone, marimba and bass drum - a direct telepathic co-sounding with several of Byrne's rhythmic ideas sparking off energy.
The two-hour show began with a long prelude of a variety of percussion. David Byrne entered and recited along with the percussion an introspective version of composition "A Long Time Ago", a piece which belongs among the best hits from his new album. Byrne took the opportunity to look at the never-before-seen corners of his private world. The perfect acoustics of the hall were witness to a fascinating mix of the old compositions of the Talking Heads and the works of Byrne. The song, "My Love Is You", did a turn on the lesser known story of a transvestite named God's Child. "And She Was", whose great video-clip was a bout a levitating girl is - according to the author's words - the story of one of his friends who works in a bubble gum factory and stuffs herself with LSD. Byrne added a new opening text to the story, Nothing But Flowers from the album Naked - his autobiography of his search for his home.
Byrne, who is a surprisingly good guitarist- as we know him from his concerts videos - sometimes stands one step away facing Socolow or his drummer Turkisher and together, in the form of a duel, provoking each other to maniacal sound sculptures. Even the audience below them could feel vibrations of the rhythmic air. The song, Crash, ended the same as on the album with an atonal chaos of the booster guitar, the bass guitar, and Refosco's marimba.
It is interesting to watch how Byrne's interpretation of the Talking Heads' songs has gained a new sense, thanks to his improving art form. He also played with a different diction as he explored the texts. He remained obsessed with the rhythmical side of things, but he penetrated it with his self-searching positions. Even Zimbra, who we know from the old Talking Heads, and his trio played with the same persuasive and imaginative play of lights, evoking a hot world of West African rhythm. The fascinating Back In The Box became a new version of Once In the Lifetime. The evening should have ended with the personal U and I, but the audience wouldn't let Byrne go away from the stage, and they literally stamped their feet to have the next three songs. Along with the other songs, he played Psychokiller, LDW, and Burning Down The Opera House. The concert ended with some older material, "City of Dreams", in which Byrne - today he has improved, much better than his long-ago neurosis of the plastic Martians -discovered "his own" America.
Zdenek Pecka, Lidové noviny, 29. 10. 1994