There is something sort of sad about going to a concert by yourself, but such are the economic times we live in. Last night I went down to the State Theater in Minneapolis to see one of my favorites, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne. I had read all about the tour on his great web site, so I mostly knew what was coming. Some thoughts:

• The sound was uncharacteristically bad for the State – the first song sounded like we were in a tin can and it was hard to understand what he was saying in between songs.
• Nice mix of songs on the set list (I’ll watch for someone to post it) – mostly new songs from the latest Byrne-Eno CD along with Talking Heads classics like Take Me to the River, Once in a Lifetime, Heaven and I Zimbra. Not much in the way of David Byrne solo songs, though (were there any?).
• Nice size musical ensemble on stage (Byrne, three back-up singers, two percussionists, bass and keyboards). While I would rather see Chris, Tina and Jerry up there, this group played well together. LOVED the dueling drums at the beginning of Burning Down the House.
• The three dancers were a nice addition to the show – fun to watch, yet not too distracting from the songs. One of the three seemed really happy to be up there and her enthusiasm filled the theater.
• I’m don’t know much about contemporary dance, but my first thought was “wow, this is very New York art scene.” After a few more songs, though, I started thinking that a lot of these moves could have been in Napoleon Dynamite.
• My only complaint about the dancers was having them out for songs that already had dance moves associated with them from Stop Making Sense. Same as it ever was…
• The group seemed honestly happy about the audience response at the end of each set. I think that helped get us one more song tacked on at the end of the second encore (the haunting Everything That Happens).
• The crowd was decidedly older than average. I realized on the way out that the first Talking Heads album is now 31 years old, so teenagers then are almost fifty now. Damn.

All in all, a very entertaining evening. Come back soon, Mr. Byrne!