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The Talking Heads were ubiquitous in the 80’s. That probably had something to do with MTV and well made videos but that would have been nothing without great music and The Talking Heads had that too.
David Byrne was the face of the band and in 1991 he left, effectively breaking up the band, apparently without really even telling the other members. Chris Franz, drummer and husband of the bassist Tina Weymouth, later said he found out in a LA Times newspaper article. The bad blood from the breakup will probably prevent any sort of reunion tour in the traditional sense. Chris and Tina continued on with Tom Tom Club (actually a splinter group they created prior to the breakup) and apparently are still bitter about the way things ended for Talking Heads.
That being the case this tour and concert was probably as close as we’ll get to a reunion. Jerry Harrison was one of the original four members of the band and Adrian Belew played on the album “Remain in Light”. The two have stayed friends over the years and decided to tour and play the album on it’s 40th anniversary, thus the name of the tour, “Remain in Light”. That collaboration turned into an extended tour.
Both Jerry and Adrian have had their fair share of success.
In addition to being in Talking Heads for its entirety, Jerry has been in a couple of other bands but mainly has been a music producer since the band’s break up.
Adrian is a prolific session player, mostly known for his creative guitar work. His biggest claim to fame is probably as a member of King Crimson, being the longest running member of the band outside of Robert Fripp (who was notoriously hard to work with). We saw Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 a couple of days ago and it was interesting that in one of the post credit scenes Rocket asks Adam Warlock about his favorite music and he answers: “Adrian Belew, both solo and his work with King Crimson”.
The evening was primarily Talking Heads music from Remain in Light, with one additional song from Jerry’s solo work and one from Adrian’s King Crimson catalog.
The band Cool Cool Cool both opened and served as the backing band for the evening. Cool Cool Cool was known as Turkuaz previously but regardless what they call themselves their musical style fit perfectly with the dance vibe of the Talking Heads music. Their music reminded me of another 80’s band, Miami Sound Machine, in the best way possible. Put together a great horn section, percussion, bass, synth and enthusiastic vocals and you’ve got yourself a dance party.
It was hard not to compare this evening with the previous night. Both concerts were at the Moore Theater, which is a seated venue, but whereas the audience for the most part stayed seated for Gary Numan, no one on the main floor sat at all for the Remain in Light show, either for Cool Cool Cool or the main show. Although very different musical styles, both shows should have been a lot of fun and while I enjoyed Gary Numan I think they came off as overly serious with their scripted posing for the audience rather than genuinely having fun. In contrast everyone (all 11 or 12 band members) playing on the Remain in Light show clearly were enjoying themselves. Adrian was grinning all night long and even as one of the best guitar players in the world he acted like a kid with a new toy trying out all sorts of sounds. Jerry was a little more restrained but there was nothing serious about this show. Everyone had fun.
