![]() ![]() We didn’t go into it with the story in advance, which some people might think is a little odd, but that’s how it works sometimes. I didn’t go into the concert saying, “This is the narrative that I want to tell.” But as we started choosing songs and working out the staging, it emerged that that’s what was happening. So I thought, if it’s already there, let’s just make it a little more explicit and take out stuff that doesn’t tell that story and if that’s what it wants to be, let’s let it be that. Other people noticed that it seemed to be inherent even in the concert version. How did the story arc - this idea of an insular person opening up - come together? 20 Years Later, the Last Surviving Member Is Ready to Talk But it’s not like, “Oh, here’s my life story.” It’s me, but it’s also not meant to be totally autobiographical, but there’s elements of biography in there. When you’re onstage, do you consider what you’re doing to be a character? There’s a little bit of theatricality with the brain at the beginning of the show. ![]() We’re only focused on things that have been successful, so it helps to see incrementally that “Oh, somebody has created an initiative and has done this” - so that’s moved the marker a little bit. ![]() No, I work on the Reasons to Be Cheerful thing. The temptation is to fall into cynicism and anger and all that.ĭo you have routines that help you break out of that? Mantras? Sometimes the emails can be cheery, but the newspaper is generally not. I have a little coffee and a grapefruit, and reading a few newspapers. Is it easy for you to start the day with a positive mindset? You have a song in the show from your American Utopia album, “Every Day Is a Miracle,” which has a sort of “the day is what you make of it” theme. What’s surprising, perhaps, as he speaks calmly and clearly about the show and the way he sees the world, is that he says it is not a state that comes naturally to him. He oversees a web magazine, Reasons to Be Cheerful, and many of the themes in American Utopia are about inclusivity and community. It’s safe to assume that some of his serenity comes from the world outlook he seems to have adopted in recent years. “Here’s a guy who’s basically inside his head at the beginning,” Byrne says of his “character.” “And then by the end of the show, he’s a different person in a very different place.” But mostly, American Utopia is a spectacle, an exercise in minimalism in which each musician carries his or her own instrument and dances around an austere stage. In fact, the only prop in the show is the model of a human brain (used during the song “Here”), which helps set up the show’s loose plot. Byrne talks to the audience between the songs about voting, James Baldwin, and how the brain works. But I think audiences appreciate it when nobody’s trying to fool them.”ĭuring the show, Byrne leads 11 musicians - all barefoot and dressed the same in matching gray suits - through nearly two dozen songs from the Talking Heads and Byrne’s solo years, leaning heavily on last year’s American Utopia album. “I wondered, ‘Can we do a show where it’s just us, the musicians, and none of the other stuff?’ If you do something simple, it’s sometimes really hard. “With Stop Making Sense, we brought everything onstage so people could see what it takes to put on a show, and with this, I’m taking everything away,” David Byrne says of American Utopia, his quasi-theatrical Broadway residency, which is scheduled to run into next year. ![]()
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