David Byrne brought joy and whimsy at Phoenix concert

As an art-punk elder statesman, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and his 12-piece band attempted to reframe his position in rock history Tuesday night at the Arizona Financial Theatre.

“I heard something recently from the director John Cameron Mitchell, who said that love and kindness are the most punk things you can do right now,” Byrne mused to the sold-out crowd at one point early in the show. The line got a thunderous response, but Byrne confessed that, at the time, he didn’t quite make the connection. 

“How can love be the same as this angry, loud music? And I thought about it, and love and kindness are forms of resistance. That’s punk,” he concluded. 

The tight, choreography-heavy, 22-song set that followed was a jubilant celebration of the absurdity and earnestness of Byrne’s catalog, balancing Talking Heads classics with his solo work, especially from his most recent album, “Who Is the Sky?” 

Show opener “Heaven” saw the audience on the moon via an impressive triptych projection screen as Byrne belted out the iconic chorus that, “heaven is a place where nothing, nothing ever happens,” as a rising earth cascaded upward. 

“There she is, our heaven!” he declared. 

Byrne and his backing band, led by musical directors Mauro Refosco (percussion) and Ray Suen (guitar/strings), were outfitted with matching bright orange tracksuits and wore wireless gear and percussion harnesses that allowed the whole ensemble to continuously weave around the stage. Vocalists/dancers leaped and undulated around the band, often taking front and center stage as Bryne crouched in the wings. 

To his credit, Byrne, 73, never stopped dancing, alternating between fluid choreography and his signature head-bobbing, exuding a kinetic, infectious energy over the almost two-hour performance. 

Like any legacy act, Byrne played a bevy of hits. Favorites like “Psycho Killer” brought out the pulsing intensity in the band and highlighted bass player Kely Cristina Pinheiro’s driving, funky lines as she traded off Ray Suen’s blistering guitar. (Kudos to Suen as well for jogging in place for two hours while holding down original Head’s guitarist Jerry Harrison’s lead work, by the way.)

Conversely, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” showcased Byrne’s sweeter side and lead to the audience to slow-dance in the aisles. The band, over the simple three-chord progression, gave a delicate ballet against a wooded background as the dancers whispered in each bandmate’s ear while Byrne crooned, giving the ballad the feeling of a New Wave “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” 

In contrast, Byrne’s most recent songs in the set leaned heavily into his reflections on post-pandemic American life. “My Apartment is My Friend” found Byrne and his band in his actual home in New York City, projected behind them in 360 degrees as he ruminated about being quarantined and finding solace in a place that knows him all too well. 

Likewise, “What Is the Reason For It” saw the band marching as Byrne’s personal pandemic sketches came to life behind them over an enticing flamenco groove. Leaping dancers helped Byrne address the possible reasons for love and human connection: Is it biological, spiritual or something else entirely? 

This fusion of past and present came to a head towards the end of Byrne’s set. As the band howled through “Life During Wartime,” images from ICE protests filled the screens. 

“Burned all my notebooks / What good are notebooks? They won’t help me survive / my chest is aching / burns like a furnace / the burning keeps me alive” Byrne bellowed, as video of a Chicago protester evading a beating by ICE played behind him. 

The crowd cheered on the image behind him as the whole band ran in place. It was a hopeful, wry coda to a song about a creative person living through a dystopian hellscape.

While there were more hits to be had – the band launched directly into the wonderfully absurd “Once in a Lifetime” and ended with an intimate, semi-accapella version of “Everyone’s Coming to My House” before closing the night with a blistering version of “Burning Down the House” – it was this moment that seemed to encapsulate what Byrne and his band are bringing to audiences on this tour: a bit of color, a lot of fun and a good deal of hope. 

In a world that, increasingly, seems to have stopped making sense, Byrne and his band are fighting back by creating a space for joy, whimsy and true connection, all wrapped in one of the most visually compelling shows of the year, and that’s punk as fuck.  

Setlist for David Byrne’s Who is the Sky? Tour on April 21 at Arizona Financial Theatre:

• “Heaven”
• “Everybody Laughs”
• “And She Was”
• “Strange Overtones”
• “Houses in Motion”
• “T Shirt”
• “Nothing But Flowers”
• “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”
• “What Is the Reason for It”
• “Like Humans Do”
• “When We are Singing”
• “Independence Day”
• “Slippery People”
• “Moisturizing Thing”
• “My Apartment Is My Friend”
• “Air” 
• “Psycho Killer”
• “Life During Wartime”
• “Once in a Lifetime”
• “Everybody’s Coming to My House”
• “Burning Down the House”