david American Utopia Tour
With Byrne and band in constant, choreographed motion, the former Talking Head’s unique take on the Hits Show beguiled all who attended. “Human beings are more engaging than pyro,” he tells DANNY ECCLESTON.
Your American Utopia tour is MOJO’s Event Of The Year – how about that? It’s very flattering. And I have to say it’s encouraging that a sort of mid-level artist as I am now can compete with the big boys – and girls – on that level at least!
What came first: the idea to tour, or the idea of how to tour? As I was writing the songs – the early versions had lots of drums and percussion in – I thought, It would be fun to play these live. I let that percolate and the ‘how’ began to emerge.
Take us through the show’s gestation. I’d recently done a tour with St. Vincent with all the horn players. For that, I brought in the choreographer Annie-B Parson. My booking agent reminded me that when I brought out the Extra Action Marching Band to join us in San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Everything That Happens… tour it had a bigger impact than screens or stage tech could ever have. I remembered that human beings are more emotionally engaging to human beings than pyro and effects – of course they are! After the St. Vincent tour I did a large-scale show that involved young colorguard teams [like cheerleaders, with flags] – it was called Contemporary Color. And though we didn’t have any drummers moving around, those groups are often associated with drum line groups. I’ve had a long-standing love for samba schools, second line bands. With all of that floating around in my head, I asked myself, Could we do something like that? Could everyone in the band be mobile? Could I afford six drummers? So, I had a budget drawn up, went to my booking agent and said, How do you think ticket sales will be? He seemed optimistic. He told me, in his words, “You’re having a Leonard Cohen moment.”
How did the show influence the setlist? It seems you’ve picked some of your best songs to dance to, but is there also a thread to the ideas? I’m not the fool I have been at times – I know I need to mix old and new songs in my shows – but my choices are influenced by what will sound best played by this band, can I make the new and old indistinguishable? And can I discover a thread that goes through the whole show? I think there is a thread. It’s unspoken, it’s never directly articulated, but I believe people sense it.
Not knowing what to expect, I brought a few reservations about the mixing of music and theatre to your Hammersmith Apollo show… I’ve met with some implied scepticism from some journalists who wonder about the lack of spontaneity in a show this theatrical. I can’t deny that – but if that’s what you value, then stay away from the theatre or scripted movies – maybe a jazz gig or Phish might appeal more. That’s not a criticism, it’s just a different thing. James Brown was well rehearsed too, and he killed it live.
It’s a physically demanding show and you’re 66 years of age. How much work did you have to do to prepare yourself? Rehearsals – which lasted a month – were gruelling. We’d play eight hours a day and I was exhausted, the band was exhausted. On tour I go for hikes and bike rides – it’s stimulating and keeps me sane. It’s absolutely essential for survival on the road. That, and enough sleep. The audience reception we’ve been getting is a huge adrenalin boost. That gives us stamina too.
Is the ‘spirit’ of American Utopia connecting? How’s the voting registration drive going? I wish the number were higher – maybe much of my audience is already registered? I’d like to hope that’s why. That said, registration is the first step, the next step is actually exercising that right… which folks in the US tend not to do. So that’s a big part of what I say as well.
Your song The Great Curve seems to sum it up so well: “Sometimes it seems that the world is wrong,” but also, “The world moves and it swivels and bops!” It’s like you wrote it for this show… Funny how songs do that! The first line of Dog’s Mind is: “The judge was all hung over, when the President took the stand” – which couldn’t be more now.
Hell You Talmbout: what is the significance of this Janelle Monáe song for you and what is its role in the show? I heard the song when it came out and immediately thought, This is the best ‘protest’ song I’ve ever heard. It speaks to injustice but doesn’t lecture or hector. It asks us to remember these lives that have been taken, individuals who are gone. So, as we were putting our show together – with all our drummers and the diversity in the band I thought, What if we did that song? I wrote to Janelle before we began touring and asked what she thought of this older white guy doing that song. She was super-supportive and encouraging – I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
And finally, what’s the best thing you’ve heard all year? Well, the best show I’ve seen all year is Janelle Monáe’s show. Incredible energy, great band and dancers, amazing costumes… but more importantly it’s all about empowerment, being OK with who you are, loving sex but in a healthy way, and politics too. She raises the bar for all of us.