David Byrne, who just announced European dates for his current tour, Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno, has been performing in California all week. San Diego City Beat calls the show "classic Byrne ... a great reminder of Byrne’s genius and his continuing relevance as a performance artist." The Orange County Register calls the Los Angeles show "remarkable" with "Byrne as good as he's ever been since his heyday." The Oakland Tribune calls the Byrne/Eno pairing "one of the greatest partnerships to ever occur in the recording studio," writing that "time has served to validate the significance of" their recently reissued collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which has "played a huge role in shaping modern electronic music."
David Byrne has just announced the expansion of his current tour, Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno, with new dates throughout Northern Europe and the UK in March and April of next year. Tonight, at the wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California, he concludes what has been a week of shows in the state that began in San Diego last Thursday.
San Diego City Beat's Aaryn Belfer says Byrne gave "a kick-ass performance" at Humphrey's by the Bay, calling it "classic Byrne ... It was so fantastic that the crowd was on its feet—some on the chairs—for a better part of the concert." Belfer calls Byrne's performance "electric," stating:
His haunting voice is still steady and distinctive; his lyrics continue to illuminate the mundane and the profound as he gets to the core of what it means to be human ... This tour is a great reminder of Byrne’s genius and his continuing relevance as a performance artist.
Read the concert review at sdcitybeat.com.
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The tour headed next to Los Angeles for a set at the Greek Theater that the Orange County Register's Ben Wener called a "remarkable performance." The current tour, says Wener, "captures the master of amalgamation and performance-art theatrics reveling in former glory and drawing distinct parallels from past to present." Last Friday's show, the reviewer enthuses, "was Byrne as good as he's ever been since his heyday." There's much more at ocregister.com.
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After a stop at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on Saturday, Byrne and company headed up to San Francisco for shows Monday and last night at Davies Symphony Hall, the only venue to host two nights on the fall tour. The Oakland Tribune's Jim Harrington reviews the opening-night concert of songs from "one of the greatest partnerships to ever occur in the recording studio" and says the 1981 Bryne/Eno collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, reissued by Nonesuch for its 25th anniversary in 2006, has stood the test of time quite well: "[T]ime has served to validate the significance of that album, as its groundbreaking usage of sampled (or what was then called 'found') vocals has played a huge role in shaping modern electronic music."
At Monday's show, Byrne "was in fine voice throughout the evening," reports Harrington, and additionally, the "concert was a treat for the eyes" with its coordinated all-white uniform for the band and the inclusion of choreography.
Harrington describes the rousing finale:
The concert ended in a fashion that has grown familiar to Bay Area fans as Byrne once again invited San Francisco's colorful Extra Action Marching Band to the stage for the encore. The sight of 40-plus musicians gyrating to "Burning Down the House" never gets old, which is something that can also be said about the best of the Byrne-Eno songbook.
Read the complete review at mercurynews.com.
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For further tour information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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