The better a performance, the more difficult it becomes to encapsulate with words, or even images. So, when I heard beforehand that the David Byrne and St. Vincent show was great, I believed it, but could never have prepared myself for its utterly transcendent greatness.
The Flaming Lips put on the best all time live performance, in my opinion. Sheer joy emanates from the stage along with rainbow confetti, and fans shout lyrics in blissful allegiance. That’s only the beginning of the spectacle. I mention this because I believe that I have seen a clear challenger for that top position, and for some who prefer a more technically geared or artistically cerebral experience, the match-up might not even be close.
David Byrne and St. Vincent have been threatening to get together and make an album for some time now, and when the project finally came to fruition, I think we can all agree it was worth the wait. The live show in support of the album parallels this greatness, featuring a full backing brass band that blares and blasts and wahs with tones from the most upbeat swing to the most somber New Orleans jazz. Annie Clark’s (St. Vincent) stage theatrics involve jerky, doll-like movements as she pitter-patters back and forth from the microphone. These antics can only be rivaled by the likes of dancer-extraordinaire David Byrne as he engages repetitive body positions in a sort of sequential, interpretive dance. The staging and blocking is intricate—deliberately and ornately choreographed.
The set not only includes many of the outstanding tracks from the duo’s collaborative album Love This Giant, but also many of St. Vincent’s original songs as well as Talking Heads favorites like “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” and second-encore-closer “Road to Nowhere.”
Byrne banters dryly onstage, laughing easily and warmly, and the two possess an immediate and obvious chemistry. Clark’s wide eyes and grin sell her story when she confesses that the first time she heard Byrne’s music in 1985, no part of her could have dreamed she would one day share a stage with him.
Annie Clark and I were never more than casual acquaintances, but I will always remember the first time I met her when she first began making music and was living around Austin. It was, of course, at SXSW, in one of the makeshift venues that Emo’s constructed each year. She was playing in a large backing band for Red Hunter or maybe his project Peter and the Wolf. I can’t recall now if she was playing an actual banjo or a shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese instrument Red was partial to at the time). I probably can’t recall because Clark is so visually captivating it’s hard to remember anything else. She said nothing, perhaps only humming a little in a chorus, but I leaned over to the friend I was with and said something like, “Wow, who is she? I can tell you right now that whoever she gets involved with is going places.”
I met her after the show, and found her incredibly warm and friendly as she went on to tell me she had just started a recording project called St. Vincent and had a few demos. I went home and heard “Marry Me” for the first time, and then wrote about the show and the mp3 on my website, UrbanPollution.com. Shortly thereafter we interviewed Clark, and she couldn’t have been more forthcoming and genuine. Then, she was kind enough to put me on the list for one of her shows in New York when I was traveling. During the year or so that we were in touch before her career just skyrocketed, she consistently engaged with basic human kindness.
I guess I’m writing all this because as I reflect—and as I shot photographs of the set from the side aisles of Bass Concert Hall—seeing her up there beside Byrne was beyond surreal. And perhaps it’s silly, but I couldn’t help but feel some sort of pride basking in her glow. It couldn’t have happened to a more talented and hardworking songwriter.
Which brings me to another point: Byrne almost takes a back seat for much of the show, putting St. Vincent in the spotlight. It says much of him as a lover of music. Perhaps, and I’m only speculating, this tour, this album, is about calling attention to a new vanguard of theatrical, artistically minded musicians. And it’s not just Clark. At one point during the show, the entire backing band is introduced and each one has another musical project on which they work. Whatever the case may be, what’s for sure is that Clark and Byrne’s collaborative art deserves the highest accolades, and their touring show should not be missed. Get scalped tickets. Buy the last one in the last row of the balcony in the corner. Just go.
All photos by Bryan Parker. Click any image to open set in slideshow viewer.
