Talking Heads tackle racism

While Beyonce went light on the politics, New Wave pioneer David Byrne of Talking Heads fame delivered a forceful statement against racism as he covered Janelle Monae’s protest anthem Hell You Talmbout.

Set only to percussion, Byrne updated the song about African Americans fatally shot by police or in other racially charged incidents. Reciting each name, from Emmett Till who was lynched in 1955 to Stephon Clark who was shot dead by police last month in California’s state capital Sacramento when holding his cell phone, Byrne’s band implored the crowd, “Say his name!”

The track belied the tone of Byrne’s set, which was infused with his signature sly irony. Barefoot in a gray suit, Byrne opened sitting in a school desk and

holding a brain, which he serenaded with Here, a track about neuroscience off his new album American Utopia.

Byrne, in what he has described as his most ambitious stage project since Talking Heads, designed a strikingly sleek space with chain curtains delineating a clear floor and his 11-piece band, dressed identically to him, all wireless.

Dancing first with mime-like body thrusts, with Byrne throwing his hands forward as if off-kilter on the Talking Heads classic Same As It

Ever Was, the band took the shape of a campfire party as the sun set on the palm trees behind them.

The band took turns playing solos that showed the scope of Byrne’s global influences, from Latininspired bongo drums to a Middle Easterntinged whammy bar session on guitar by Byrne himself.